Autumn in Ohio

The leaves are changing to beautiful hues of gold, red and orange.  There's a chill in the air, but the afternoon sunshine is still warm enough for a calming walk.  I love Autumn in Ohio!  Although...as it gets closer to November it's getting colder everyday.

I can't believe it's been about a month since the last time I blogged.  It's literally almost a daily struggle to get a clean and fed baby out the door on time and get her back at the end of the day and put some food on the table.  Our daily routine: I get up around 0610, wake up the baby (if she's not already awake) to eat at 0615.  Next comes a diaper change, and I put her in warmer clothes for the day.  I get dressed, wash my face, put up my hair.  I pack all of my work stuff and double check Olivia's stuff...cloth diapers for the day, clean pacifier, bibs, extra change of clothes just in case, swaddle blanket, all my pump stuff for work, milk bottles, extra milk for her if necessary...whew...we're in the van, we're on our way.  I make it to work around 0730, I read emails, I work on projects/training/lesson prep.  I pump around 0900.  At around 1130 I eat my lunch, I'm out of the office by 1150 to make it to Bekah's around noon to nurse little O.  I'm back in the office...I pump again at 1500 and I leave around 1630 to pick O up.  We make it home a bit after 1700.  It depends at this point whether O is tired or hungry.  Sometimes I nurse her and she takes a nap.  Sometimes she just wants to play while I try to put something together for dinner.  Best case scenario, I have something halfway prepped from the weekend.  Some days I have no such luck...I have to cook from scratch but most days I can get dinner on the table by about 1830 to 1900.  Usually O will take another nap while I clean up her bottles and do dishes for the evening.  Nick and I sometimes will watch a quick show on Netflix while we eat.  I'd rather talk about the day but sometimes we're both just so exhausted.  Olivia will usually sleep until about 2100.  I wake her up if she's not up by 2200.  She nurses again, we read a few books together and Nick may play the guitar and serenade us.  It's our family time.  Maggie usually will hang out too.  Every other night I will get the diapers in the washer and soak them over night.  If O is a bit fussy I may be behind on dishes.  Once in awhile I just give in and clean up the kitchen the next day, although this leads to a vicious cycle.  O's usually out around 2230/2245 and Nick and I try to make it to bed around 2300.  I'm usually asleep before my head hits the pillow.  I wake up again the next day around 0610 and is starts all over...whew...I can't wait for Friday every week!  :-P

During the weekends we slow down a bit.  I cook us brunch, my latest creation, a tasty omelet with peppers and garlic from our garden, a bit of cheese and tomatoes...it's delicious!!!  I try to prep the week's meals, and we usually walk around our outdoor mall here known as the Greene.  Today we went to the Harvest Festival where a "Life is Good" store just opened.  I wanted to get O a cool "Life is Good" onesie but $20 for a onesie???  I'll wait for a sale...

I've started to work out again...although it's been tough trying to squeeze it in my busy schedule.  Running has been different as I'm still adjusting to my postpartum body.  I'm almost back down to my "before" weight...still have about 7 pounds to go my mom told me to give it some time.  I have my PT test end of Jan and I better get on the push-ups and sit-ups...oh and the running too...I've really slowed down but hopefully I can get back into shape fast.

Enough about me...let's talk about Olivia!  Oh where do I start?  She's the most amazing thing in the world, and the cutest!  For proof see this following pics:

We also took a trip to Pennsylvania and Maryland Columbus Day weekend.  Nick's pop-pop is ill and this may be our only chance for him to Olivia so we bit the bullet and went on our first road trip.  Olivia did really well most of the time and slept for a good amount of the time.  Our stops weren't too bad and we even took Maggie with us.  Luckily we had a van!  Here's a pic of the three of us, well, Daddy took the pic:

We're so glad we could see Nick's aunt Nadine, uncle Robbie, his cousins Anthony and Samantha, and of course, his grandparents - grandma Ware and pop-pop.  We made it to Penn the first day and stayed with his aunt and uncle.  We all got up the next day and drove to MD and spent the afternoon there.  We had to drive back the next day.  It was exhausting but we were glad we did it.  Here are some more pics:

Oh and we had 5 dogs under one roof, and 2 birds, but no pics of them here:

From left to right: Lily, Maggie, Noel, Blackie, and Nikki.  Maggie had a blast and fit right in.  They had a great time playing "laser tag" in uncle Robbie's backyard.

A sweet pic of mommy and baby at the grandparents' house:

Lastly, here's to show off Nick's photographic skills - baby O with her favorite toy...she loves her glowworm:

Well, it's late and Nick and I have to hit the sack...hugs to all!