What about 3 points?

She pretty much did it again last night. We had a much harder time with getting her to sleep though so, the total sleep time was more like 7 hours and 45 minutes but, still very consistent with the new trend that we have hopefully established this week. In the process, she has dropped a feeding, I think. I only fed her 5 times on Monday and Tuesday. All of this is very good as I prepare to go back to work on Monday. With her sleeping sound from about 10pm to 6am, it will fit perfectly into the ideal morning schedule for us. Plus, with her stretching out her feedings, it is highly likely that the day care will feed her twice a day and I can feed her three times a day. God, I just pray that this continues and isn't just a fluke...

Is two data points a trend?

I sure hope so! Jayla slept 8.5 hours staight on both Sunday and Monday night. Keep it coming!! I am trying my best to duplicate those two days with the same nap and feeding times. I think in the process, she has effectively dropped one of her feeds. Could it be that she only wants to eat 5 times a day now?

In other news, I've decided to return to work next Monday. Jayla will also be starting day care next Monday. I think I am finally at peace with my decision after going back and forth SO MANY TIMES!! Today I went to the pediatrician to obtain Jayla's shot records for the day care. Another mom was there doing the same thing. She asked me how old Jayla was. "3 months". She made a horrible face and said, "You're going to put your child in day care at 3 months!?!?". For once, I did not second guess my decision...I must be ready.

Jayla at 3 months

Well, my baby turned 3 months on Thanksgiving Day. She has grown so much. At church yesterday, every single person that saw her commented on how big she has gotten.

I think she's changing alot developmentally too. Since Thanksgiving, it apparently is no longer cool to lay on your back and be happy. If Jayla is awake, she now wants to be in a sitting position. It has actually made her alot more fun. I guess the next thing you know, she'll be doing it all on her own!

She still hates tummy time though. So, I basically never do it. My husband thinks I'm retarding her by not doing it but, I just can't stand to see her screaming on her face. She's a pretty strong girl and I think she just get frustrated really quickly when she isn't able to immediately do what she wants to (rollover, crawl, etc.) while on her tummy. I won't push it - she'll do it when she's ready, I guess.

So, while she doesn't like tummy time, she now loves to watch tv, watch ceiling fans, and play on the computer. Watching football became one of Jayla's favorite pasttimes right before Thanksgiving. She loves it! My guess is she just likes the flickering lights but, she turns her head away from the television during commercials. So, it's almost like she knows what she's watching!! Her daddy loves it, of course. Her fascination with ceiling fans probably comes from the fact that we never invested in a mobile for her. I think it's on her Christmas list though.

And her newest trick - the computer. A couple of weeks ago, a friend of mine sent a link to games on the Fisher Price website. I took a brief look at the infant games, decided they were stupid and then forgot about them. Well, last Friday, I had Jayla on my lap while doing some email and decided that I was being selfish because watching me email couldn't possibly be entertaining for her. It then occurred to me to dig out the Fisher Price website. I pulled up the infant games and Jayla immediately fell in love with the characters that scream Peek-A-Boo when you hit any keys on the keyboard. Of course, I started out striking the keys but, as of yesterday, Jayla can hit the keyboard and knows that something on the screen will move in response. She loves it!!

We basically spend the the rest of our days walking in the park. Now that she has the head control to face forward in the Snugli, she loves to walk and hey, it kills time. When we walked last Friday, I just stood on one side of the park, near a street for about 30 minutes (literally!) and Jayla tracked the cars. She'd see one and follow it as far as she could then pick up another one and follow it as far as she could in the opposite direction. Even the people driving by her were smiling as she intently watched the cars.

The Work Delimma

Back when I found out I was going to be induced, I sat down with my boss and we agreed that December 12 would be a good day for me to return to work. That effectively gave me 16 weeks off of work - 8 of which I would be working parttime from home. When we agreed to this on August 19, it seems like ages away. Now it is less than 2 weeks away.

I am definitely ready to go back to work - excited about it even. I've found a day care that I love and I really think Jayla will benefit from spending some time away from me each day. She loves being in new places and around new people so, I'm not that worried about leaving her. But I definitely have some concerns about returning to work:

1. Jayla is exclusively breastfed and I'm not ready to let go of that yet. I worry about not being able to pump enough for her. I worry about her losing interest in breastfeeding after taking bottles everyday. I worry about us losing that close time that we have for 6-8 hours everyday. I worry about finding a place and the time to pump while I am at work.

2. Jayla's sleep habits aren't where I would want them to be ideally. You can pretty much count on Jayla sleeping between 5 and 6.5 hours every night but, I'm still uneasy about it. I worry that she will all of a sudden decide to keep me up late or won't go back to sleep in the middle of the night for some reason. I worry about being sleep deprived and not enjoying my work as much because I'm so tired.

3. We are not used to being on any time schedule. I worry about my ability to get up early in the morning, have Jayla ready (whether I do it or my husband does it), get her to the day care, and me to work on time. I'm absolutely paranoid about being stuck in morning rush hour traffic where my normal hours usually put me on the road before most people.

I have come up with several solutions for these anxieties, including going back to work parttime in the beginning which would still allow me to feed Jayla myself more times than she is fed at the day care. Then I think, well, maybe I'd like to work parttime forever. But, I don't want to lose any of my benefits. Then I can't decide what type of parttime schedule to ask for. Then I think, maybe I should just go for it and see what happens - maybe my fears won't even prove to be actual problems.

I don't know so, I finally called my boss today and left him a message. I'm just going to lay my concerns out there and ask him to help me come up with a solution. He is very understanding like that and can probably give some insight. I'm expecting him to call back so, wish me luck...

Things I'm Thankful For

1. Jayla reached a personal best sleeping record last night - 8 hrs, 20 min straight!
2. The Blood of Jesus
3. Digital Cameras
4. A two story house
5. My parents live 7 hours away
6. My in-laws live 12 hours away
7. Nice Houston weather in November