It was finally here...time to go back to work. And I was DREADING it. In hindsight, I'll admit that I didn't start off 2013 with the sunniest of dispositions. Instead, I spent New Year's Day moping around and tearing up at the thought of leaving Kate to return to the office. I think I mentioned before that we were going to try to ease into the transition. We already had Grandma Brenda lined up to keep Kate during the first week, and work was gracious enough to let me work in the office from 0700-1100, then from home for the afternoon. Beginning on January 7 we'd take Kate to the CDC, first in the mornings only while Grandma was visiting, then for full days.
As the minutes ticked by on January 1, I got more and more anxious about the next day. Even though Kate was still going to be at home, and I was going to be there for half of the day, I was still so apprehensive about things. I felt like there was so much to organize and get ready, and I was worried that I'd forget something. I knew that I'd be pumping while I was at work and, for some reason, that gave me a lot of anxiety. Our command has a little room for nursing mothers to use to pump. It's located right outside of our coffee shop (which I think is kind of funny...a quick fix when they run out of creamer) and contains a table, chair, loveseat, minifridge, and, most importantly, a deadbolt lock. However, I wasn't sure exactly how it would work if more than one person needed to use it. It turns out I didn't need to worry and we've worked out a pretty good schedule. In fact, I kind of enjoy going down there. Right now, Kate takes 4-5 bottles at daycare, so I try to pump four times during the day to keep my output even with her intake. I pump for 15 minutes, it takes me about five minutes to walk to the room, five to walk back to my desk, and five to adjust myself and clean things up once I'm finished. So my average pumping excursion takes about 30 minutes. And doing that four times a day means that I spend just about 2 hours pumping.
I worked all day New Years Day at getting things ready to go for the next day. I was feeling pretty good about being organized--I had my clothes laid out, my pump stuff ready to go, and a bag with snacks and a water bottle all set. And wouldn't you know, Kate wouldn't go to sleep. Instead she cried and cried. We took turns passing her from Mom, to Dad, to Grandma, trying to calm her down. Finally, we decided to try and eat dinner while Brandon rocked Kate upstairs. I had prepared our traditional pork and sauerkraut for New Years, and we sat down at the ottoman to eat. As we started to dig in, Brandon called us upstairs for help so we left our plates and went up to Kate's room. When we returned a few minutes later, we caught Copper with his front paws on the ottoman, chowing down on the pork. Once he realized he was caught he kind of jumped back, but the sauerkraut that was stuck in his beard gave him away. The whole situation could have been humorous, but I'd added some onions to the pork...and onions are extremely toxic to dogs. So on top of the screaming baby, now we had a potentially poisoned dog. So Brenda took the baby and Brandon took the dog and I cried. Turns out everything worked out, just like it usually does. Brenda got Kate down and Brandon got Copper to throw up, and I finally got control of myself.
Come Wednesday morning I actually got out of the house on time and made it to work without crying too hard. It helped to know that I would be back home in a few hours. The return to the office was fairly uneventful. It seemed I spent a lot of time catching up with people and very little time working. But it was still so nice to come home. Even though I was working from the office at the house, I could hear Kate and go and visit her whenever I wanted. The first two days went quickly, and when Friday rolled around Brandon and I headed over to the CDC to turn in our paperwork and take a tour. We met Kate's teachers, Amy, Sarah and Naomi, and got everything squared away for her to start the following week.
We spent the weekend hanging out together and even went to a going away party. Monday morning rolled around and we packed Kate up and took her to daycare in the morning. Brandon and I dropped her off together which made things much easier. At lunch we went and picked her up and took her home to Grandma Brenda. The girls at daycare said that she did well on her first day. They gave us a little sheet that tracked her information for the day--how many times she ate, napped, and needed changed, and any other vital information. Kate's class consists of eight babies, seven girls and one little boy. It turns out that our friends Andrea and Josh, who we know from soccer, were starting their little girl the same day as Kate. So Kate had a little friend in her class! She made it through the week, and so did we. I think I'll always feel that I rather Kate wasn't in daycare, and I'll always feel guilty for not being the person that's there with her all day, but I know that right now, I work so that Brandon and I can give her nice things. We're working on establishing a routine and things are getting easier the more we do them. Even though we don't love that Kate's in daycare, we're lucky that it's so close to work. We're able to sneak over at lunch to see how she's doing. It's so nice to take a quick peek and see her smile...it helps us to get through the day!
-- Grandma's taking good care of me while Mom and Dad are at work --
-- My playmat is my favorite place to hang out --
-- Copper keeps Grandma and I company during the day --
-- This is how I look when we get home from daycare...I had a busy day! --
