The Minneapolis McCues

Last week was my first entire week off with my baby girl and it went pretty well. I have found that finding at least one thing to get us out of the house every day makes the day go by that much quicker. So, we made sure to keep busy.

First of all, a week ago Sunday I went to my good friend Jen DuBois' Baby Shower while Jon stayed home with Meredith. I had a great time just getting out of the house as well as seeing a bunch of my good college girl friends. I am truly looking forward to meeting Jen's little boy in the beginning of December!

The rest of the days of the week had a similar pattern. I get up around 4 or 5am to feed Meri, then we go back to sleep, then we get up again at 7 or 8am and go back to sleep one more time. Then I set me alarm to get up around 9 or 10am to shower before getting Meri up for her next feeding. Every 2 to 3 days I also get Meredith up a little early to sneak in a bath before or feeding at 10 or 11am. After this feeding Meredith is usually pretty awake and at her happiest (who wouldn't be after sleeping nearly 12 hours !). So, I spend a lot of time talking and singing to her - while doing my makeup and hair (if I'm going somewhere). Then I put her in the Baby Bjorn when she gets fussy, which predictably happens and I get a few things done around the house, oh and I often grab lunch (and I usually don't drop much of it on Meri as I eat over her head!). Then after her 1 to 2pm feeding we run our errands. Then we're home by 4 or 5pm, she eats again and then hopefully daddy's home by then (though last week Jon was gone until 8 or 9pm a couple of the nights!).

So, on Monday our big outing was to Target and Michaels to find picture frames for some of the professional photos we had done. Meri got quite fussy at Michael's, so I got to use one of those lovely changing tables they have in bathrooms. I'm not looking forward to those in the future, especially with a kicking 2 year old! Thankfully Jon was home at a descent time that day, because Meredith was fussier than usual.

On Tuesday we met my friend Nicole and her daughter Paisely (and Nicole's sister Jenna) out for lunch at a local diner. The lunch was great and it was fun talking about baby stuff while our two little babes slept so quietly in their car seats! Later that day, Meredith, the dog and I took advantage of the rainless day and took a little walk with her stroller up to Caribou Coffee and then back along the Minnehaha Creek. I grabbed an absolutely delicious apple cider and a scone! I look forward to making the walk again soon - maybe today!

On Wednesday we decided to try baby yoga. And I would have to say, Meredith wasn't quite sure what to think of it. It is a yoga class designed just for mom's and their babies. We were there with about ten other moms and babies. We stretched out our yoga mats and laid a folded blanket at the end of it to lay the baby on. The first 15 minutes we massaged and stretched the baby. The next 15 minutes we held the babies and did yoga poses with them. And the last 30 minutes we do the yoga poses while the babies lay on the blankets. We do try to engage them by moving our hands and feet over their heads and occasionally touch them. Meredith do fine the first 30 minutes, but wasn't happy being ignored on the blanket. I also think it was a little sensory overload for her and she fell asleep as soon as she got into the car seat at the end. They said it takes a few times before the babies get used to yoga and then they start to enjoy it, so we'll go again this week and see what happens.

Thursday was a very busy day. We headed out after her 11am feeding and returned briefly at 4:30pm and then weren't home again until 8pm! We went to United Hospital (where I work) so that I could get my seasonal flu shot and the H1N1 nasal mist. Then I took the opportunity to show my baby off to my coworkers. We had a great time and it was nice to see my work colleagues again! I then took the opportunity to feed Meredith in our on call room before heading to my 6 week postpartum checkup. That ended up taking a lot longer than I had hoped and Meredith was pretty fussy. I'm sure she was pretty sick of sitting in her car seat all day. We got home just in time for her to eat at 5pm. Then we went to our first Happy Hour, yep you heard me right, happy hour! We met some of my fellow anesthetists out at new restaurant called Cooper (an Irish Pub in St. Louis Park). And don't worry, Meredith wasn't the only baby there, she had her 3 week old friend, Paisley, to keep her company. Meri did pretty well, she slept for awhile in her car seat, then she started to fuss - but I barely heard her because the place was so loud and packed with people. I decided that was how it should be done, bring Meri out to places where it is so loud that if she starts to fuss, no one can even hear her - not even me! So I took her out of her seat and sat her on my lap, she seemed to have a grand old time just looking around at all the people!

Then on Friday we were home-bodies because we had to get packed and ready to head down to Blue Earth for the weekend, which did take all day long! Jon and I had to carefully coordinate our departure so we could make the 2 hour drive in between feedings - which was quite a feat. Jon ended up leaving a surgery early so we could get on the road, then we hit traffic and weather. Meri did pretty well, but I'm glad we were in the car together because I spent a lot of time putting her pacifier back in her mouth! When we got to my parents house they had to get a little bit of cuddling in before I fed her. Then we finally all ate dinner together at around 8pm. We had just enough time to chat a bit, then we all headed to bed!

On Saturday morning we had to get ready and be at my mom's friend Brenda's house for my final baby shower. It was a few of my friends, some relatives and a bunch of my mom's friends. I had a great time showing Meredith off and we got a bunch of lovely gifts. We got a lot of cute clothes and in sizes that we need. I don't think I'll have to start buying Meredith any clothes until she's one year old! I've spent a large part of the last couple of days washing and organizing these clothes. All the thank you cards will be another project to get to in the next week or so!

Then that afternoon I got to catch up with my bestest girlfriend, Sheila. She came over to my mom's to visit and see Meredith. She had surprised me and visited us in the hospital before we came home, but hadn't seen Meri since. She was going to be in town with her son for Halloween and was going to go out that evening. I had thought I would try to meet her out that night, but ended up just staying home with the family instead.

That night we went "Trick or Treat"-ing with my 4 year old niece, Madison and my nephew Brooks. Meredith was a peapod, Brooks was a frog and Madison was Tinkerbell. We put the babies in the strollers and went around the neighborhood near my sister's house. We did make a stop across town at my Gma Wick's then headed back to my mom's where my brother, sister-in-law, step-sister, step-bro-in-law and their son, my mom and step-dad and my sis, bro-in-law and Madison were. We all just hung around, the men talked smart and drank - while us girls hung with the babies and chatted. It was a fun and relaxing evening. We even stayed up until 11pm (an hour past our usual bedtime), taking advantage of the time change early!

The next morning was my nephew Brooks' baptism. Jon and I are his Godparents, which we are very honored to be. However we did get some guff from the pastor because Jon and I currently do not belong to a church, nor have we been to one. This baptism, as well as the birth of our daughter, has made us think about looking into and possibly joining a church - so there may be more on that later. My mother held Meri during the church service. She slept almost the whole time. I just took her for the last 10 minutes and held and bounced her in the back of the church. After church we all headed to my sister's house for a little lunch. I think there were 30+ people in her little home, but it worked. We ate, chatted, fawned over Brooks and Meri, and watched Emily, Andrew and Madison open the gifts. After gifts and feeding Meri, Jon and I quickly threw her in her car seat to make the trip home.

But the weekend wasn't quite over.... we got home, I fed Meri while Jon unloaded the dog and the car - then I packed Meredith up once again to head over to my coworker, Mary's home in the Highland Park area of St. Paul for my friend Nicole's work baby shower! Mary always throws a good party, and this was no exception. There were a bunch of my colleagues, who are also my friends, there and there was great food. I love getting together with a bunch of people, there is never a shortage of people willing to hold my baby girl and I get to have actual adult conversations with real people! I had a wonderful time and got to catch up on work gossip. It's amazing how quickly I've forgotten about all the things that tick me off at work. It has been nice to get away from that, but nevertheless, I am looking forward to going back to work - just a little bit though!

So, that was my week! I'm home with Meredith again this week and so far, we've been keeping busy. Nothing exciting though, just trying to get chores done. Yesterday our big adventure was getting groceries. Since I went alone, I used the Baby Bjorn so I could actually have room in the shopping cart for groceries. It worked great! We'll definitely do that again. And so far today, we had people come over to clean our vents and chimney and do a check on the furnace. They also left the gate open when they left, so I got to go on a little chase to get our dog (luckily a kindly dog walker saw Jada run out, knocked on my door and then helped me catch her, all while Meri napped in her vibrating chair). Tomorrow we have a handyman coming to do a bunch of projects, and we hope to do baby yoga again. Thursday we're going to hang out with Nicole and Paisley and Friday we're having a visit from my step-brother, lunch with friends downtown and Jon's dad and step-mom fly in for the weekend. Busy, busy, busy!! I had no idea I'd be so pressed for time while on maternity leave!

Here are a bunch of pics from the past week.... Hope to post again soon!