Four Hours

four hours...that's the average amount of time I have been werking each day for the last six weeks. My return from maternity leave to a part-time schedule was really wonderful. Although my pesky all-or-nothing personality trait had a hard time ignoring the werk emails and phone calls that came in during the time I wasn't werking. And there were definitely some days where I just focused on mountains of laundry, hours of breast feeding, and sneaking in a shower. Hence, my use of the word 'average'.

i'm sitting in the home office, listening to a webinar and patiently waiting for the roofers next door to finish working on our neighbors house...roofers aren't really conducive to conference calls. Neither is a barking Lexi (at the roofers...who can blame her?), or a crying baby. Thankfully, the crying baby factor isn't really an issue most days. Our sweet little girl is a happy camper and usually only gets fussy when she's winding down for her nap. And Jake is doing an incredible job taking care of her while I transition back to werk.

I'm thankful for the three day weekend ahead, because next week it's back to full time for me and I'll probably be making my first journey back to the.land.of.cubicles since April. My nerves are a little frayed and sometimes I notice a slight case of the jitters when I hop off my conference call or after time reconnecting with co-werkers. It's a big thing to climb back into the proverbial werk saddle after 3+ months of  focusing on my little family unit. I'm sure it'll feel like normal in no time...but sometimes I wish I lived in a country like canada that allows for 50 weeks of paid maternity leave...if only!

slow progress being made on the roof next door...

B's

Burping the baby...
Breastmilk is thrown up into my hair, curds deep into the
Braid that hasn't been washed for two days.

Bumbo, sitting up all proud and happy one moment, the next...a major
Blowout explodes from her diaper, up to her neck.
Barking is the dog at the cat in the tree, incessantly.

Blessed beyond all measure, I find myself with a half naked
Baby, laughing with tears of joy in the closet.
Because I am daily
Baptized into this journey of motherhood
Becoming someone who I sometimes doubted I could
Be. I find myself to
Be so ridiculously happy.

Stains

I have become a stain fighting machine...and I am winning most of my battles!

When we first brought our sweet babe home, I knew a little about baby poop, but not a lot. I just knew that meconium was the dark tar-like stuff that came with their first BM, and then it should get a lot more liquid-y and more yellow in color as the days wore on.

My very first outfit I purchased for her while I was still pregnant was a super cute long sleeved onesie that has a cream background and little red tulips all over it. It was during the days of not knowing her gender, and me day dreaming about what it would be like to have a little girl...so I caved and bought this adorable onesie from Violet Moss online.

Much to my dismay, she had one of her first major blow outs in this outfit, and since it's also the outfit we brought her home from the hospital in, I really wanted to keep it in good condition for sentimental reasons (or if we have another girl someday!).

In the midst of my recovery pain, the small bits of sleep, and the many visitors, I carelessly threw this onesie in the washer and dryer, thinking that breastfed babies have poop that doesn't stain...it's water soluable so it should come out in the wash, right?

Wrong. And here we are almost three months later, and I can finally say I have attacked this 'washed and dried' stain with all my might and it's gone! How did I do this?

1. Hit the stain with cold water.
2. Hit the stain with dishwashing soap (I use 7th Generation, so I wasn't worried about using weird chemicals on her clothes). Rub stain vigorously with fingers and fingernails, working into a good lather.
3. Hit stain with more cold water, and repeat 1 & 2 a few times if needed.
4. Spray "SHOUT- advanced gel for set-in stains" on the area, and rub in a little, then let sit for 5 minutes before washing in the machine. After the washing machine is done, if the stain is still visible, do not put it in the dryer. Soak the garment in cold water, then repeat steps 1-4 again.
5. If the stain is gone or almost gone, let garment dry in bright sunlight. Sunlight will help bleach the rest of the stain from the garment...it's magical! If you don't have ample sun available, stick to the dryer.

This method has also worked for my clothes.  As a new mom, I am often trying to eat with one hand while caring for baby with the other...often food ends up on my clothes, too! I usually just go straight for the SHOUT gel and let the garment sit for a while as I gather the rest of my laundry.

Interesting? Maybe not. Helpful? I hope so!

Part-Time

Well, my first 9 weeks of life with baby...virtually uninterrupted by thoughts or communication from werk...is slowly coming to an end. My incredible boss is allowing me to resume life as the.home.werker at a graciously slow pace, however. I'm returning to werk part-time for the next 6 weeks. So I'll put in about 20 hours a week, from home, and continue to enjoy my flexible routine of nursing/cuddling/playing with our sweet babe the rest of the time.

A few things I have experienced that I always heard other moms talk about but never understood:

-the incredible endless flow of laundry. We used to go two or three weeks without doing laundry...now it's almost every other day.
-it's really hard to find uninterrupted time to do creative things like write blog posts. For example...during this post I have already stopped three times...once to check on baby, once to use the facilities, and once to bring Jake his phone so he could take a super cute picture of something super cute that baby was doing.
-cold food is a new normal...hot meals are a thing of the past. As is sleeping for 8 uninterrupted hours at a time. Because if baby doesn't wake up hungry, mama wakes up needing to use her breast pump so she can continue to sleep comfortably!
-you will never know how deeply and completely and unconditionally your capacity to love is until you have a child. it humbles me and energizes me every day to see her smilely little face and know that I'm her mama. It's simply.the.best.