Well... as the summer comes to and end - I can't help but think about how fabulous my summer was. This may have been the best summer of my entire life actually!
To start the summer off... Our beautiful daughter Julianna was born on May 23rd. She changed our lives in ways that we never could have imagined. I was off from work to care for her, for 14 weeks until this past Monday... and enjoyed every minute of it.
This is what I spent my summer doing ...
(Sounds like a back to school essay, huh?)
Visiting - Brian and I visited friends and family on the weekends - Everyone got to meet & spend quality time with Julianna. She has seen Grandma and Grandpa Sasso & Fillmore a few times. I brought Julianna to see her Nana (my mother) at least once a week. Julianna also met her grandfather (my father) in July that lives in New Hampshire. She also met her Great-Grandma Claire!! And we hope to have her meet her Great-Grandma Banek in the fall. I only wish my Nana (my mother's mother) could be here to meet Julianna. She passed away 2 years ago. But I know somewhere, somehow, she knew Julianna the minute she was born.... and is going to watch over her forever!
Friends - A good friend of mine, Nicole, had her baby boy (Jake) 3 weeks after Julianna was born... and we made a 'baby' date once a week where we went to the mall & walked, had lunch, went to the park... and talked "New baby" and "New Mom" stuff. It was fun!
Another good friend of mine is currently pregnant, and we hung out together this summer alot and talked new baby stuff too! I can now truly appreciate & absorb all the "kid" conversations that I previously found not so interesting pre-julianna - LOL! I also got to talk to so many of my friends with kids and pick their brains too!
Swimmers - Julianna and I spent time with some of my friends ... We went to the Piccatinny pool, the Newton Pool, the Hackettstown pool ... and Club Sasso (inlaw's pool)
Julianna went in the water with me - she liked it a lot. She looked so cute with her bathing suit & sunhat on (and of course sunblock!) ... She also got to wear her first "Swimmie" diapers, which I am told by the other mothers that they don't work and they don't even hold the pee in - they are only made to hold in the Poop. Great. So at least it's official, when you go in a pool with other small kids swimming around, you are swimming in their pee.
Good Times - Brian, Julianna and I spent some quality family time together as well. We went to the Sussex county state fair and many other fun places. I wish Brian could have had off from his job for a few more weeks... He only had about a week of vacation time - and we had visitors during that time, so it was never really just the 3 of us. I wish we could have had more time together alone before he went back to work.
There should be a law where the father gets "Paid paternity leave" from the state just like the mother does. I know he could have taken baby bonding time and it would have been paid but it's not the same as a true "Paternity" leave (like maternity leave). No, the man doesn't give birth, but I know he would have loved to have been home to experience the first few weeks of Julianna's life (with me) without having to worry about working. Maybe one day this will become something that is as normal as Maternity Leave is to the woman.
Baby Bonding time (NJ law) - Let me tell you, thank goodness for Baby Bonding paid time off. If it wasn't for that, I would have been back to work after 8 weeks. No way was I ready to return to work after 8 weeks! I was just getting my normal life & routine down ... and starting to have fun with Julianna. So the Baby Bonding time allows you an additional 6 weeks of "continuous" paid leave. (continuous my ass! I am still waiting on a check and I am back to work!).
It really was the best summer of my entire life and I will never forget it. I look forward to all the fun times I have ahead with my beautiful daughter and my incredible husband...
Wonderful post, Skye.
ReplyDelete