Working Mom

My maternity leave officially ended last Thursday and back to the working world I went.

All in all, I have to say the first few days have gone pretty well.

I took Ava to daycare for a few hours on Tuesday and Wednesday before we had to do the real thing on Thursday. I definitely recommend this strategy. I had plenty of time to chat up her teachers, deposit all of her supplies and paperwork and get her settled in. Plus, I wanted to be sure she was going to take a bottle from her teachers before I was a 40-minute commute away (she did, thank goodness).

Because I was sort of looking forward to my "free time" while she was in daycare on our practice days, I didn't get too too emotional when I dropped her off (although there were a few tears). The first afternoon I got things done around the house and the second afternoon I went to Target and to see the new Twilight (every mother's dream right?!). When I dropped her off on Thursday I was much more emotional, but was able to keep it together. Had we not had two practice days, I would have been a basket case.

It was nice to get back to work and see everyone. My team welcomed me back with signs on my desk and cupcakes at our afternoon departmental meeting. They're the best.

I'm trying to find our groove as far as getting out the door in the morning (Lee leaves at 7, so I'm on my own to get us both ready and do daycare drop off), pumping at work during the day, and preparing bottles and getting everything ready for the following day. In case you didn't know, working mom with kid in daycare = bag lady.



These are all of the bags that I have to get out the door with every day: lunch, cooler bag for pumped milk, pump, cooler bag for daycare, laptop, purse.

Ava seems to be doing well in daycare. She's definitely worn out by the end of the day, so her bedtime quickly adjusted from around 9:30 to around 7:30. This is great because it gives me time in the evening to fix her bottles and get everything ready for the next day. It's not so great because by the time I get home from work I only have about 2 hours with her before she goes to bed and usually she's really tired most of that time.

But that's what weekends and holidays are for right? We had a really great weekend at home with her, and on Friday night Lee (unbeknownst to me) snapped this picture of us:



And I know that I have so much to be thankful for. And that everything is going to be ok.