My Life As a Farm Girl: Life after Baby

Hello! I figured I'd pop in and update on what we've been up to as of late.

The biggest news is that Katherine is now 6 weeks old! It seems cliché, but I swear it feels like she was just born! Every day she continues to grow and develop more. Currently, we're working on holding her head up completely. She can be quite the little bobblehead. Full disclosure: I believe that my daughter is the most precious human being on the planet. I am absolutely in love with her! Not only is she a beautiful bobblehead, she also is the master of dramatically flailing her arms. I know it's all part of babies' normal startle reflex, but it is one of the funniest things I've seen. Katherine can now smile on a regular basis, and her eyes are starting to focus much better. She seems to have an idea of who Thomas and I are, and she loves watching ceiling fans, bright lights, and her short trips outside. I hate so much that we live in a state that has sweltering summers and swarms of mosquitoes. Katherine seems to adore being outside, but I have to limit her exposure so she doesn't get sunburnt, a heat stroke, or eaten alive by mosquitoes. Every time we take her out, she seems to relax significantly. She sleeps about as well as a 6-week-old could. Sometimes she'll sleep for long periods through the night, while other times she sleeps in 2-4 hour spurts. I'm forever hesitant to go on record of saying what her exact sleep habits are for fear of jinxing us and any progress she's made. (All parents understand that, I'm sure...)

Katherine seems to also enjoy her play mat and her bouncy seat. Her play mat has small animal-shaped rattles that are attached to arches. Initially I think it just annoyed her and possibly overstimulated her. Now that her eyes are focusing better, she'll happily lay on the mat in 5-20 minute spans of time. Sometimes she'll even bat or kick at the toys, which makes me happy. I hope it helps with her hand-eye coordination. The bouncy seat is a relatively new acquisition, from Steve and Diana. Katherine seems to consistently enjoy that because it props her up to where she can see everything. It also gives her the illusion of being held, which means that we can sometimes eat dinner or do random tasks around the house while she's awake without having to constantly hold her or have her scream bloody murder while being laid down. Oh yes, my daughter has a set of lungs! The only downside of the bouncy seat is that I have somehow managed to rack the inner toes on each foot on it in two separate incidents. I am glad I wasn't holding the baby during either incident, just saying...the pain was enough to send me to the ground or the nearest surface to sit on, cursing all the while.

All in all, Katherine is a happy baby, so long as she is well-fed and has a clean diaper. (Wouldn't we all be, though?) It amazes me how my love for her has multiplied exponentially since she's come. At first, I didn't think it'd be that difficult to go back to work, but now the thought of leaving Katherine almost brings me to tears. (Cue the mom guilt...) I'm happy to report we found a lovely woman to care for our baby girl. She lives just a couple minutes away from our house, and she has done this for 20+ years with clean inspection reports from the state of Texas. She's a little high in our budget, but she also keeps very few children. Moreso, she only keeps one baby at a time, meaning Katherine will not have to compete for attention with other babies while at daycare. There will be 2 or 3 other kids there, I believe aged 2, 3, and possibly 4. Finding childcare is more stressful than I ever anticipated. Many places have monthly charges that rival our mortgage payment. Seriously. Other places that were significantly cheaper made it apparent as to why they were that way. Other places don't take 8-week-olds. Most places don't have vacancies for babies. I fell in love with a number of sweet women who I would've loved to sent Katherine to, just to be deterred by their lack of openings or their high costs. There was one daycare center that I about came unglued on, as the woman put me on hold 3 times during a 5 minute phone call, and couldn't manage to keep ANY of my information straight. Thank God (literally) for our babysitter!

In a bit of non-Katherine news, work starts up in a little over a week or two. I'm not ready to go back. Besides me lamenting the loss of snuggle time with my sweet baby, I'm anticipating a more challenging year on the whole. The last week before summer began came with the news that our beloved department chair was retiring. I don't blame her in the slightest for doing so. She has earned it. I'm just sad to see her go. She has so many similarities to my mom, and she always went above and beyond to make me (and everyone else) feel supported and cared for. Since she left, I have been asked to take over the bulk of her teaching duties, meaning that I will now teach exclusively upperclassmen (mostly seniors). I really loved working with the freshmen and felt like I had hit my stride with them. On the flipside, I am the most familiar with the bulk of the curriculum of all the math teachers (and with a lot of the students I'll be inheriting), so it made sense to do that. This year we'll still be sorting out a lot of the mess left by the math teacher who was fired in April, so that makes me a little apprehensive, too. I have lots of feelings about this year, and not many are great ones. However, I know I've been through worse, and my attitude will set the tone for the year. I can choose what kind of attitude to have, so I'm making an effort to choose positivity. It will take a concerted effort, but I'm going to do my best to not let any of my worries bleed into my teaching. In good news (?) our daycare closes at 5, so it will force me to always leave work at a specific time. I'm hoping to be better at getting to work early to make up for that, but I think it could help me to manage my time a little bit better and to not be so inclined to take work home all the time. Let's face it, Katherine snuggles will pretty much always win out over grading papers or lesson planning...

Backtracking a little, Mom came and spent a wonderful week with us after Katherine was born. It was so much fun having her here. It made the transition into motherhood much better because I had a professional with me to answer all of my silly questions and provide reassurance. It also made her leaving hurt a lot. Many tears were shed on both ends. People always talk about how tough long-distance dating relationships are because you can't always be with your partner at all times. What no one ever talks about is how if the relationship works out, you'll never win in terms of being geographically close to both families. You can split the difference by not living near either family or you can perpetually feel like you're not spending enough time with one family or the other. No matter what, it's terrible and heart-wrenching. Having babies doesn't help, either. In fact, it makes the distance seem much more pronounced, sad to say. There's always guilt one way or the other, usually all self-imposed. I hate it, but I'm glad we live in an age of technology and easy travels. It makes things a little less difficult and disconnected. It's no replacement for just being there in the flesh, but it's slightly easier. This brings me to happier news: we'll get to spend a little chunk of time in OK! Mom and my sisters are hosting a shower for us. Per their request, Katherine and I will be spending a couple of extra days up there so they can get more snuggles. I'm also planning on having some 7-week photos done for Katherine while there. I can't seem to find anyone in the greater Dallas/Plano area who does baby pictures that doesn't charge an arm and a leg for it. I'm all for paying people what they're worth and paying for their time and creativity, but only to a certain extent. Sometimes people know that they can get away with charging more than they need to so they do so. I found a lovely lady in Enid who can make the same thing happen for a fraction of the cost, so there you go. (I know, it'd be cheaper in OK than in TX...cost of living differences...I get it. Still not paying almost $1000 for a one-hour session of professional baby pictures...)

In a few more weeks, we'll have almost everyone in the family here for Katherine's baptism. I could go on a small rant about how frustrating and annoying it was to get the baptism scheduled, but I'll focus instead on being happy we got it on the books and taken care of sooner rather than later. We're excited to get everyone together for this!

Let's talk visitors from the last few weeks! We've had quite the menagerie of guests since Katherine arrived! All of my immediate family members have made their way down in the weeks since. Mom and Dad came first. They ended up staying for almost a week, including our first few days at home. I figured out that my dad gets bored down here. It's bound to happen when he's used to having a hundred acres and a huge shed to work in...that and he doesn't just sit and relax often. Combine that with him getting easily disoriented and hating the traffic/high-speed roads around here, and you have an interesting set-up. Mom is slowly figuring out our neighborhood/area. She is embracing it all, especially in the name of snuggling her newest grandbaby. Emily's crew came down the day we came home from the hospital. Her boys had varying reactions to Katherine. Kyle and Cole were absolutely ecstatic. Kyle had been texting me for days leading up to their visit. Cole was reportedly so excited on the day of their trip that he hardly ate lunch. Cody was a lot more tentative...that is, until he held Katherine for the first time! You want to talk about a magical moment! Our big, bulky teenage nephew just melted when she snuggled up to him.

Gina and Wyatt made a day trip the following day. It's fair to say that my sisters are excited to be in full-on aunt mode after years of being in full mom-mode. They've quickly embraced getting to be fun aunts to Katherine. I guess it's only fair after me having a 15-year reign as full-time fun aunt to the boys! Andrew, Jakub, and Jeremy came a few weeks later. Jakub was tentative about Katherine at first, but he thinks she's cute enough to make up for her taking his spot as the youngest Hladik grandchild. Andrew, the baby whisperer, had fun monopolizing her when he could. Both Jeremy and Scotty are just smitten with their newest niece. Babies have a way of bringing out the best feelings in everyone.

Steve and Diana visit as often as they can. They're getting the hang of grandparenting. This is, after all, uncharted territory for them. Elizabeth, as I mentioned last time, has been exiled to STL for the summer. She happened to get a short and much-needed respite from gross anatomy the week of July 4th. She used that break to fly down for the weekend and finally meet her first niece. To say she was antsy and excited would be a huge understatement. Each day she was here she spent a good chunk of time at our house holding Katherine. It was great for me because it meant that I had a short break each of those days that allowed me to get a few little things done around the house. Yes, I rest when Katherine rests, but sometimes I feel more energized to get stuff accomplished during those gaps. It's about balance. And heaven knows I don't require as much sleep as a newborn does!

A number of friends have come by to visit and/or bring us food. Among our friends who've visited are Alex & Haley, Ben, Sarah, & E, Charlotte, Eleanor, Katie & T, and Kiki. We've also had some mall walking outings with Shedonna & her twins, as well as Laura and her two kiddos (plus a few of the previously mentioned friends). Having a community of young families like ours makes this transition to parenthood much easier. My friends with kids have been a Godsend when I've needed to vent, cry, or get some form of encouragement, advice, or affirmation. I have more thoughts on the transition to parenthood, but that's for another day.

I'll end with some fun pictures from the last few weeks!

Papa and his Kitten

Obsessed with this picture

Look who fell in love with his baby cousin after all!
(Cue my heart melting and me bawling!)

Dad spent some time sitting on our front lawn watching traffic from an estate sale next door.
Peep Scotty and Cody, who is every bit as tall as his 6 foot tall dad!