A Handful of Months

Today is March 29. My daughter's five-month birthday was on the 11th. Yup, things are a little busy around here!

Getting back to work has been a little hectic, but we are getting it down. It's hard to balance a busy work day, and then all of the events that happen in our house between 5 and 8 p.m. I want E to feel like we are spending quality time with her, not just getting stuff done. I have been using some of the time after she goes to bed to do household chores so that I have more free time to spend with the family during the weekends. Since going back to work, we have tried to have one 'work' day during the weekend to run errands and tackle projects around the house and one family fun day. Most of my great family fun day ideas are outside, so the recent rainy weather has stunted some of these outings, but there will be plenty of sunshine in the months to come!

Baby E, at five months you:

Are eating a lot of fun things. You love Sweet Potatoes, Banana and Avocado. You are not a big fan of Peas.

You still fit into most 3 month-size clothes.

You are still wearing size one diapers.

You are doing wonderful at daycare, you love interacting with the other kids.

You have developed a special relationship with Sadie, your youngest furry sister. She always knows where you are and checks on you if your're crying. You have started to give her lots of smiles when she licks your toes!

You are chatting away, and are starting to add some happy squeals to your conversational chatter. I could listen to you all day!

You have found your feet and think they are more delicious than any milk or food you're come in contact with.

You are all smiles. You spend more time smiling than not. I love that you are so happy and that I find you with a smile when I come to get you in the morning.
You are sitting like a froggy, with your hands on the floor.

Back to the Grind

Here it is, the eve of my return to work. People keep asking me how I feel about going back to work, but to be honest, I feel a lot of different ways.

I am blessed to work for a company that offers amazing maternity benefits. For those of you who are keeping track, E is going to be four and a half months old tomorrow. She was born the first day of my maternity leave, exactly two weeks before her due date. But I would love it even more if the company offered flexible return to work options. I would love to work part-time for my company, but I don't think that idea would be well-received at this point in time. Maybe someday.

It has been amazing being home with her for all this time. I know there are plenty of moms out there that have to go back to work after a month or two, and I don't know how they do it. When E was that old, we were just figuring out our routine, explaining it to a caretaker would have been nearly impossible. But she is at such a fun stage in her life. She is developing so many new skills and rounding out her personality in a new way each day. I hate to think that something monumental will happen with someone besides me.

J and I are blessed to have found an amazing in-home daycare for her. I am completely comfortable leaving E there; she actually started going last Wednesday so we could all get into the routine. This was J's idea, and it worked out perfectly. We were able to drop her off without feeling rushed to get to the next stop and we got to spend some time alone before this transition begins. I know that the daycare provider will 'raise' E just the way we are, and that she will get wonderful care and attention there. It is still hard to think that she will be looking in someone else's eyes as she falls asleep during the day.  I still want her to think that her Daddy and I are the most fun people she knows.

But heading back to work means that I get to refine the skills that I haven't used in so many months. I want to make E proud that her Mama can do all this; be a successful professional woman, a supportive wife and a great Mama. I know that there will be some bumps as we go through this transition, but I think we have a pretty good game plan. J and I are also committing to fill one of the weekend days with a fun activity; going to the beach, zoo, hiking, or going to the park. E deserves our undivided attention, and I never want her to feel like she is getting anything less.