Peeks from the Week

We are still trying to adjust Kippy on a nap schedule. It's not working out very well. Sigh. I mean, we are super grateful he sleeps well at night, stays asleep, and goes down easily. But, day time sleep is our nightmare. When I'm home with him on Mondays and Tuesdays, I have to have him cry it out when I put him down (Dan and Mandy can get him down without tears - gahhhh!). And, no matter what, he will only sleep for 30 minutes. 40 minutes if you're super lucky.

HOW DO YOU ENTERTAIN a baby for several hours when they won't sleep and you can only feed them every three hours? By the afternoon he is a hot mess of near constant fussing. And so now his bedtime is 5:45 pm. For real, he will go to sleep for the night before 6 pm. That means, when Dan or I are at work, we don't see him when we get home. That makes me sad.

My maternity leave officially ends at the end of the month. We were super blessed and grateful that I was allowed to split my leave and use the time to work only three days a week for the last two months. It worked really well for us and I enjoyed having the best of both worlds: stay-at-home mom for two days and working mom for three days. But, that window is closing and I'm suddenly realizing the plight of so many working moms. The choice between your job and family. Finances and your baby. It's really, really hard.

Fortunately, I saved enough vacation days that I can use those to get Mondays off through March. After that, I have to have another conversation and I'm completely torn. I can't bare the thought of only getting one hour with Kip a day (when I nurse him in the morning) and I'm heartbroken that some moms don't even get that much. There is only one other mom in my department and her "child" is a grown adult. So, I'm left in an environment where no one really understands being a new mom and while it's still generally supportive I don't feel like anyone gets it and I'm having a hard time advocating for myself.

But, I'll stop rambling and get to important business. Pictures of Kippy!

Snow might be arriving tomorrow and Kip turns 4 months old on Sunday. WHAT in the world? Happy Friday!