week 7 update

We moved back to Pasadena today! We have no idea how we managed to accumulate four carloads of stuff, but our apartment has somehow transformed into a very messy Babies-R-Us. It's the true test of parenthood for us now-- can we survive without GRANDMA?? My mom has been truly indispensable these past 7 weeks! She spent countless nights rocking and feeding Elise, cooked and cleaned for us, changed boxes of diapers, and gave us space so that we could enjoy some alone time (i.e. naps, showers, and meals). We are truly spoiled! Elise is spoiled, too, and we suspect that she even prefers my mom over us because my mom has a special knack for stopping Elise's crying and making her smile and giggle.

I also would have never made it this far with breastfeeding had it not been for my mom. I don't know how other challenged moms do it without the extra help because with pumping 8 times a day, someone needs to hold and entertain the baby and that person cannot be me! I do feel a little nervous about managing everything on my own while Bry is at work, so we'll see how things go.

We are, however, really happy to be back in our own home and community. One thing we learned while living in the OC is that we are NOT suburban people! It was such an ordeal to ever leave the house in our car. We are really looking forward to urban living and lots of WALKING now that we're in Pasadena! We also learned that we do not like living in a large house. My mom's place isn't even huge- it's a townhouse! But we constantly talked about how we actually missed our tiny, cramped space. I'll probably end up spending many nights sleeping on the couch because I can't sleep with Elise's little sleeping noises. At my mom's place, I would sleep one 3-4 stretch in a separate room for good solid sleep and then return to our room for light sleep for the rest of the night. Let's see how long I can fare like this!

So happy to be home! We're looking forward to all of our visitors. Thanks to Judy for setting up our Care Calendar!