Too Many Books

  "Who IS this woman holding me? I don't even know her anymore!"   Clearly, I've had no time to blog since returning to the working world last Tuesday. Le sigh. Any free time I have in the morning and evenings is reserved for Stella. God, the guilt of being away from her for so many hours SUCKS. I know it will be even harder when she's a little older and screams, "Mommy, nooooOOOO! Don't leave meeeeeeeeeeeee!" Hubs was home with Stella last week, but she starts day care tomorrow. I'm a little concerned about how on earth I am going to get the two of us out the door, drop her off, and still and make it to work by 8:15 in the morning. (Let's just be honest. I pretty much know I'll be late to work tomorrow, since it will be our first try... but I'm talking about how in the hell I'm going to do it everysingledayspice.) Anywhine, going back to work was a bit stressful, but not completely horrible. Trying to catch up on

Yeah, I've been in such a baby bubble for the last 8 weeks that yesterday afternoon I told my husband I was going to cheer for the Jets to win the Superbowl. (And I actually do like sports!) Fail. It's my last day of maternity leave: I go back to work tomorrow morning. The mix of emotions is intense, and Stella doesn't even start day care until next Monday, since hubs is on vacation and will be staying home with her this week. (I'll be coming home at lunch time for a little breastpumping/ cuddle session. YAY!) Speaking of breast pumping, I'm a little concerned as to how that will work out for me at the bank. I'm thankful that my right to pump is federally mandated, but, um... bank branch = cameras everywhere. And a few camera monitors, too. I'm pretty sure my pumping location options include:  a freezing cold restroom (thankfully, there are two restrooms in my branch, so I could theoretically occupy one for twenty + minutes without any inconven

I'm kind of sadspice. I go back to work Tuesday. Stella will still have another week before she starts daycare, as hubs is taking a vacay week next week to stay home with her, which means we'll all be home together this weekend and on Monday. Soooo.... my point being... today is my last day of just Stella & me at home. Maternity leave pretty much rocked. I mean, I guess it's kind of like being in labor... it isn't so wonderful while you're in the midst of it, but looking back... it was amazing. There were moments during those days alone when she was fussy and I was exhausted that I just wanted to trade places with my husband and RUN back to work to get a break, some adult interaction, a full night's sleep (yeah, he gets that. I let him sleep, because I might be dog tired but I'm still a control freak.) But, now that it's basically over I feel like maternity leave was the most precious time. I will never get to spend that much time with her alla

thankful that Stella is all better now! Well, I thought I would just be able to blog my little heart out all the way through my maternity leave. Whoops.  Yeah, I'm behind again! After I posted my stellar-musical-performance, all hell broke loose in the Murphy household. My husband had been sick. I got sick. Then, the baby got sick. It was just over a week ago on a Saturday evening when I took her rectal temp to try to make her go poopie... and was shocked that the digital readout said she had a fever of 101.7! (They don't want little babes to have anything over 100.4.) We ended up taking Stella to the emergency room -- thankfully, there's a nice, new offshoot of Kosair Children's Hospital (which is alltheway downtown) out in our neck of the woods. After several hours, a urine cath, blood drawn, an IV in the back of my baby's hand, and a chest x-ray, they ruled out flu and RSV. Next, we had two options: IV antibiotics for 14 days OR a spinal tap to check h