Right before I returned to work, I had a few days alone. The busyness around Caroline’s birthday party was over. My parents had gone back to Florida. Mike was at work all day. The house was quiet. Everything I had set out to do on my checklist for maternity leave, I’d (pretty much) completed. I had Caroline and Vivi all to myself. And I loved it. I cherished it. I didn’t have anything on my agenda other than enjoying them, and our life as it was–right then and there, before all the changes set in. I knew it was a slow period and that it wouldn’t last forever, and that it should be treasured. What a difference it is when you acknowledge that at the beginning of those time periods, rather than at the end, when that time has slipped right through your fingers and all you have left is regret. Maybe that is one of the perks of getting older?

We played at the park:

We took naps:

We got a sweet mobile for Vivi that sings lullabies, and Caroline hopped in her crib to listen to it with her:

We opened birthday cards:

We opened really sweet birthday presents from our friends. This adorable mixer came with all the ingredients to make pound cake, and Caroline and I must have played with this for an hour…measuring, cracking the eggs, stirring in the butter:

And after all that activity, we tried our very first cake pop from Starbucks:

And on the very last day of my maternity leave, my new mom friend Rebecca and I had a delicious lunch at Del Ray Cafe, where the sweet server carried BOTH of our babies down the stairs!

I am so grateful for this sweet time with my girls!