Daisies & Cosmos

Wow!  I really need to get better about updating this log.  I was hoping to get an update at least once a week, on Mondays or Tuesdays, but it is already Thursday!  In my defense, work and life in general has been a little crazy, I solemnly swear to get better about this!

Now, on to the weekend!  Mike, Ellen, Michele, Matthew, Morgan and I traveled up to New York this weekend for Caroline's bridal shower.  Mike picked Caroline up from the LaGuardia airport around midnight on Friday night, so it was a late night for all!  Morgan did great on the car ride up to NY and was very excited to show Grandma Jean how well she sits up and how much she can smile!

On Saturday, we headed to Billy & Judy's house for the actual shower.  We sort of had a pot luck of Italian food (a must for this Polish family LOL) and Erica brought some delicious cupcakes that were decorated to look like Gerber Daises (pic below). 

Judy did a great job getting the decorations together and I think Caroline had a really good time.  Below is a pic of Caroline in her chair of honor before the presents were opened.

One of the best parts of shower was that all of the little cousins were able to get together for the first time.  Tesia was born in February 2010, Morgan was born in October 2010, Christian & TJ were born in November 2010 and Ava was born in late January 2011.  They are so lucky to be so close in age, it is just one more reason why it will be tough to leave the East Coast.  Below is a pic of the next generation in age order.  Notice the coordinating black and pink on the ladies as those are Caroline's wedding colors!

We haven't necessarily gotten a chance to see the boys or Ava as much, but we have gotten the opportunity for Morgan and Tesia to hang out quite a bit over the past couple of months.  I think they are actually pretty good at playing together!  Below is a pic of the two of them.  Tesia was nice enough to share her blocks and Morgan is completely fascinated by her older cousin!

Below is another favorite pic from the shower, Morgan getting acquainted with Aunt Helen.  I am having a difficult time finding a picture of Morgan with Grandma Jean.  I cannot believe we didn't get this on camera, but if not I am sure we will find another time to go up and visit before we leave. 

After the shower, we stayed at Billy & Judy's house that night.  It was a great evening!  We played Celebrities (really, really FUN game), talked, ate, and generally enjoyed each other's company.  The next morning was more of the same before we headed back home, dropping Caroline off at Newark airport on the way.  Can't wait until Caroline's next bridal shower back home in Illinois, it's coming up in a week and a half!

This weekend, Saurabh is coming in to visit and our plan is to head to the Cherry Blossom Festival and possibly grill out (weather is supposed to get nicer).  I'm sure I'll have plenty of pics to post from the weekend and hopefully this time I will get them up in a more timely manner!

Match Day 2011

Today was Match Day for the University of Maryland Baltimore Pharmacy Students Class of 2011.  Any pharmacy student who wants to go on to complete or participate in a residency after graduation goes through an application and interview process.  Then, the students and the residencies submit their top picks, if both match up then the student gets the residency and they find out today on Match Day.  Matt went through the complete interview process for one residency with Prime Therapeutics in Minnesota.  Unfortunately for Prime Therapeutics he did not get the residency, but forunately, for almost everyone else, this means we are headed back to Illinois!!!!

When Matt first texted me this morning I was a little worried he would be upset by not matching, but he has assured me he is not disappointed and feels it is fate since he wore his blue and orange tie to his rotation today.  While I think Minnesota would have been an adventure, I am thrilled beyond all possible belief to be returning to Illinois!!!  We will be between 2 and 3 hours from all of our family, including my brother in Iowa.  The Champaign-Urbana area is a great place for all of our friends and family to visit, plus we will probably end up getting season tickets to the Illini football games!  In addition, the cost of living in the Champaign area is significantly less than where we are right now, so with two incomes we will be able to chisel away at those student loans in no time!

Matt and I are big Illini fans, so heading back to the Champaign-area gives us an excuse to load up on Illini gear.  See some of my faves for Morgan below:

The perfect Illini outfit for combination for a warm day

Of course we will be strolling around in this Illini stroller.  The perfect transportation for Morgan as we acquaint her with her future alma mater.

Or perhaps she would prefer to get herself around in her Illini tricycle!

After playing outside all day, perhaps on the quad, Morgan can lie in her crib (we can hope) and fall asleep to her Illiini mobile.

And of course, every girl needs an Illini tutu!

Life After Breastfeeding?

Last week I realized that my milk supply had dramatically decreased and I now needed to supplement Morgan's diet with more formula.  Unfortunately, last week Morgan also decided to refuse the bottle so it has been a trying week.  I am attempting to pump more often so I can increase my milk supply and be able to breastfeed more,  but it's not the best situation. 

I had originally only planned to breastfeed for the first 3 months.  In the beginning, we had a lot of difficulty with latching and pumping, so I thought about giving up around 4-6 weeks.  I finally got the hang of breastfeeding and ended up really enjoying it.  Not only do I appreciate the benefits of the calories it burns (I use it as my excuse to not work out), but I also really like the bonding it has provided between Morgan and I.  Of course, I think that may have backfired a little as now there are times when no one but Mommy will do!

Now that I possibly face the end of breastfeeding, I find myself feeling a little depressed and sometimes I feel a little like a failure.  Logically, I know that isn't being fair to myself as providing Morgan with 5 months of breastfeeding is better than providing her with none!  I also know that what I have been able to do so far is an accomplishment and she really has gotten the best nutrients possible to this point, but I still feel guilty.  What if my job was less stressful?  What if I had pumped more often?  What if I had breastfed her more often?  What if we never introduced the formula bottle at night?  There are just a bunch of What Ifs? that go through my head every time I think of the end. 

I've been reading up on the end of breastfeeding and apparently it is completely normal to have these feelings.  I read that one mom never had post partum depression, but she definitely developed post breastfeeding depresssion.  I think this occurs a little more often when the breastfeeding stops on its own and not of the mother's volition.  I am comforted by the fact that I am not the only one out there who is experiencing these feelings. 

I also think it would make the adjustment a little easier if there wasn't such a HUGE focus on breastfeeding now adays.  We all know breastfeeding is the best thing for babies, but not everyone can do it.  Some women can't do it for health reasons, some women just have their milk dry up and some women just have difficulty getting started and there is enough to worry about those first few weeks to have to worry about breastfeeding as well!  Making women feel bad because they can't breastfeed is just mean!

Oh well, enough of my ranting and depressing thoughts.  I am getting over the change and my milk is still there, even if it is reduced, so I am going to move on.  I promise the next post will be much happier!  Actually, the next post will be about Matt's Match Day and will confirm where our little Siuta family is heading next!

Shopping & Play Dates

In the theme of keeping away from the house during the day on the weekends, Morgan and I went shopping on Saturday while Matt went out golfing with his dad.  I stopped at Mike & Brittany's place on the way out to see Jackson, drop off some baby/nursing gear, and plan a play date for Sunday. 

The first stop on our shopping trip was Toys 'R' Us to pick up a mat for the bottom of our bath tub and a tub toy.  Morgan has finally outgrown her original bath seat.  The bath seat kind of lounges in the bath, but now that Morgan is sitting up she wants to sit up ALL THE TIME so the lounging bath seat was proving to be a little dangerous.  The hope is that the bath mat in the tub will help her from slipping and sliding all over and the singing toy duck will help her to enjoy bath time even more!  A video of her first bath with the mat and toy will soon be posted somewhere (Facebook or YouTube). 

After Toys 'R' Us, Morgan and I headed to Montgomery mall.  My sister-in-law, Caroline, has a wedding coming up at the beginning of May and I still need to get some good undergarments for my bridesmaid dress before going in for a fitting.  No luck at Macy's (and this is my second Macy's) for undergarments, but I did find a great dress for Matt's pharmacy banquet.  This is the first time I have felt good about wearing a dress since the pregnancy has ended, so I was really excited. 

After Macy's we went to Gymboree, where everything was 30% off and I bought a bathing suit, sunglasses and sun hat for Morgan.  Then to Children's Place where I picked up two more sleepers for Morgan in 6-9 month size (she flies through these things, but they are MY FAVE sleeper).  Finally, we went to Old Navy where I picked up a swim suit cover up, another sun hat and a white denim skirt. 

Our shopping trip was a success!  We picked up some steaks for dinner, then showed off all our purchases to Matt when we got home. 

On Sunday, we had a play date with Mike, Brittany and the one-week old Jackson.  During our play date, we were able to try on most of Morgan's new clothes, check out the pics below:

Morgan in her retro swimsuit with matching swim cap

Morgan rocking her new shades!

Preparing for the sun in her new sun hat

Morgan also got to know Libby, the Akers' dog, a little more.  The first couple of times she has met Libby she either didn't care or was a little scared when she barked.  Now that Morgan is able to sit up and really know her surroundings, she was much more interested in Libby.  She was smiling, trying to reach out and pet Libby, as well as laughing every time Libby would turn around and wag her tail.  Libby also licked Morgan's feet which was fun for Morgan as well.  Mike got a little bit of it on camera, so I'm sure we'll see it on Facebook or You Tube soon!

Lions, Tigers, and Panda Bears...Oh my!

As many people know, we have our townhouse in Germantown, MD up for sale.  We have lived in Maryland for four years this year and have lived in our town house for almost 2.  Matt will be graduating from pharmacy school this may and while we love the Maryland/DC/Virginia area, I really want to be closer to my family in Illinois.  Matt has applied for a residency in Bloomington, MN which we find out about on Wednesday.  If we don't head to Minnesota, right now the plan is to head to Champaign, IL (home of the Fighting Illini) and Matt will work retail at Walgreens.  Either way, we need to sell our house! 

While we have the house on the market, we are trying to get out and about as much as possible on the weekends.  Two weekends ago, Morgan and I went to the zoo with Molly on Saturday.  We got some great shots of the new lion cubs, the tiger and one of the pandas!

I also noticed that while I have plenty of pics of Morgan with Matt, I barely have any with Morgan and I together.  After we got home from the zoo and I had changed into my comfy sweats, I had Matt take a pictures of Morgan and I.  I think it turned out pretty well!

On Sunday, I took Morgan to the Adventure Playground in southern Germantown.  It is a really big playground with a castle and pirate ship.  She is still pretty young to be on a playground, but she really enjoyed seeing all of the other kids.  Plus, it gave me an excuse to put on her sun hat although I realized that it was a little too big.

I guess this is just an excuse to go out and buy her a new hat!!!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

I have been remiss in starting this blog as my original intention was to start right after Morgan was born and keep everyone up to date on her progress.  Since pregnancy has started my mind has slowly started to fade away and I find myself forgetting things ALL THE TIME!  Oh well, better late than never. 

My goal for this blog remains the same - to keep our families updated on where we are now and how big Morgan has grown! 

St. Patrick's Day is one of my favorite holidays as everyone is encouraged to wear my favorite color...GREEN!  Plus, who doesn't love the IRISH?!?  4 years ago St. Patrick's Day fell on a Saturday and I tried to convince Matt to use it as our wedding day.  He didn't feel that was appropriate as he was not Irish and didn't feel the same connection with the holiday as I do. 

Below is a picture of Morgan all dressed up for St. Patrick's Day.  The socks are from her Grandma (my mom) and the outfit is from her Nain (mother-in-law).

It's amazing how fast she is growing.  She will be 5 months tomorrow and she is already sitting up!  I really think she might be able to crawl by the time she reaches 6 months and I'm worried because Matt and I are not ready!  Baby proofing here we come! 

Matt and I both feel incredibly lucky that Morgan is such a happy child, but she does have her moments.  She has been experimenting with different noises this week and she definitely got down whining :(  Morgan is also not very good about going to bed.  I completely blame myself, but now am unsure how to get myself out of it.  We currently spend the half the week staying at my in-laws and half the week staying at our house, so my plan is to really work on her sleeping habits as soon as we return to our house full time (sometime in the next 5 weeks after Matt's last rotation).  What can I say?  I'm the Queen of Procrastination!  More on that debaucle when it starts in 5-6 weeks.

Happy St. Patrick's Day to everyone!  Enjoy some corned beef, cabbage, and green beer!  Erin Go Bragh!