I should not have gone back to work

Somehow my second week back to work, didn't end up being much of a work week.  After a lovely Saturday where Matt took his dad golfing at Pelican Hill to celebrate Jim's 70th birthday (wow!) while I hung out with the girls running errands and visiting Amelia and Joss (Madi was so excited to meet the new kitties) and a Sunday together celebrating Mother's Day, we all headed back out for a

Matt and Jim at Pelican Hill

Matt and the caddy

Gorgeous!

Madi plowing through french fries, waffles, corndogs, fruit

Ella with Grandma Sue (new hat that Grandma made too!)

Monday of school and work. I was spending the day with my Noyce Fellowship, which is always a great day. Matt picked up Madeline early from school for her three-year checkup. She didn't have to get any shots (yay!) and has stayed right on her same percentages from last year. She is now 32 pounds and 37 inches tall! Madi's head is 16.1 inches around . . . . the same as Eleanor's! Luckily Matt was home because daycare called at 1:30 saying Eleanor was vomiting and running a fever. I hoped it was just a side-effect of her teething, especially since she had been a little cranky all Sunday too. Ella's fever didn't go down and she threw up all over me and the bed around 10 pm (the joys of motherhood), so I took Tuesday off to spend the day with her. Baby Tylenol, cold washcloths and lots of snuggling filled our day. With Santa Ana's happening, it was very hot and as soon as Matt and Madeline came home, we headed out to the pool to cool down.
Matt stayed home on Wednesday with Eleanor since her fever was still coming back on and off. We felt very positive that she had fought off whatever was bothering her after she didn't run a fever all of Wednesday and seemed to be in a good mood. As we went to bed her fever spiked up to 102. Ugh! Luckily for us (not so lucky for the rest of San Diego) there were fires that cancelled school allowing me to stay home for another day with sick Ella. Matt and Madi only did half days at school/work and I took Eleanor to the doctor in the evening. Eleanor was diagnosed with her first ear infection, antibiotics were prescribed, and we spent another sleepless night.

PJ cuddles

Madi reading to Ella before bed

Lani watching over the sick baby

 Matt took Friday off while Madeline and I returned to our schools. Somehow with only two days of actual work, I was much more exhausted than I had been at then end of the previous week!
Saturday was filled with gymnastics, errands, and time spent trying to get the girls to rest (picture me in the rocking chair with a swaddled Ella and a cranky Madi in my lap for an hour . . . I didn't win the nap battle with one of them). Grandma T drove down to babysit so that Matt and I could go to an engagement party. First night out since Eleanor was born (thanks Grandma T)!
The engagement party was at a super-swanky house on Mt. Soledad in La Jolla. Spanish style, all Spanish tile floors, hot tub in the back overlooking the canyon and ocean, outdoor fireplace, just a ridiculously gorgeous home! Then, the party itself had a dj, two bars, a photo-booth, sushi, lambchops, ahi poke, and countless other trays of yummy food! I enjoyed some champagne interspersed with water so I could still feed Eleanor when we got home and ate as much as I could get my hands on. We had a great time seeing some of Matt's friends from his golfing days at UCSD and just enjoying the time together.
Since writing the beginning of this and trying to get the pictures organized, both Matt and Madeline have gotten sick! Matt started feeling icky on Tuesday, so he decided to work from home on Wednesday in the hopes of getting some rest at the same time. Madeline felt hot and looked bad Wednesday morning, but she desperately wanted to go to school, so I dropped her off and let her know to have her teacher call me as soon as she wanted to come home. She lasted until 11. Matt picked Madi up and they spent the day at home sick together. Matt and Madeline also spent Thursday at home together. Madeline drove him crazy as she became bored and would not let him rest. We have never been so sad that our kid doesn't really like to sit and watch tv for long periods of time! I am home today since the girls' school is closed, trying to keep Madi from re-infecting Ella, doing some work, and trying to let Matt get some sleep so he recovers. Mostly I am just praying that I don't get sick too!

Sick Madi sleeping in my lap while I was on a conference call

Happy Eleanor trying out the high chair now that she feels better. She has tried some very milky rice cereal, and really likes watching Mickey Mouse with her sister in the mornings!

Eleanor's Baptism

We had Ella baptized this Sunday! We asked Father Matt to fit her into an already full baptismal service because we were afraid if we waited much longer Ella would not fit into the baptismal gown that Madi and I both used! So, after a yummy breakfast at Great Maple and a visit to the 11 am mass, Eleanor was one of 9 babies baptized on Sunday. She was right in the middle of the age range, but Eleanor was definitely the loudest baby present! She was NOT HAPPY to be woken up after mass and forced into the baptismal gown. Ella was NOT HAPPY to sit through more church and not be fed immediately when she decided she was hungry. But she was very happy to look at the flowers on the altar, suck on mommy's chin, and have daddy stand up while Father Matt gave the homily. Madi was a little crazy during mass, which I blame completely on the presence of Grandma T and GrandKarl . . . but truly she was still better than some of the kids that regularly go to church with us. Auntie Nee drove down and took beautiful pictures of the Immaculata, the service, and the family. As usual I feel like she needs to start her own photography business! Thank you to Auntie G for acting as Godmother to both of our little Howe girls! I plan to send them to you for some overnight time as soon as possible :)

The Immaculata

The Dome

Front doors

This one should be in USD's brochure!

Getting undressed

Snuggling with Abu!

Oil blessing

Baptismal water from the font (the shortest person probably should not have been holding the baby!)

Madeline watching the baptisms (she was very worried about how much water would be poured on Ella's head)

Godmama Gisella lighting the baptismal candle

Lots of families

The Howes

Four generations of Starr women!

Mama, Godmama, and the girls

Proud Godmama

Madi adding some dance moves

Sister hugs

With the Grandmas!

The men and the girls

With Auntie Nee

Abu and Madeline snuggles

Getting out of the dress

Happy baby! Free of sin and a very long gown!

Back to Work

I have finished my first week back to work since having Eleanor. It has been an interesting lesson in how little time 24 hours each day truly is! While I am missing the girls, our Wednesdays of fun, snuggling with Ella, and having plenty of time to run errands or do laundry . . . I am LOVING getting to go to the bathroom by myself for 8 hours a day! Pumping sucks just as much as it did with Madeline, but I am making the time and managing to just about equal what Ella eats at school each day. Due to this, I am staying up each night until about 10pm so I can get a final pump session in. This means that if I slept all of the way through the night until my alarm I would get 8 hours of sleep. Since Eleanor seems to be teething, she has stopped sleeping well and needless to say, I am tired. Our routine in the morning has been very smooth. I get up and get ready, Madi usually gets up during this time while Matt, Ella, and the dogs snuggle. Matt and Ella get up around 6:30, I take the girls downstairs and do breakfasts while he showers and puts Jameson in the tub for a foot soak (yep the bulldog is getting a daily footsoak). When Matt comes downstairs we feed the dogs, he walks them, one or both of us gets the girls dressed, teeth brushed for Madi, sunscreen, and out the door we go.

Madi wants the girls to match recently!

Work has been good. I love my classes, the kids are easy, and I am already down to only 5 weeks left until summer break! I did work for my fellowship this week, but I am way behind on work for CREEC and need to get going on it next week. I spent my last few weeks the girls trying to just focus on them and not work, so CREEC suffered a bit. This week, there was no after work me-time, however I am hoping that as I get more organized, I can spend a couple days a week at the gym. The stairs in my building say I need to work-out!

To help with the morning rush, I make lunches for the girls and myself each night, after cleaning the kitchen up from dinner. This means Madeline and I spend about 45 minutes in the kitchen where she "helps" and asks a billion questions. Generally she makes me crazy since she is always trying to hurry me (I wonder who she learned that one from . . . Matt??) and I try not to show her how little patience I have by that time of night and how badly I just want to sit down with my feet up and a glass of wine in my hand.

Another matching outfit!

How Madi sleeps when it's hot

The week before I went back to work was gorgeous and we really took advantage of it! We took dinner down to the beach Wednesday night and let Madeline have some sand time, we bbq-ed at the bay with the Johnson's another night, we took the girls to Silver Strand on Saturday, and we spent plenty of time outside on the patio as a family. It was very nice and I am already looking forward to more outdoor time this summer!

The Howe girls enjoying sum sun!

Ella and Julia enjoying the BBQ. Julia looks just like a doll!!

At the beach

Digging with Dad

Testing the water