My 7 month old has been using an iPad for 3 months now

When I have some time, I'll write out my whole story - but needless to say - I'm a bit of a tech junkie. Thanks to my dear husband, my assimilation into Apple culture is complete. I have an iPad, iPod, iPhone 4S, and a macbook air. I also have a windows laptop that i use for my windows IT stuff... but that's purely for work purposes. I'm a big believer in the idea that the digital divide will determine the new social classes in the future, so I want my little one to be up to speed with computers. I totally intend on teaching her to program when the time comes. But for now, I'm getting her used to using technology. I have been letting her play with my iPad since she was 3 months old. When she was 4 months and her coordination got better, she started to respond to it. I have a few apps, mainly ones that make noises when she touches the screen and also speak to her - narrating her actions. It's quite amazing watching her figure out how it works. The result was that in a few short weeks, she started trying to touch every single screen she came across. Now at 7 months, she's happily banging on my iPad making colors and sparkles appear. She's discovered that if she does the 4-finger motions, the iPad does even more cool things. In time I hope she'll be using it to read books, learn games, and ultimately interface with the web. Here's to having a tech-savvy baby girl!

Business travel and breastfeeding - UGH~

So I did this a few weeks ago - I had to take a quick business trip ( 2 in one week actually). It sucked because since my little one was 6 months at the time, I wasn't ready to spend the night away from her. So I committed to doing a Tuesday flight to see a client and then a Thursday back to see the client. Sounds easy enough huh? Basically I took the first flight out and the last flight returning home. My nanny was kind enough to be at my house at 4 am and my husband was home to relieve her after 5 pm.

So here was the real challenge - to pump or not to pump! Oh yeah - did I mention that I'm still breastfeeding? hehe! Well Since I was just doing a day trip - I decided not to carry my pump. This would have been the first time that I had gone for 12+ hours without pumping.  I had also reasoned, that if I got stuck out there - I could always milk myself in a hotel room. Yes  - I have watched enough Marmet technique videos on Youtube - and I did teach myself how to express my milk by hand for emergencies. There was a little incident where I stopped responding to my personal breastpump - and yes I was desperately milking myself into a bowl! I heard all the warnings about losing milk supply - but I decided to gun it. First of all - it just doesn't look professional to carry a breastpump to a client meeting. Although I have a nice discreet pump that looks like a tote - it's one more thing to carry. Secondly - where exactly would I pump? I absolutely REFUSE to pump in a bathroom - and I don't feel comfortable asking client's to provide a place for me to pump - especially since they are paying for my time. So I decided to risk having watermelons for boobs - and just gun it!

I chose a suit that had plenty of lining and I wore a thick bra. I didn't expect my boobs to be spraying -but I wanted to make sure that any leaks could be contained. Now on the Tuesday trip... my boobs definitely got huge. When I left the house - my suit fit. When it hit lunch time, my dress was tight. By the time I got back to the airport in the evening, my boobs were under my chin haha. My colleague who was traveling with me was giggling at how huge my breasts got. Needless to say - when I arrived home, I basically wore my little one as she fed. By Thursday, my boobs figured out what was going on - and decided not to fill as much. I was worried that my supply would drop - but honestly - I never noticed a difference. Now on the days I travel, I just make sure that the next day I nurse even more - and my little one seems to be just fine.

I got through it with no leaks and my baby isn't suffering - so here's one score for balancing work and baby :)

Where my head is

I toyed with deciding in whether I should keep blogging since my last post was titled "infertility warrior". Yet although now I'm the proud mother of an amazing 7 month old baby girl, i still have lots going on in my head . I'm grappling with changing my career direction, adjusting to motherhood and learning to redefine myself. There are definitely some cool things I have learned along the way - and I'm eager to share.


First - The career shift

I am a web and Sharepoint consultant project manager. I've been doing that for quite a few years. If you've read my other blog then you know I spent most of last year telecommuting working on bed rest. This is the first time I've slowed down that much in my life. Although I made a good salary, once my daughter was born, I realized that I needed to work less and make more money so I could be with my daughter. I decided to take my company ( that I founded a year earlier) and go full force with it. I secured a contract and then negotiated one with my job , and here I am .... A consultant mother with a new baby and an awesome husband.

Second - motherhood

Where do I even begin with this? Breastfeeding is finally normal - but that requires its own post because it has been one crazy ride. I love buying learning toys, baby clothes, teethers, and all sorts of stuff for her. I'm dealing with sleep training, solids, and teaching my little one to be mobile.

Third- redefining myself

I've been a workaholic for years. I've been all about progress and bettering myself. Now I have this baby girl and her life is far more important than mine. I'm on a very long road to figuring myself out again.

Before I forget... if you want to know just how I got to this point of being a mom  - here's my whole story.