I always wonder what the heck people do on maternity leave. Even now I wonder this because I myself cannot even account for my time. Andy and Belén get home at the end of the day and after I have given and received ample hugs and kisses from my first born, Andy inevitably asks me how my day went. My response is pretty typically, “It was good. We (insert a couple of the following activities: slept in, went for a walk, ate breakfast, ate lunch, barfed, had a blow out, took a bath [Eloise], took a shower [Mommy], took a nap, walked to the coffee shop, did tummy time, wrote a blog, watched a show on television, unsuccessfully attempted to keep myself hydrated, did dishes, did laundry, cleaned up, unloaded the dishwasher, edited some photos, read blogs, made dinner, made dessert), but honestly I cannot account for my time and I really don’t know where the day went.” Andy usually says something like, “Oh ya. You spent a lot of time feeding her too.” and then we carry on with our evening.

5. PUMP WHEN YOUR MILK COMES IN UNTIL BABY’S THREE WEEK GROWTH SPURT

This final tip is something I figured out on my own this past month. It is not something I have discussed with my doctor or with a lactation consultant so take this as Alecia’s breastfeeding tip and not something that other people would necessarily recommend. It is probably most applicable to working mom’s who generate a lot of milk when their milk first comes in.

When my milk came in, I for one had ginormous knockers which my husband quickly named stripper boobs. They were SO HUGE and SO FULL OF MILK, it was often very uncomfortable. The same thing happened with I had Belén and I just lived through it and decided not to pump any of the milk out in fear that I would be training my boobs they needed to make THAT much milk and perpetuating the problem.

This time around, knowing somewhere down the line, Eloise would go through a growth spurt that would cause my boobs to not be producing enough milk for her needs, I decided to try and start putting some milk away early. I didn’t want to pump too much and trick my boobs into thinking they were feeding twins so I decided to pump up to 4-6 ounces in the morning after a full night of milk production and and night to try and get my boobs more comfortable before bed. Both times I would feed Eloise and then pump some of the excess milk out. On only one day, I allowed myself a noon pumping as well for comfort.

If you would have asked me a week ago what I would do if the baby hadn’t come by next Friday, I would have told you I would go crazy.  I was still working the day before my scheduled c-section with Belén and I thought I would be doing the same thing with Eloise as [...]

Before we had kids, I was notorious for having something going on literally every night of the week. For awhile there it was my MBA, but during most of the time, it was extracurricular activities such as playing Ultimate Frisbee or mountain biking. Often it was meeting friends for dinner and drinks. We were busy social bee’s and I especially seemed to fill up every spare hour. Andy always said I had a “rock star schedule.”

When I became pregnant with Belén and the first trimester sleepiness set in, everything changed. I tried to stay home as much as possible in the evening and spent my time reading and occasionally watching TV. Once Belén came along and our world was turned upside and sideways, I became completely obsessed with spending every non-working moment with our sweet girl. It absolutely killed me to be away from her for a minute longer than I had to.

I still hate to be away from her (and Andy), but have learned to tolerate and even enjoy some of those non-working, not-at-home moments. One reason I am able to enjoy them is because they are few and far between. Besides one investment club meeting a month, I do not have many scheduled evenings and I absolutely adore this fact. Sure, sometimes, I read about the 20-somethings all meeting for drinks or fun downtown on twitter and have the urge to join them, but the second I consider the opportunity cost, I know my plan will be to go home for the evening and spend it with my family. If you tell 25-year-old Alecia how 33-year-old Alecia would spend her evenings and like it, she wouldn’t believe you.

Being 33 weeks pregnant is probably not a good time to reinstall a rock star schedule, but somehow it has happened for one week only. Monday we had a make up hypnobirthing class since our teacher was sick last week. Tuesday was investment club. Wednesday is our last hypnobirthing class and Thursday was supposed to be a new book club I want to join but I had to cancel because I simply cannot do this much time away. I think the few number of hours I get with Belén in the evening is the only thing that keeps my sanity as a working mom and I cannot afford to lose sanity now.

So in short, I just need to get through this week and then the rockstar schedule will be put back into the closet until a much later time, only to be brought out on some other special week in the far far future when there will be two little munchkins running around…asking where mommy is.

Andy left for China the day after we returned home from Cancún and boy have we ever missed him.

I stepped up my domestic game, got the laundry done, cooked some meals including one in the crock pot, packed lunches, brought in the milk from the porch, fed the animals each day and even did a very superb job of straightening up for the cleaning ladies so I could come home to a spotless house.

I comforted B in the middle of the night when she needed it, fed her meals, got her to daycare, picked her up, fed her again, read her books, played with her, bathed her, brushed her teeth and sang a bedtime song right before putting her down to bed.

And I worked full-time, exercised and am 24-weeks pregnant. On top of that, Thursday I acquired a cold to which I cannot treat with drugs and very uncharacteristically, Belén was awake for three hours Thursday night. And tonight she went to bed with a fever so who knows what we are in for.

While this reads like a poor me post, it’s really intended as both a thank you to a husband who normally helps/does so many of the aforementioned tasks (and the not-so-fun-ones at that) as well as an expression of absolute awe to any working parent who always has to do it on their own. You have my utmost awe and respect!

To my dear husband, welcome home! We cannot wait to have you back! And thank you, thank you, thank you for all that you do to take care of your girls!

Perhaps only few of you have been fortunate enough to attend what Andy and I dub a “nerd party.” We use this term lovingly as we actually met at a nerd party, the 1999 end of year University of Idaho Computer Science Department Party at Professor Miller’s house. He had a broken leg and was perched by the food table. I like to hang out by the food table. It was really inevitable we would meet, become a pair, date, marry, travel the world, have babies… When people ask me for dating advice (almost never) I just say “hang out by the food table and be friendly.”

To be awarded to those who are on a budget, on the go, attempting to juggle it all with their cup of Joe.

There has been a lot going on for me personally this week. Work is very high pressure and demanding a lot of extra time and emotional energy at the moment. This is with my “old” job which I will soon be transitioning out of but first need to get my team through some very important deliverables.

Yes it is cliché, but this guilt is a very real thing. If you are not careful, it can eat you alive. I try and listen to all of these guilty signals in my head and course correct if any of them get too out of whack. I have found that the key is to not be too hard on yourself and to let the less important things go. The house does not have to be spotless EVERY day. My work hours can be flexible when needed so I can put in more hours after Belén is in bed. If I get a workout in during the morning hours before Belén is awake, the entire day works out better. On days when I really feel like I need more time with B, I do the daycare drop off so I can get an extra 30 minutes with her. I communicate with Andy about roles and responsibilities I am expecting him to do. I ask for help (usually.)

Being that it’s a Monday morning after a jam-packed weekend that left us exhausted and wanting more, I thought it might be appropriate to visit the topic of what motivates us. This is very applicable to a work-environment but applies to everything in our lives. Here’s a hint, it’s probably not what you think it is.