While Mom's Away

I am in Las Vegas for a week for work (not nearly as fun as it sounds) and Matt and Amelia are enjoying some quality father/daughter time. Matt sent me this picture of her from when he went in to get her in the morning. It was just too adorable not to share.

I come home on Thursday and I'm counting the hours. This is the longest I've been away from Amelia and it's been hard. Especially since I missed this event last year because I was 38 weeks pregnant so running around Vegas was not ok with my doctor. So now everyone is asking about the baby and wanting to see pictures. I like to say she's a total joy and total chaos all at the same time.

I don't want to get into any sort of working mom vs stay at home mom debate, they both have their hardships. I love what I do, if not always where I do it, and I couldn't give that up, but times like this I begin to rethink it. Thankfully I don't travel that much, but even without that, it's hard to balance family vs job. I grew up with my mother working most of my childhood (but not till I was school age) and my step-mother works so much I don't even think she ever took more than 2 weeks of maternity leave, so I always assumed I would work. And while I may have my issues with my parents, as everyone does, them working was never something that felt it took time away from my time with them. Instead I saw two women who worked and climbed the ladder in their field and loved what they did. I think because my parents all do something that you have to have a calling to (mom's a nurse, step-mother is a doctor, step-father is a pastor, and dad is also a doctor) that it was always part of them and I never questioned it. While I feel drawn to my career, and feel I have the perfect eccentric personality for it, it's not a calling in the same way as medicine or the clergy. No one grows up saying I want to be a meeting and event planner. In the end, I will probably continue to work most of Amelia's childhood. But I'll always be trying to find the perfect balance between working and parenting, and it's a goal that no one ever reaches, but all you can do is try your best. As much as Amelia loves her nanny, she still knows that I'm her mom and I will do whatever I can to make her life as amazing as possible and I'll always be there when she needs me. And she knows the same of Matt. Because his work requires longer hours and more travel, he struggles with the family vs work problem even more than I do. But he's a great father, husband, and man and we couldn't ask for any more from him.

Ok, this post took a turn I was totally not expecting. Apparently I needed to get that off my chest. Sorry if it rambles a bit. I've been up way too long and worked way too much today that I think my body is going to start rebelling soon.

So to end this, almost all the lights one the Vegas Strip just went out in observance of some power consumption day (I heard about it on the news but that was 15 hours ago and I have completely forgotten the details.) I think that's a sign to go to sleep and get ready for another long day of work. Sorry it's so dark, but that's what happens when 1 billion lights go out.

When Dad's Away

Amelia likes to play. Not that she doesn't play with Matt, but the avocado incident would not have happened on Matt's watch.

This is how we spent our Saturday. Amelia is breaking in approximately 4 teeth and would go from happy to cranky at the drop of a hat, so we stayed home and let her work on her walking abilities.

After all that walking, she was hungry for dinner. She managed to get avocado just about everywhere. Her eyebrows especially were covered. She did manage to get most of it in her mouth, contrary to this picture.
And after that adventure it was time for a bath. Amelia loves the bath, once you stop cleaning her. She has a waterproof book she got from Grandma and that needs to go in with her most of the time. She's our adorable little nerd.

Thankfully Daddy returned (and no worse for wear from the tsunami) late that night, and she had big hugs from him when he went in to get her in the morning.

Morning Walk

This morning I tried to get some video of Amelia walking. But she will only do it if she can see herself in the camera, so I apologize that you only see a few seconds. But on a day like today I think we can all use a little smile.

Self Portraits by Amelia

Like most babies, Amelia is obsessed with seeing the faces of other babies, especially herself. I would like to personally thank the developer at Apple who decided to put a front facing camera in the iPhone. This has provided hours of entertainment for Amelia in the past few months. Below are her photos from this morning with my translation of what she's thinking.

Yes, mommy's letting me play with her phone.

This is so awesome.

I need a better shot of my outfit.

AHHHHHHH!!! I'm charging the camera!

I'm so funny when I do that.

Super duper funny.

Ok, I'm going to calm down a little now.

I will now practice my posing and freak mommy out with how old I look.

Then I will go give Teddy a hug.

Session complete.

Morning Time

Matt and I both get alone time with Amelia on weekday mornings. He gets up with her and gets her a bottle and then they usually play or read while I get up, showered and dressed. Once I'm all set Matt heads off to work and it's my turn with Amelia. I feed her breakfast, get her dressed for the day, and take her to the nanny share. Depending on how long breakfast and getting dressed takes (if someone could explain why changing clothes is some sort of torture I would appreciate it because there are days that this takes a good 15 minutes) she and I get to have some play time as well. I think these are the times that Matt and I tend to enjoy the most. She's usually in a good mood, she's not hyper and bouncing off the walls yet, and Teddy usually isn't too into playing yet. Our evenings are much more rushed. We generally have about an hour to feed her, change her, bathe her (and when she puts avocado and cream cheese in her hair on the same day it's necessary), read, have the last bottle and get to sleep. Amelia is pretty predictable that she will get SUPER hyper for about 5 minutes and then crash. So we do get a few minutes of playing, but it's always watching for the signs of meltdown. That's why the mornings are so great. She's trying really hard not to be, but she's still our little baby and we love her very much.