Maternity leave. Also known as enough leave to finally settle you into a nice routine with your family and then sucker punch you in the gut with the reality that it is now coming to an end and you have to redo that amazing little routine you spent 3 months perfecting, oh and bring on the praying daily you don't miss any of the special milestones. <insert ugly cry here>
It took Madelyn 9 weeks, 9 long, frustrating, determined weeks of myself pumping around the clock to maintain supply for her to FINALLY get breastfeeding. Seriously, 9 weeks of my leave was spent trying to accomplish this and now that we are almost a full 2 weeks in of exclusive breastfeeding I will have to resort back to a pump and a bottle for her and pray that my baby remembers how to nurse. It took her 9 weeks to get it. I only have 4 weeks to exclusively nurse her and what if I needed 5 more? What if 4 weeks isn't enough and everything I worked so hard to accomplish comes to an end? It's the nerve wrecking reality that my maternity leave is coming to an end.
I do still have 2 more weeks so I will make the very best out of having every second of my time with my babies, but good Lord I need more time.
I can say the birth of my precious baby girl came at a wonderful time because she gave me summertime with our family. We got to settle in as a family of 4 all together! Sure, the boys each had to finish up school, but once they were done we got to be home together and it has been time I will cherish forever.
My final week of leave will be spent at the beach with my family and awhile I dreaded this time actually coming, I also can't wait to make more memories.
Before I do a picture recap...
Nolan at 6 weeks and Madelyn at 9 weeks. They look so much alike, but all their little features are so different.
(And iPhone camera quality sure has stepped up its game in the past 4 years!)
And now a quick picture recap of the weeks following our bringing another tiny little life into this world.
Nolan rocked preschool and said goodbye to his amazing teachers!
Side note: we just got Nols paperwork for this year and his new teachers name, but he told me when he goes back he is going to tell his teacher pictured above that he loves her and she's his best friend. I guess he missed her this summer? :)
We did a lot of this.....
...and this while we waited for daddy to finish up his school year and join us!
We waited outside with water guns and water balloons to soak daddy upon his arrival home each day
And we had photoshoots :)
Maddie has loved the bath since the very beginning!
We had a family outing to the O's game!
All those doctor visits, but I managed to take both kids out by myself and make it to the appointmentS on time!!!
Another tee ball season! ⚾️
And this mama returned to the softball field. Maddie and her bff, Taylor were snoozing through it though :)
More of this again,
And so many kisses for his sister!
Photoshoot session again.
And surviving a trip to the store with both...by myself.
Looking like a big girl in her chair!
Father's Day spent at the Frederick Keys game!
More cuddles. (This one cracks me up because it looks like Maddie is pointing at Nolan and giving me a look like tell him to stop hugging me!)
Thank you to the world's best auntie!
Cousin love :)
Scrunchie nosed sleepyhead smiles
A little bit of this...
....and a lot of this!
Morning smiles from our sleepy headed beauty
Nolan went fishing for the first time ever and caught 4 fish!
She was excited about Nols catching fish!
We went to the DC Zoo!
Played at Sky Zone a few times!
Celebrated the 4th!
Fireworks were postponed a day due to weather.
We took Nolan to his first movie, Finding Dory!
And he discovered eye black. 😂
We strolled through Canton on our anniversary. Our tradition is to go to a different ballpark every year, but we both decided being home with the kiddos made more sense for year seven. (Nols took our picture) ;)
Nolan won a slice of pie at Dangerously Delicious!
And he carried this plate on our entire walk because we told him we were going to the pie place that O's used to get their pies from and he thought it meant we would get to pie people. No son, we eat the pie.
We explored a pretty awesome new park.
Her hair.
And now I soak up all this.
Get ready for the beach
And prepare myself for a million of these pics I will receive at work awhile daddy gets to spend an extra month home with this sweet girl once Nolie goes back to school.
