First Day of School

Mallory's first day of school was today and it was definitely harder on me than it was on her. We dropped her off around 9:30am and stayed for a little while to make sure she - or should I say I - didn't have separation issues. I actually did much better than I thought I was going to do and only teared up a little bit throughout the day. She didn't even seem to care that we were leaving once we put her down on the mat to play with her classmates. Today she had three other kids in her class and two of them were extremely curious in Mallory's presence, especially the little boy. Even Mallory herself appeared to be really inquisitive of the other infants. She's been around my friends' kids but never more than one at a time so I think her interest was much more peaked this time. 

After saying our final goodbyes, Jody and I decided to go out to breakfast; something we haven't done in a very long time. This was the first time that he and I had an entire day to ourselves since before Mallory was born, and we had all these grand ideas of what we could do with our day together. We entertained going to see a movie, going to the raceway, even going to hit golf balls at the range. But what did we end up doing instead? Ran a couple errands, took a cat nap, and just relaxed around the house. I went and got a much needed pedicure that felt awesome while Jody took Leo for a run around the neighborhood. Even though we didn't go and do anything crazy exciting, I think I enjoyed the way that we spent our day together even more just taking it easy. 

Of course I couldn't help but think about Mallory all day long. I wondered what she was doing, how she was feeling, if she was having a good time, was she sad, was she crying too much. You name it, it ran through my mind. I was missing my little shadow like crazy. Around 1:30pm I told Jody that I really wanted to call over there to see how she was doing. I didn't, but I wanted to. I'm not sure why I want to try so hard not to be that overly protective first time dropping their kid off at daycare parent. I'm sure at some point this week when I'm sitting at work with a few minutes to spare I'll pick up the phone and dial in to my daughter's class because I can't help myself. Just goes to show how much I adore this little girl and hate spending even a day away from her.

When we picked her up she was all smiles for us which totally made my heart melt. Her teacher had nothing but positive things to say about Mallory. She was in a good mood the whole time - boy does she have them fooled! It did make me feel better knowing that she wasn't crying and scared the whole time because I'm not sure how I would handle being able to bring her back tomorrow if she did have a bad day. Though Mallory doesn't grasp the concept of time yet, I do feel like she was super excited to see us. She even buried her face into my neck for awhile when I picked her up. I soaked it up big time.

Tomorrow we do it all over again except this time I get her and me ready on my own and I have to do it all within three hours. Let's hope Mallory let's me get a little more sleep tonight than usual so I'm at least half way functional for my first day back at work. Daycare Day #1 was a success, phew!

Spoiled Little Girl

My mom came down last week to visit with Mallory and I one last time before I go back to work, so naturally we went shopping. Mallory has recently grown out of the 0-3 months size clothing so we needed to stock up on items in the next size. I still had a gift card that I received at Christmas for Kohl's and they were having a great sale on baby clothes so my mom and I went a little crazy. There are 20 different outfits in this picture; such a spoiled little girl we have on our hands. Now the hard part is picking out which one to wear for her first day of school.

Coming to the End

Well, I am saddened to say that I am coming to the end of my maternity leave. On Tuesday I will be reporting back to work after having four months off to be with my little girl. Even though the first two months of Mallory's life were challenging and at times I felt like time was creeping by, now that she's so much more fun and enjoyable I feel like time flew by. I do feel a little cheated that because she arrived a week late I sort of wasted the first two weeks of my maternity leave. Though with as much pain as my sciatic was causing me at the end of my pregnancy those two weeks to myself were a blessing. I definitely wish I could extend my time for another two months at least, but adulthood beckons at me. I did have the option to completely exhaust all of my vacation but I figure that Mallory will be getting sick so I need to keep some hours in my bank to use.

Her first day of school will actually be on Monday - even though I don't go back until Tuesday - for a couple of reasons. One, it will be nice to have a transition day for me to get used to her not being around. I'm not scared to leave her with other people - as I have full confidence in the daycare we chose - but I've gotten so used to her being my little shadow and I already know I'm going to miss her terribly. Yes there are times when she's being the devil and I wish for some time alone, but not all day for multiple days in a row. The second reason is so Jody and I can have a whole day to ourselves. He took the day off. So though it will be a sad day it will also be a good day. 

It's going to be interesting to see how harder my days will become once I'm back at work. In my opinion, being a working mom is much harder than being a stay at home mom. I'm sure there are many women who would disagree with me on that, but as I stated, that's just my opinion. Unfortunately, Mallory isn't sleeping through the night anymore and hasn't been for a few weeks at least. I've been trying so many different things to fix it but I can't seem to find the answer yet. I'm not going to give up though. Because of the sleepless nights I'm worried how I'll do when I'm sleep deprived and trying to focus at work. Hopefully I'll either get used to it quickly or she'll magically start sleeping through the night again. I'm crossing my fingers for the later. I'm going to make notes of all the things I'll need to make sure I remember to bring when I leave the house every morning so I don't forget something. Though I'm counting on forgetting a lot in the beginning.

While more of me is sad to be going back to work and leaving my little girl, there is a part of me that is okay with having time away. I'm looking forward to missing her and I can't wait to experience the feeling of seeing her after my first day back. The butterflies in the tummy feeling. My time away from her will be good for the both of us. She seems more high maintenance to me than other babies that I know and requires a lot of my attention and holding so the ladies at daycare have their work cut out for them. She's going to have to learn how to be more independent. I just hope she doesn't cry too much while she's getting used to being in a new environment and new routine. I know she'll eventually get used to it; probably much faster than I get used to being back at work.

I already know I'll be crying on Monday, and probably on Tuesday too. Heck, I'll probably cry a little bit every day next week. Especially right after I drop her off in the morning and I'm sitting in traffic on the freeway on the way in to work. I need to make a note to remember to start bringing my make up bag to work with me so I can fix what the tears ruin. My boss has already been warned that I might be somewhat emotional at first and totally understands. She's also selfishly a little happy that my maternity leave is coming to an end; she's been holding down the fort by herself this whole time so I'm not surprised that she wants me to come back so bad. I'll be busy with projects pretty much as soon as I get back which I'm glad about because it'll help me keep my mind off of how much I'll be missing Mallory. 

I'm sure this change in our routine will become easier with each passing day but I'm really not looking forward to having to get used to it. Maternity leave has been so nice and I'm grateful for the time that I was able to spend with my little girl. She has definitely made my life more meaningful. Hopefully I won't miss too many of her firsts and she'll save them for Jody and I when we're at home instead of showing off to the teachers at her daycare. My maternity leave may be coming to an end but it's also a sign of new adventures to come. New milestones to experience, new friends to make, and new memories to create.

Spread the News, I'm in Business

My previous post was a picture of a package that I received in the mail on Monday that put a childlike smile on my face with the promise to fill you in later. Well, that package was from a fantastic company called MOO and inside were business cards that I designed. Business cards for me to start promoting the Wedding & Event Planning that I have been doing on the side for family and friends. Most people know that my day job is a Conference Planner at CSUS. What some might not realize is that I also plan weddings and events on the side which I absolutely love. With three weddings and multiple events under my belt, and two weddings in the making for this year so far, I decided that it was time for me to take the next step and order business cards. If I want more people to know that I can help them with their wedding and/or events then business cards are a must for me to start handing out.

Up until now I've relied on word of mouth to let others know that I plan weddings and events. And I can thankfully say that it has worked out quite well for me. But even I know that I can't solely rely on word of mouth if I want to really take my planning to the next level. And although I don't have immediate plans for my side business to turn into a full time gig any time soon, I would like to start getting more clients to work with and in order to do that I need to promote myself more. It took me a few days of playing around on the MOO website to decide on the design that I chose for my business cards and though they are somewhat plain, I'm really happy with the way that they turned out.

So without further ado, I am excited to share my business cards with you and anyone else who might be interested! If you or anyone you know needs help planning their wedding or event, I would love to meet with you. Whether you need help planning the whole thing or just coordination the day of, I am at your service. Spread the news, I'm in business!

 

Jacqueline Jenkins

Wedding & Event Planner

(916) 662-5028

jacqueline.griffith@yahoo.com

Enjoy your event. Leave the stress to a professional.

Caught It

Mallory rolled over on her own for the first time yesterday afternoon and I've been trying ever since to capture it on camera. Well, I caught it tonight! I made sure to be ready to click record as soon as I put her down because most times she does it so quickly. Proud of my little girl so of course I had to share it right away!

They Came

I received something in the mail yesterday that I'm super excited about. It has something to do with one of the goals that I set for myself this year. I'll explain more in a bit but here's a little snapshot to keep you guessing.

Feeling Like My Age

Though I'm not afraid to get older, I don't particularly enjoy when a situation leaves me feeling like my age. Saturday night was a good example of such a situation. One of my best friends flew in to town on Friday and we made plans to hang out Saturday for some quality girl time. We were going out that night so of course we needed to go shopping to try and find something new to wear. Drove down the street to the Folsom Outlets and set out on mission to find this new mom - who hasn't been to a club in over a year - something sexy. Unfortunately I was unsuccessful, but luckily Annie came prepared with extra outfits so I was able to mix some of my things with hers to create a cute little number. After dinner we realized that we still had another three hours to kill before leaving for downtown, knowing that if we didn't stay busy during those three hours we would most likely lose our steam and end up not going out. That was the first sign of feeling like my age. When I was in my young-twenties I had so much energy that figuring out what to do while waiting to go out wasn't even a concern. Now, not so much. Fortunately the other girls we were going out with invited us over to their place so we didn't have to worry about losing our going out energy.
  

By the time we got to the club the line was somewhat long yet surprisingly we got through it fairly quickly. This was the first time I had been to this particular club - MIX - and based on feedback from others my expectations were that it was going to be good. Once inside, not only did I feel like a sardine as we made our way through the crowd, it was the second sign of feeling like my age. Having barely any space to even stand never used to bother me. Now, not so much. I found myself constantly trying to move just to be able to have some personal space and when we migrated to the dance floor it was even worse. I don't think I would have minded so much had the DJ been playing good music. He started out good but quickly turned bad when he started playing songs that were popular in high school that should be kept in that decade. 
 

I quickly went from being excited to be out with my girl friends for the first time in a really long time, to wanting to be curled up in my nice comfy bed getting as much sleep as possible before Mallory woke up. On a good night 12:30am means I've been asleep for at least two hours already. Never before in my life before becoming a mom had I analyzed my time comparing it to how much sleep I could be getting instead. I found myself looking at the crowd of club goers and feeling like I didn't quite belong anymore. Geesh, when did I become such a critic?! Don't get me wrong, I LOVE to dance to good music that is way too loud with my friends, but the club scene is totally different to me now. It's just not the nearly as fun as it used to be and I know that it's because I'm getting older.

We stayed at the club until 1:00am and finally gave in to the sleepiness and aching feet beckoning us to go home. Looking back to my early college days I remember sometimes not even getting home from a night out with friends until 4:00am. Wow have things changed. Overall I had a great night out for the first time since becoming a mom, and I'm thankful for my husband for staying in with Mallory so I could do so. Luckily for him, she went down for bed not too long after Annie and I left the house, and she didn't wake me up until 6:00am. Definitely not enough sleep for me, but more than I was expecting. Thank you little girl.

The biggest sign of feeling like my age that my Saturday night out showed me was when I got up the next morning. I only had a few drinks throughout the night so I didn't have a hangover from alcohol - thank God - but I did have a hangover from lack of sleep which isn't fun either. My head ached, which I contribute more towards hitting the back of my head on a box of lights that were conveniently covered by the pillows in the booth we were sitting in at the club. My feet were sore from the awesome boots that I wore even though I knew they wouldn't be comfortable to dance in. Definitely, definitely woke up feeling my age; booooo. Now it's got me contemplating my 30th birthday trip to Vegas that I was so looking forward to this year. I'm not so sure I want to spend that much money on a trip that might not be as awesome as I have it pictured in my head. Maybe I should reconsider and do a trip a little more low-key that won't leave me feeling like my age so much. Like a trip to Napa for wine tasting and pampering...I could be okay with that...hmmmmm...

Serious Face

Even though Mallory's feet don't quite touch the floor in order for her to be able to bounce herself, she still enjoys staring at the bright lights and listening to the melodies in her Einstein jumper. Don't let her serious face in the video fool you, she breaks out the smiles and laughs as soon as the camera turns off. She wouldn't want people thinking that she doesn't keep Jody and I on our toes!

Channeling Martha

Though I don't make New Year's resolutions, I do believe that it's important to set goals for yourself throughout the year to make sure that you continue to challenge yourself. And when a new year rolls around it can be a great time to reflect on your life and change what you see fit. Kind of like when your boss does an evaluation on your job performance and you work harder in the areas that need some improvement. Unlike New Year's resolutions that only come around once a year, setting goals can happen any time during the year.

One of the goals that I would like to achieve is somewhat simple yet good for the creative side of my brain. The goal: I will be channeling Martha; as in Martha Stewart. I've had a Martha Stewart Living magazine subscription now for almost two years. I absolutely love going through them, admiring the glossy pages filled with genius ideas. But most months after I look through the magazine a couple of times I just toss it in the bin that guests can flip through. Instead I would like to find at least one thing in that month's magazine to actually do. Whether it be a craft idea, a recipe, or an organizational tip. As long as it's something new that I've never done before.

I'm still trying to decide what I'll be doing out of the January edition. I've got it narrowed down to a few choices so I just need to make up my mind. I guess it's good when there's more than one thing that peaks my interest. I actually started this goal last month and made the Pinup Wreath with some of the holiday cards I received. I couldn't find really wide ribbon like the picture in the magazine but I was still happy with the outcome of my project and got some nice compliments on it. I may not be exactly like Ms. Stewart but I enjoy trying!

Three Months

Little girl is three months old today. Her personality is starting to bloom and it's fun to see her change and become more of a little buddy. She's much more playful and smiley, and has even started to turn her giggles into more of a laugh. She hasn't figured out the shrieking when excited but I'm sure it'll come soon enough. She totally comes out of her shell when she's on her changing pad. She loves it so much that we also have one downstairs that we put on the couch. This is also the spot where she babbles the most. Jody's nickname for her is Burbles, so cute. Sometimes she talks so much it's as if she's spilling her guts to you. I love her when she's in these moods and they're starting to happen more frequently. She still has her grumpy days - like yesterday - where I wouldn't mind letting someone else borrow her for the day. Then again, so do adults so who am I to complain.

She is still trying to master sleeping through the night. Definitely better ever since rediscovering the magic of the swaddle, but she still wakes up at least once or twice at night. Most times I can get away with just giving her her pacifier, other times I have to give her a small midnight snack. Just enough to make her think her tummy is full to knock her back out. I'm starting to pick up shortcuts that I can do to make things easier; the things that only becoming a mother can bring out of you. I'm still amazed at how different even I am becoming through this process and I'm proud of how I've handled it thus far.

Maternity leave will be over for me at the end of this month and I am starting to realize how much I'm going to miss being with her during the day. Though I don't see myself as one, I now know why so many women decide not to go back to work and become a stay at home mom. These past three months have been surreal, scary, emotional, fun, not so fun, and awesome all at once. They have gone by so quickly and yet so slowly. Mallory has touched my heart in a way that only your child can do. My love for her is so different than any other love I've known and I am having so much fun falling harder in love with my little girl.

Giggles

Mallory started laughing a little while ago but it's still not the cracking up kind of laughs that I'm looking forward to. I was able to catch a few giggles on camera to share (sorry you have to tilt your head to watch it). It's hard to get her laughs on camera because as soon as she sees it she shows her serious face as if though the camera is trying to pull some kind of shenanigan on her.

Make It Work

So my training for the Shamrock Half Marathon officially began this week and I'm already nervous. Not because I'm worried I can't handle my training regimen but because I'm worried how much time I'll be able to devote to it each day. The training schedule that I use I found online a couple of half marathons ago and I tweaked it a bit as I found what best fit my running style. As with any half marathon training schedule, there's going to be some form of exercise required almost every single day of the week. My schedule requires six out of the seven days, which is a lot when I work full-time. And now that I also have to stack on my plate a little girl to look after, it leaves me even less time during the day. However, I knew this going in and I'm determined to figure out a way to make it work. I have a feeling it means that my sleep time will be effected, but I understand that it's only for a few months and I've lived off of less sleep before so I don't think I'll die. So let's do this so I can finally be in the sought after 13.1 club that I've trained four times to be a part of!

Shame On Me

So I've been really bad at blogging lately; shame on me. It seems that the only time I have for it lately is after putting Mallory down at night or super early in the morning before she wakes up, but I'm usually too tired to do so. I'm behind on a post for Christmas and New Year's; not a great way to start the new year, late. So I'm going to summarize a bit.

Christmas Eve we went over to Jamie's to have Christmas with the Jenkins clan because not everyone was going to be able to make Christmas day. We had the traditional meal of Chinese food for dinner making it easy for everyone so there wasn't a bunch of cooking and clean up to deal with. Afterward Kaylee reminded us that it was time to open gifts which were primarily centered around her and Mallory. We did a secret Santa gift among the siblings for the first time this year which was a lot of fun and something I hope to continue each year.

Christmas was at our house again this year but I didn't go to the extreme that I did last year. I kept it very simple with a crockpot beef stew. My parents came down from Chico to join Jody and I, Steven and Jamie, and Ted and Kim. We altered the white elephant gift exchange this year by making the gifts ones that people would want which worked out better because then we actually had stealing going on. I ended up getting the gift that I put in - Cranium - but I was secretly hoping that would happen. Mallory was super spoiled with lots of people to hold her and of course she was soaking it all up.

New Year's Eve we hosted some family and friends. If we're going to be up really late then it's easier to have things at our house so we have access to all of Mallory's stuff. We put her down a little after 9 pm and then played Taboo, Rockband, and Apples to Apples. At midnight we went outside and let off the poppers and then called it a night. It was really low key but still a lot of fun.

Another shame on me as I didn't take very many pictures. The ones I have are only from Christmas Eve and Christmas day, and I forgot to get a group shot at that. I need to get better at taking more pictures, maybe a resolution for this year. Overall, the holidays turned out to be very nice and exactly what I was hoping for. Though I'm sad to see Christmas go I'm really, really looking forward to next year when Mallory is older and able to get more excited over the festivities.