SAHM status

It's 1:30 a.m. on Wed, the second week of officially being a stay at home mom - SAHM. I am loving this, folks. Loving it. 

Yes, I still worry about finances and miss my pay check. That said, Mr. Jem is finishing up his 11th month at his "new job" and is kicking ass and doing really, really well. He loves his job, loves going to work, loves his colleagues and is breaking sales records monthly. Only thing - wish they offered health insurance and paid him more.

Rosie continues to grow - She's 16 lbs, 10 oz - and is so much fun. She wakes up every morning with a huge smile on her face. She's giggling and loves when I sing to her. She rolls over to her tummy from her back and can do a back-stroke gesture to roll back on to her back. She's starting to scootch back and yesterday actually got on to her knees and hands, like she might actually crawl! I'm not ready for that, tho. The thought of her mobile is a bit scary.

The other huge change in our lives - yes, having a baby has changed our lives fundamentally!! - my mother has moved from Oregon to my town. 10 minutes away in a retirement community. It's great to have her so close, to have Sunday dinner together, to have someone to watch Rosie when I go to dentist. It's going really, really, really well. She drove with me into San Francisco last week when I cleaned out my desk at work (bittersweet moment - I'll miss my colleagues, miss downtown SF, miss my job, but NOT miss actually seeing my daughter grow up).

Okay, I better go back to sleep. Rosie slept 4 hours, needed nursing and is now back asleep.

~Jem

Cliches I thought I'd never hear

While at lunch today with two friends with babies, I actually heard these two cliches:

One friend asked, "So is Rosie on solids yet?"

Me: "No, she's not yet 5 months. We're in no hurry."

Her: "You should."   She then lectured me one why.  I'm the only one still breast-feeding  plus, really?!? Are you my doctor?!? Why are moms in such a hurry?

Next cliche - same friend:  "You have to let her cry it out. If she cries when you put her down she's trying to manipulate you."

Me: "No, it just means she wants to be held."

I thought those cliches were dead.   Good grief.

What cliche/myth have you heard lately?

~Jem

Infertility Podcast - Bitter Infertiles

At long last there's an infertility-related podcast!  

Check out Bitter Infertiles - click here to listen. And here to get it through iTunes.

"This week we discuss the public perception of miscarriage, open adoption with Lori Lavender Luz, and why celebrity pregnancies annoy us."

Be sure to subscribe and support our community.

~Jem

Losing my marbles

It's official! I'm so sleep deprived that I'm losing things, namely my keys. Twice. First I lost my regular set of keys somewhere between the house and the car a couple of weeks ago. Yesterday I lost the spare set of house keys. Again, somewhere between the house and the car, but maybe at he store. Mr. Jem was upset and super concerned.

BTW, his job is going really nicely, with two record months of sales. And he still lives what he's doing and his team.

Rosie has been napping but only briefly (20-30 min). No naps for me. Tired. Very tired.

~Jem

In a fog...

Lack of sleep has me completely in a fog. If I can get one thing done a day, it's amazing. I don't know how working moms do it. Good grief! I'm working on refinancing the Jem household before I officially quite my job. Gulp. Did I just type those words?

I don't have a lot to report. Just received a box of baby books from a college friend - they are in French! How fun to read to Rosie in French. It always makes her smile and laugh when I read or talk to her in French. She loves it.

So much better to be blogging on the PC, rather than my silly small iPhone screen.

Gotta go as Rosie is trying to "talk" to me. And Sharky cat wants to be fed.

~Jem

Rosie is 17 weeks? Already? Really?

Holy cow, time flies!

Things have been up and down - mostly up. Motherhood rocks, better than I could have imagined. Rosie is a joy. That smile alone melts my heart.

Okay, enough unicorn farts. Reality? 

First issue: I wish she slept more. 

She hasn't been napping and that has been affecting her night-time sleep - waking more often. So we started sleep school today. Didn't go on a walk with local moms, just concentrated on napping. 

Two hours after she woke I tried putting her in her crib for her morning nap. Epic fail. Tons of crying. Instead I rocked her and sang to her and ended up nursing her to sleep. Which is what I have been doing every night.  The "twins" are a bit sore, to say the least.

Rosie slept in my arms for a couple of hours. I slept too. I'm tired. Living off five hours of sleep (total) is hard. I've been breast-feeding her on demand and plan to continue this, but the sleep thing has to happen. During the day and at night. Must. Sleep. More.

Second issue: to go back to work or not. I've been agonizing over what to do. It's a hard issue, deeply psychologically, emotionally and financially scary. I could write a whole post just on this topic. Maybe I will, but I'm so busy with this parenting thing, that I can't really promise to. The bottom line is that we can afford for me to stay home with Rosie, if we tighten our belts - living in the San Francisco Bay Area is expensive. I've yet to actually tell my boss that I'm not coming back. Scary. Except that all I want to do is stay home with her. My commute to work was one hour each way. I can't imagine doing my job, commuting and coming home to take care of the house and spend time with the kidlet, wake in the night to nurse her, etc. I know I could do it if necessary. But if I don't really have to...

Okay, better go sleep because Rosie is sleeping (not on me for once).

Do know that just because I don't post often, I am reading your blogs and thinking of all of you.

~Jem

Pic

Check out how big and grown up Rosie is now!

 

I can't seem to get this picture in the right direction. At least you can see how cute she is!

~Jem