Thursday, February 23, 2012

Finding Balance and the 4-Month Update

Confession: I feel guilty admitting this but although I've never been happier in my life, I have also been teeter-tottering lately between feeling completely overwhelmed and feeling as though I have (almost) everything under control.

Granted, I have a four-month old baby and I am very proud to say that every waking moment at home has been spent playing and taking care of  him - the only time I spend on cleaning up and organizing myself is during his naps or very early in the morning before I get ready ready for work.

I haven't slept in in weeks and I have had several evenings, especially recently when I just wanted to crawl into bed to gather my thoughts and energy for the next full day. But despite all of this, I honestly wouldn't trade being Jacob's Mom for anything in the world. I'm slowly learning to let things go by the way side like dirty dishes in the sink, clothes on the floor and carpets not being vacuumed once a week but I still have a long way to go. 

Which brings me to a very important question and I am dying to hear what all of you have to say on the matter. For those of you who work full-time, how do you find balance between work and your home life? and how do you find time for yourself? I want to know your secrets, your short-cuts and your accidental discoveries. Share away, please! And then with your permission, I would like to post your answers to share with other new Mom's like me who are struggling with the age old question of how to find find balance. (Please send your secrets to me at missyah1@sbcglobal.net)

Back to the main reason I am posting today - Jake turned four months old last Saturday and I am loving every second of him at this age because he is just so much fun!


His favorite things to do at the moment are to stare at shapes and words - I can literally stand in our kitchen, in front of my hutch of cookbooks with him in my arms and he will literally stare at them - I can only guess that he is focusing on the colors and the shapes of the letters in the cookbook titles. It is the funniest thing.

Jacob is grasping at things a lot more now and he loves anything musical. He has also recently discovered hit feet and how to bring things, like his pacifier to his mouth. And I could never get enough of hearing him laugh out loud - it makes my heart melt every time. He had his well baby exam this past Tuesday and he weighed in at a healthy 14 lbs and 26 inches long and he is quickly getting too big for size 3-6 months. He just has a few things that still fit him but for the most part, he is now in size 6 months.

We had another milestone this past Tuesday - I dropped Jacob off at daycare for the very first time.


The night before I was a complete mess. It was a busy 3-day weekend because I needed to do a bunch of things around the house, like move all my things back up to the master bathroom, (I had been showering and getting ready downstairs so as to not wake up the boys) move all of my clothes and shoes back into my closet (they were in Jacob's bathroom for the same reason) and then get Jacob's things ready for daycare. Plus, I needed to go to Babies R Us, the grocery store and to Target and I also needed to get in at least a couple of hours of work to stay on top of things.

It was also important to me to spend quality time with Leo and Jacob. So as you can imagine, all of this just added to my anxiousness and I felt completely overwhelmed. I literally had to remind myself to just focus on one thing at a time - as silly as that sounds.

Once I had everything done and Jacob's things were ready for daycare, I felt so much better. (I always feel better when I get it all done) but I was still anxious and nervous about his first day. Thankfully, I am very happy to report that all of my anxiousness was all for nothing because everything went PERFECTLY and the best part has been that Jacob seems to really like Julia, his babysitter. From the moment she held him for the very first time, he was all smiles. And the other kids love to clamor around him every morning when he arrives - it's so cute to watch.


Julia has been really great about sending me pictures and even an adorable video on his first day of him babbling to her - I could watch it for hours. I feel so incredibly lucky that we found her. And the best part is, she lives less than two miles from campus where I work. I know - so very lucky.

So that's my four month old update - I will try to post again sooner than later - when I don't, I miss it and I definitely miss my blogging community! I hope you all are well and happy.

Enjoy the day!
Missy