Back at it

Last Monday was my first day back at work and I'm happy to report that we all survived! Tad had to work Monday so Mark Henry went to GP for Kids for the first time. Which means I had to not only get myself ready that morning but also him. I barely slept the night before because I was worrying about how it would go. Thankfully it worked out perfectly! I woke up at 6:00 and pretty much got ready before he woke up. And I only left 6 minutes later than I wanted to (7:06)! Go me! He did great the first day, other than he didn't nap well so 2 out of the 3 times I went down to nurse him, he was crying. They thought he was hungry, but I knew he was just sleepy. He seems to be getting used to the noise because Thursday when he went back, he napped longer. I have decided to set a schedule to feed him every 3 hours so it can be a recurring event on my calendar (otherwise, people would schedule meetings and it would be a mess). I go down at 9, 12, and 3. The first time (9:00) isn't a great time because he's typically in the middle of a nap, but oh well. I had to wake him up on Thursday when I went down. There was something in me saying DON'T DO IT, YOU NEVER WAKE UP A SLEEPING BABY, but I had to because I had a 10:00 meeting and I knew he wouldn't go much longer than that and be starving. So he nursed and went right back to sleep. Phew. That will take some getting used to it, but it is what it is.

He was home with Tad Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday. I think he was a little more fussy than normal on Tuesday because it was his longest time not being with me. I'm sure he was like, "Where's my mommy?!" Tad said that Wednesday and Friday went better. Tad is such an awesome dad. He's really taken to it like a champ and Mark Henry loves him. You can tell. I'm so happy that Tad is hanging out with him during the week so he doesn't have to be in daycare full time. I think it will be great bonding time for them. It's weird for Tad to report back at the end of the day how it went, like I used to do with him when he was at work. And he has to remind me how much milk to pull down from the freezer the night before. I love that there are things that he knows now about Mark Henry that he's having to teach me.

So, yes, we survived the first week. It's a good feeling to be missed -- several of my managers and colleagues kept saying how happy they were to have me back. Even though seeing everyone was awesome, I admit the week went by slowly and I kept looking forward to sleeping in on Saturday. I managed to get about 40 more minutes of sleep than during the week... not too much but anything helps these days. I was exhausted and went to bed before 9:30 most nights. Much different than maternity leave and going to sleep at midnight or 1:00 AM! I definitely never thought waking up at 6:00 would be a normal occurrence for me and that I would have time to throw in a load of laundry or put up clothes in the morning (before MH was here, I would give myself 30 minutes to get ready and run out the door). How things change when you have a little one!

The funny thing, I'm actually looking forward to tomorrow (Monday) and doing it all over again. Guess that's a good sign!