When Peter and I first started telling people we were pregnant there were lots of "Yay! Congrats!" and then usually followed with some sort of negative comment about saying bye to sleep or hopefully we have done all the traveling we wanted to. Me being the sassy person that I am just told everyone that my baby would be perfect and we aren't worried about any of that. Before Ellie came we would spend our dinners and car rides dreaming about what we wanted to do on maternity leave with our daughter. We made a promise to each other to have no expectations and to try to get out at least once a day.

Fast forward to when Ellie decided to show up, and we had 72 days of the 4 of us (Walter is included in that number because duh) and I am proud to say we *mostly* kept our promises. There was a night in there at 2 am where she wouldn't stop crying so I just handed her to Peter and walked outside to cry in the backyard, definitely won't be the last time that happens. Now Peter is back at work and looking back at our leave together makes me SO happy. We had lots of days of just hanging out at home and just walking to get coffee, but there were also days of wonderful adventures. We got to go to San Francisco to show her some of our favorites spots, Oakland to check out new breweries, and to San Jose for an auto show because we were bored that day.

I guess what I'm trying to say is don't listen to the haters and do what makes you happy. I think my mom put it best when she told me have the baby fit into your life and not the other way around.