I need to post about my new job, but I feel like I barely have had a chance to breathe yet. Between rushing around in the morning to rushing around at night, I'm exhausted by the end of the day. I think Chris is too, since he has to get up at the same time and either keep Phoebe company or get Charlotte up and dressed.
In the meantime, here is how big Charlotte was at her 3 year well child appointment:
Weight: 30 lbs 10 oz - 51%
Height: 36.75 inches - 37%
It's amazing that the girl who was off the charts in length for the first 9 months of her life is nearly in the bottom quartile at 3. She only gained 2 pounds in a year, but grew more than 3 inches.
Anyway, she's totally healthy and right on track. The doctor asked her questions and seemed happy with all the things Charlotte can say. He's not worried about her speech at all as he was able to understand everything she said, and he said that all the problems in pronunciation were completely normal and should correct themselves in the next year or two.
On another note, we are officially done with Pull-Ups. Charlotte has been dry at nap time and night for weeks now, so we figured it was time to try it out. So far, so good. Plus, we have a waterproof mattress cover on her bed, just in case.
Monday, June 25, 2012
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Three
Charlotte is three years old today!
When I was looking at pictures and videos to create her third year video, I was stunned to see how much she has changed in a year. A year ago today, I thought Charlotte was talking and doing so much, but it's absolutely nothing compared with today. Charlotte talks and sings and dances and jumps and so much more. When Charlotte talks, she doesn't just talk, she uses adjectives to explain exactly what she's talking about. She has an amazing memory and can remember events from months ago in intricate detail. In the past year, Charlotte has gone from sleeping in a crib to sleeping in a big girl bed without rails (she's only fallen out twice, and one of those times was when the rails were still up!). She has gone from diapers to big girl underwear. She has lost her baby fat and looks more and more like the girl she will become. Charlotte has embraced her role as a big sister and gives her little sister hugs and kisses all the time. She has a best friend, Ava, and can play with her for hours with little notice of anyone else. She sings songs from movies like The Muppets, Annie, and Beauty and the Beast (her rendition of the song "Tomorrow" from Annie is priceless). She can swim with water wings on and throws tantrums when you take her out of the pool. She can play games like Candyland and Chutes and Ladders and remembers exactly where the cards are in her Memory game. She shows empathy toward people and animals. She loves coloring, painting, and playing with Play-Doh. She has an amazing appetite for cookies, cakes, and all other desserts, but will only eat two bites of dinner if anything plant-based is on it. She is sweet and funny, but also has a shocking dose of attitude.
She is definitely our rainbow.
When I was looking at pictures and videos to create her third year video, I was stunned to see how much she has changed in a year. A year ago today, I thought Charlotte was talking and doing so much, but it's absolutely nothing compared with today. Charlotte talks and sings and dances and jumps and so much more. When Charlotte talks, she doesn't just talk, she uses adjectives to explain exactly what she's talking about. She has an amazing memory and can remember events from months ago in intricate detail. In the past year, Charlotte has gone from sleeping in a crib to sleeping in a big girl bed without rails (she's only fallen out twice, and one of those times was when the rails were still up!). She has gone from diapers to big girl underwear. She has lost her baby fat and looks more and more like the girl she will become. Charlotte has embraced her role as a big sister and gives her little sister hugs and kisses all the time. She has a best friend, Ava, and can play with her for hours with little notice of anyone else. She sings songs from movies like The Muppets, Annie, and Beauty and the Beast (her rendition of the song "Tomorrow" from Annie is priceless). She can swim with water wings on and throws tantrums when you take her out of the pool. She can play games like Candyland and Chutes and Ladders and remembers exactly where the cards are in her Memory game. She shows empathy toward people and animals. She loves coloring, painting, and playing with Play-Doh. She has an amazing appetite for cookies, cakes, and all other desserts, but will only eat two bites of dinner if anything plant-based is on it. She is sweet and funny, but also has a shocking dose of attitude.
She is definitely our rainbow.
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Mini-Vacation
As I mentioned in my last post, as soon as I knew I was starting a new job, I just knew I needed to take advantage of my maternity leave. So Charlotte, Phoebe, and I flew down to San Diego for a week. I actually convinced my mom to fly up on an earlier flight so I could have some help flying down. So she flew up on the 9:30 flight and then accompanied us back down on the 11:30 flight. It ended up being a great decision. Charlotte was running all over the airport, and it would have been so hard to keep hold of her with Phoebe in the stroller. On the flight, Phoebe had a blowout, so I'm glad I didn't have to change her outfit in the tiny lavatory with Charlotte. And Charlotte needed to go potty on the flight as well, so I was able to hand off Phoebe to my mom while I took her to the lavatory.
We had the best time. We went to Sea World one day.
The Wild Animal Park the next:
We went to the beach:
And I really did relax a lot. My mom cooked and played with Charlotte while I took care of Phoebe. It helped that Phoebe was amazing and slept about 11 hours straight almost each night. I can't tell you how much more rested I feel when I wake up before my infant daughter does. And Charlotte is completely potty trained now. She just decided last Sunday or Monday to start pooping in the toilet, and she hasn't looked back. It's so awesome. You still have to keep reminding her to use the bathroom every two hours or so, but we're pretty much there!
On Saturday afternoon, Phoebe and I flew back to Sacramento while Charlotte stayed with my parents. Charlotte simply said "Bye Mommy" when they dropped us off at the airport. My parents and Charlotte drove up to Mammoth on Sunday and will be driving over here on Thursday. While Chris and I both miss her, it's just so much quieter and easier to go out to dinner. We took full advantage of that by meeting our friends for sushi after Chris picked Phoebe and me up from the airport.
Still, I was pretty exhausted by Sunday:
We had the best time. We went to Sea World one day.
 |
| This is pretty much how Phoebe spent the entire week |
 |
| Feeding the birds and catfish |
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| Elephants |
And I really did relax a lot. My mom cooked and played with Charlotte while I took care of Phoebe. It helped that Phoebe was amazing and slept about 11 hours straight almost each night. I can't tell you how much more rested I feel when I wake up before my infant daughter does. And Charlotte is completely potty trained now. She just decided last Sunday or Monday to start pooping in the toilet, and she hasn't looked back. It's so awesome. You still have to keep reminding her to use the bathroom every two hours or so, but we're pretty much there!
On Saturday afternoon, Phoebe and I flew back to Sacramento while Charlotte stayed with my parents. Charlotte simply said "Bye Mommy" when they dropped us off at the airport. My parents and Charlotte drove up to Mammoth on Sunday and will be driving over here on Thursday. While Chris and I both miss her, it's just so much quieter and easier to go out to dinner. We took full advantage of that by meeting our friends for sushi after Chris picked Phoebe and me up from the airport.
Still, I was pretty exhausted by Sunday:
Chhhaangess
This is something I've wanted to post about for a long time, but for obvious reasons, haven't been able to.
My job, which I loved, loved, loved, has been almost unbearable for the past year. Long story short. The CEO of the organization decided to use the new money that we were getting from the federal government to create two new Vice President positions, one of which was the V.P. of Government Affairs. My boss, whom I love, and who was the Director of Government Affairs, was, understandably very upset to learn that someone was coming in to be over her. I was worried that my boss would find a new job and leave. And yes, that did, ultimately end up happening, only three months after the new V.P. started. The new V.P. is a former state legislator and does not have the best reputation for being easy to work for. This proved to be the understatement of the century. She basically pushed my boss out by taking away all of her direct reports. She also took the review that my boss had written for me and deleted anything nice that she had said about me.
So this all started happening when I first learned I was pregnant with Phoebe. I don't know if it was the hormones or the lousy situation at work, or a combination of both, but I was miserable and upset the entire first trimester. I was crying nearly every day when I came home from work, and I didn't know how I was going to make it at that job until Phoebe was born. I didn't want to quit, but I didn't want to be there anymore either. Poor Chris had to deal with me complaining almost every single day about how horrible the work environment had become. In the last year, about two-thirds of our department left the organization for other jobs. While they all got better jobs, none of my co-workers were looking for new jobs before this V.P. started. I, too, started looking for a new job almost right away, but I think being pregnant stacked the odds against me (they're not supposed to discriminate against you, but it still happens).
Fast forward to post-Phoebe. About two weeks after Phoebe was born, I was looking online at job announcements and found one that sounded intriguing. It's with a dental plan that provides dental benefits to about 50 million Americans, and the job is similar to what I do now - analyze legislation and regulatory activity. I applied for the job and got a call for an interview about a week later -- and believe me, interviewing for a job when you've had little to no sleep, was no easy task. Luckily for me, it was the first job I interviewed with that really seemed to match the fit I was looking for -- flexible, family friendly, and intellectually challenging. Having a solid background in the Affordable Care Act certainly helped. After four interviews (two with the H.R. recruiter, one with the guy who will be my manager, and one phone interview with the V.P. of Government Affairs and a health policy attorney), I got the job! And the best part is that even though I was offered the job two months ago, they've been willing to wait until my Paid Family Leave through the State runs out next week. I'm pretty excited to be starting a job with a company that seems to value me, and I'm even more excited that the job's office is much closer to home. Of course, I'm really nervous about going back to work after four months and to a new job, but I think it will work out.
Of course, this also means big changes for Charlotte and Phoebe... As soon as I knew that I wouldn't be starting work until June 20, I decided to book a trip to San Diego for Charlotte, Phoebe, and me (that will be devoted to another post). We went last week, so Charlotte's last day with Miss D was June 1, and she'll be starting KinderCare next Monday. Phoebe will be taking Charlotte's spot at Miss D 's (I contemplated sending both to KinderCare, but I really wanted Phoebe to have a home-like atmosphere, at least in the beginning). Today, Phoebe had a half day at D's to get acclimated with someone new. She did great - taking a long nap in the Pack N Play, and spending time playing and watching the other kids. Charlotte is still with my parents until Thursday when they drive here to spend Charlotte's birthday weekend. I can't believe she's turning 3 next week!
So that's the news around here. I'm really sad that I won't be returning to my old job - but it hasn't been the same since last May, and likely wouldn't ever be as good again.
My job, which I loved, loved, loved, has been almost unbearable for the past year. Long story short. The CEO of the organization decided to use the new money that we were getting from the federal government to create two new Vice President positions, one of which was the V.P. of Government Affairs. My boss, whom I love, and who was the Director of Government Affairs, was, understandably very upset to learn that someone was coming in to be over her. I was worried that my boss would find a new job and leave. And yes, that did, ultimately end up happening, only three months after the new V.P. started. The new V.P. is a former state legislator and does not have the best reputation for being easy to work for. This proved to be the understatement of the century. She basically pushed my boss out by taking away all of her direct reports. She also took the review that my boss had written for me and deleted anything nice that she had said about me.
So this all started happening when I first learned I was pregnant with Phoebe. I don't know if it was the hormones or the lousy situation at work, or a combination of both, but I was miserable and upset the entire first trimester. I was crying nearly every day when I came home from work, and I didn't know how I was going to make it at that job until Phoebe was born. I didn't want to quit, but I didn't want to be there anymore either. Poor Chris had to deal with me complaining almost every single day about how horrible the work environment had become. In the last year, about two-thirds of our department left the organization for other jobs. While they all got better jobs, none of my co-workers were looking for new jobs before this V.P. started. I, too, started looking for a new job almost right away, but I think being pregnant stacked the odds against me (they're not supposed to discriminate against you, but it still happens).
Fast forward to post-Phoebe. About two weeks after Phoebe was born, I was looking online at job announcements and found one that sounded intriguing. It's with a dental plan that provides dental benefits to about 50 million Americans, and the job is similar to what I do now - analyze legislation and regulatory activity. I applied for the job and got a call for an interview about a week later -- and believe me, interviewing for a job when you've had little to no sleep, was no easy task. Luckily for me, it was the first job I interviewed with that really seemed to match the fit I was looking for -- flexible, family friendly, and intellectually challenging. Having a solid background in the Affordable Care Act certainly helped. After four interviews (two with the H.R. recruiter, one with the guy who will be my manager, and one phone interview with the V.P. of Government Affairs and a health policy attorney), I got the job! And the best part is that even though I was offered the job two months ago, they've been willing to wait until my Paid Family Leave through the State runs out next week. I'm pretty excited to be starting a job with a company that seems to value me, and I'm even more excited that the job's office is much closer to home. Of course, I'm really nervous about going back to work after four months and to a new job, but I think it will work out.
Of course, this also means big changes for Charlotte and Phoebe... As soon as I knew that I wouldn't be starting work until June 20, I decided to book a trip to San Diego for Charlotte, Phoebe, and me (that will be devoted to another post). We went last week, so Charlotte's last day with Miss D was June 1, and she'll be starting KinderCare next Monday. Phoebe will be taking Charlotte's spot at Miss D 's (I contemplated sending both to KinderCare, but I really wanted Phoebe to have a home-like atmosphere, at least in the beginning). Today, Phoebe had a half day at D's to get acclimated with someone new. She did great - taking a long nap in the Pack N Play, and spending time playing and watching the other kids. Charlotte is still with my parents until Thursday when they drive here to spend Charlotte's birthday weekend. I can't believe she's turning 3 next week!
So that's the news around here. I'm really sad that I won't be returning to my old job - but it hasn't been the same since last May, and likely wouldn't ever be as good again.
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