The big highlight of the week for Cindy was watching the Olympics, with Baby R, basically all day long. Having the Olympics on somehow made the days and the week go by so fast! It’s just nice to have it on in the background while nursing or during Baby R’s playtime. Now that it’s over, Cindy is a little sad. It’s almost like that feeling of having visitors over and normal life is put on pause but then once the visitors leave normal life starts again. She keeps joking that her friends (the Olympians and NBC commentators) are gone lol. On the bright side, the Paralympics will be starting soon! She has that to look forward to.
Also, we realized Baby R is lucky enough to watch 2 Olympics all in her first year! She can’t wait for the Winter Olympics in 6 months!
Jake is a bit over the Olympics. He’s happy to be able to watch something other than sports for a while.
As for Jake, the big highlight was teaching his very first college level course! He spent all summer preparing this course, including some of the early sleep deprived post-baby days. He’s worked so hard on this course and is so happy the course came together and the first couple of classes have been a success, despite the fact that it has been over Zoom. He wishes he could teach in person…there’s just something about the teaching and learning experience that is lost when it is done virtually. He especially misses being able to write on chalk boards.
It’s been a perspective shift to view undergraduate courses through the lens of an instructor. As students, our big concerns (*ahem or really Cindy’s big concerns) were always– will there be extra credit, is the final exam cumulative, are the exams multiple choice, is the class curved, and so on. But from a teaching perspective it’s all about how to fit 10 weeks worth of content into 6 weeks and how to prevent cheating. Cindy loved instructors who would use a whole lecture for a midterm. But now she’s supporting Jake’s decision to host a lecture after the midterm. And to make it known the content in the lecture would be on the final to ensure attendance. So evil! But it’s necessary to fit in all the material.
Anyway, we’re hoping Jake’s first college-level teaching experience will be a success!
Postpartum Updates: Week 9
Baby R is officially 2 months old! She’s becoming more interactive and less blobby. We joke that she doesn’t just stare right through our souls anymore and actually gives us smiles! Sometimes she smiles at the ceiling and it’s a little creepy…like…do you see a ghost Baby R…?
She got her 2 month shots! Unfortunately, with the rise of more COVID cases, visitor restrictions have been put in place again and only one parent can accompany the baby to appointments. We decided to send Jake since he’s better able to synthesize information and handle baby cries. Cindy was really sad to miss out on this first experience and big parenting milestone with Baby R. But it is what it is.
Childcare. During pregnancy, everyone warns you about the sleep deprivation (although…we feel pretty lucky to not have experienced much of that). But no one really prepares you for how difficult the childcare decision would be. Nanny or daycare? And if daycare, home daycare or daycare center? And no matter what decision you make, it’ll really cost you $$$$$. We’re fortunate Cindy gets about 5 months with the baby, so we have time to make a decision. But it sort of feels like a lot of people make these decisions well before the baby is even born! So while it feels like we have a lot of time, it also feels like we got a late start.
In other news, Cindy started pelvic floor PT! Mostly just Kegels and stretches for some tight groin muscles for now. No running just yet, but that’s the goal in the future! Things still feel a bit tender and not quite back to normal down there. 9 weeks feels like a long time, but Cindy has to keep reminding herself that for how much her body went through…9 weeks really isn’t that long to heal and she needs to be patient. She wonders why 6 weeks is the mark to get cleared to return to activities… Do people really heal in 6 weeks?!
Finally, baby sleep. We keep holding our breath that our “good sleep streak” will end any day now. Either that or our little chill baby will turn into a monster soon. Or…we’ll have a monster for a second baby…But Baby R has been sleeping 8 hours straight at night! We’re definitely not taking it for granted and are appreciating each 8 hour stretch of sleep she gives us.
jake & cindy 