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Back in the Game

This will be a quick post because... I'm back at work tomorrow! It's hard to believe that four months have FLOWN BY already! I am so thankful that I was able to take this time to be with Derek and the babies. It has been awesome, but I have to say that I am ready to do something outside of the house!

I will ease back into things by working 10am-4pm Monday through Thursday for the first two weeks of February. This will give me some time to figure out the new morning routine! Silas and Zoe are now consistently sleeping from 8pm-6am. After they suck down their bottles first thing after waking up, they are in a great mood and ready to play! It seems like they will stay awake for at least 60-90 minutes at this point, and that is exactly when I need to be getting ready for work :) Derek gets home sometime between 7:15 and 8am, and I will ultimately need to be out the door by 8am at the latest. So, it seemed like having a later start time for the first two weeks will give me a chance to see how the morning shakes out.

Starting February 15th, I will be working regular 8 hour days Monday through Thursday. Derek will have the babies from 8am-3pm on those days, and Julia the nanny will come from 3pm-6pm. Julia trained with me for 10 hours last week and she is AWESOME! She is in her mid-40s and lives in the neighborhood. She's from the Dominican Republic and will speak spanish to the babies, which we love. I call her "Tia Julia" (tia=aunt in spanish) and she fondly calls Silas and Zoe chico/a or muchacho/a. She is very loving, and in addition to have 3 of her own (teenage) children, she came with glowing references from 2 local families that has nannied for in the past. As of right now, the babies will be sleeping about 50% of the 12 hours per week that she is here, so she kindly offered to help out with baby laundry, etc. She also has a flexible schedule and might be able to help us out with some babysitting here and there so that Derek & I can get out of the house together once in awhile!

I have regularly been taking the babies out in the stroller for walks around the neighborhood, but I have also finally conquered taking them out in the car by myself. We went shopping last week, visited Vanessa & Ollie one night, and we are now joining a Friday afternoon playgroup with other local moms. I will not say that it is "easy" to get them out alone, but it was an important milestone for me and one I was bound and determined to figure out before going back to work! As you can see in the pictures, they are not huge fans of getting bundled up to go out!







Please wish us luck with a smooth transition in the next couple of weeks. In the meantime, here are a few funny pictures. The 4-month entry will be coming soon!





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