Two Months (11 days late)

I'm pretty sure that it's an unwritten rule that mothers of small children are always late.  I use to really pride myself on my punctuality but that has gone right out the window these last few months since it takes me approximately 8,342 hours to get myself and Declan ready to go.  Add Garrett and Mike to the mix and I mind as well just stay home!  So this is my "two month" post a bit late.  I've thrown in the towel on the one month post.

It's hard to believe Declan is two months already (10 weeks to be exact).  He is really started to show his personality.  He is still a bit stingy with his smiles but you can always count on some big gummy grins right after he eats.  We had a baby shower for his soon to be cousin on Sunday and Declan was flashing smiles at the whole family. He has also started babbling a lot in the evenings and I managed to get a little video of him talking back to use one day last week. 

He LOVES pat-a-cake and when I pretend to eat his toes. He was a trooper for his shots, only letting out one big scream befire deciding he was okay.  He is eating about 7 times in a 24 hour period, giving us one good stretch at night between feedings, usually somewhere between 4 and 6 hours. Last week he went 6 hours 45 minutes and I seriously felt like a new person. He naps pretty well during the day but I have to watch for signs he is tired because he can be fussy if he gets overly tired. We are following the eat, wake, sleep pattern which gives us both some consistency without having a rigid schedule. In general, he's a pretty happy baby and we love him to pieces.

It's hard to believe that I am headed back to work in a little under two weeks.  The idea is still a bit terrifying but I'm sure after a few weeks it will just be the new norm.  I will be leaving earlier in the mornings and leaving Mike to get Garrett off to the school bus which I am a little nervous about since the two of them do not seem to see eye to eye in the morning.  Part of me things this will be a good exercise for them, learning to sort out their differences without me around to jump in.  I'm also concerned with what our evenings will look like with me back to work.  I've always spent a decent amount of time when I get home from work preparing and cooking dinner while Garrett works on his homework.  So I'm working on some ideas for shortening the amount of time I spend prepping and cooking in the evenings.  First on the list is to pick simpler recipes and save the fun stuff for weekends.  I'm also going to dedicate some time on Sundays to cutting and prepping as much as I can for dinner and lunches during the week.