Friday, June 13, 2014

Back to work

I survived my first full week of work, I went back last Friday.  My first day back was ok, but I missed Em like crazy and it was really hard to leave her.  My stepmom had her that day since my dad had to go up north to celebrate his mom’s 90th birthday.  When I got to work I saw that my desk was decorated, they were throwing me a shower.  That was nice, I thought they forgot or just weren't doing anything.  I was talking to my friend about it and she said she was afraid I would think that, but she said our boss claimed he talked to me about it and I said I didn't want anything before hand.  Such a lie, he never said anything to me.  But maybe he was too uncomfortable to bring it up.  I get it, I'm sure nobody knew, but I just wish someone had said, hey we'd like to do something for you but we'd like to wait till she's here.  That would have been FINE, but the way they did it, I'll be honest, I was hurt, thinking they were just ignoring it.

 I had decided to make the day easier by not having to pack food the night before, so I got a bagel and hot chocolate on my way for breakfast, and had planned on going out for lunch, but they did a potluck for my shower.  It was nice, the food was yummy and we got a bunch of Babies R Us gift cards.  So now I can go get her a jumperoo or exersaucer or whatever….I can’t decide between those, or a walker.  I’m trying to find whatever takes up the least amount of space, and looks the most fun.  I wanted to get her that jumper thing you put in the doorway, but Ryan had a good point that she’ll want to be out in the living room with us.  Jumping and staring at the blank wall isn’t much fun, and none of the doorways in the living room could support it.

Maybe I can drag him there one of these days and pick one out.  She’s getting so much better with holding her head up, so she should be able to go in one soon.  So for my first day back, my boss said I could just check my email and get organized.  I had about 500 emails to go through, and my desk was all packed up in boxes since they had new carpet installed.  So it was an easy day, didn’t have to do anything, and when I got home it was the weekend!  But this week has been a different story.  Leaving her every day has been really tough, in the morning I just want to snuggle her forever.  Going to my dad’s isn’t too far out of the way, but it does add almost two hours to my commute round trip.  I used to leave for work around 7:30 and get home at 5:30, but now I have to leave around 6:45 and get home around 6:30.  Plus traffic has stunk lately.

So in addition to missing her, I just feel so frazzled.  I can’t get up and feed her and go back to bed, I have to get ready for work.  I work all day, deal with traffic, go get her, attempt to cook dinner, eat dinner, clean up, get her ready for bed and some nights a bath, get my lunch/her diaper bag/my clothes/pumping stuff ready for the next day, I shower at night now so Ryan and I don’t fight over the shower in the morning, and then she gets one last bottle around 11:30 and then I fall into bed.  This is not a life, I am not enjoying this at all.  I know a lot of people work and have kids and it’s necessary for us both to work as well, but there has got to be more to life than this.  I can only enjoy life on the weekends?  It really stinks.  I have had no time to clean the house, pizza got ordered last night because it took forever to get her settled when I got home yesterday so I didn’t feel like cooking dinner when I was done.  Somedays I enjoy having a routine again….I can eat much better when I am up early enough to eat breakfast plus all my snacks and other meals.  It’s kind of nice to wear real clothes again instead of yoga pants and flip flops every day.  Yeah I can wear real clothes at home, but am I going to?  No.  And it’s nice to be around other adults and have conversations…Emmy isn’t much of a conversationalist yet.  But other than that, I miss being home.

Call me simple, but I like spending my days cleaning the house, running errands, cooking dinner and taking care of Em.  I LOVE being a mommy.  I was not at all prepared for how much I would enjoy it.  I’ve always wanted kids, but a part of me has always been hesitant.  Worried about how much my life would change, worried about not knowing what to do, and most of all, worrying that I just wouldn’t have that bond with my kids.  This sounds bad, but I’d see a kid out in the mall or something and think yeah they’re cute, but I couldn’t imagine feeling that deep, unbreakable love for this kid that would make me enjoy cleaning up their messes and committing to this job for the next 80 years.  But it’s all so different when it’s your kid.  There is no baby on earth that’s cuter than my Emily, I don’t mind wiping up her dribble or changing her poopy diapers.  I get a kick out of everything she does and I think she is so amazing.  You really have no idea how strong the love is for your child until your child is here. 

She isn’t napping well at my dad’s.  She isn’t a fabulous napper anyway….she is if I just let her fall asleep wherever and whenever, but if I actually try putting her down she won’t sleep.  So I guess with being a new environment and a new schedule, and because my dad probably holds her all day and won’t let her just fall asleep on her own, I come home to a cranky little baby.  She’s also getting up earlier.  She used to go back to sleep after her 6am bottle until about 8 or 9, but now, try as I might I cannot get her in her carseat in the mornings without waking her.  I send her to my dad’s in her jammies so I don’t wake her up to dress her, but once she’s in the carseat she’s wide eyed and awake.  So not napping well + getting up earlier = cranky and crabby.  But hopefully after a few more days the newness of watching her will wear off and my dad will let her be for a bit and let her fall asleep.  And maybe she’ll sleep better once she gets used to going to grandpas every week day.  

My dad is so cute with her.  Everything she does is amazing, she’s so smart, she’s so strong.  He tells me the same stories over and over again.  He is such a proud grandpa.  It’s also cute the stuff he messes up.  He hasn’t had a little one in the house in 35 years, so he’s a bit rusty.  The other day I came home to find her diaper on backwards, she’s always in different clothes than what I send with her because she spits up too much or he spills on her.  Yesterday he didn’t put the little ring back in the Avent nipple and half the bottle leaked all over her.  He called me the other day to find out how to get her carseat out of the car.  And she keeps wetting through her clothes because he isn’t changing her often enough.  He keeps trying to feel for wetness, but these new diapers are so absorbent you can’t really tell, so I clued him in to the color changing strip.  He’s getting it though, he’ll learn through his mistakes.  He was a great dad, so I think he’ll be an even better grandpa.  He certainly thinks the sun rises and sets on her.

A little off topic and random, but I’ve often wondered if I didn’t really need to get my SUV, if I was just like all the other idiots who run out and buy an SUV because they have one kid.  But after spending the day with my MIL on Saturday, I see my car was worth every penny.  Her stroller is fairly small but it was still a struggle to get it into the trunk, it just barely fit.  And having to bend over to get her carseat in and out of the car is not easy at all and trying to change her on the sloped seat in the back was no easy task.  But her stroller is so easy to get into the back of my Equinox, I can get her carseat out in a natural standing position and using the back end when I have no place else to change her is so simple.  So glad to have proven my purchase to be a good one.

I’ve been so tired this week, but today was the worst.  I had to keep shaking my head on the way to work and when I got to a red light I thought I’d close my eyes just for a second.  Well I dozed off, and when my eyes flew open the light was green and everyone was going.  It must not have been green for that long though since the car behind me didn’t honk, but that was kind of scary.  Then all morning at work my head kept bobbing.  I don’t know how to get any more sleep though.  Emily goes down around 9:30 but she gets a final bottle at 11:30 so I stay up until then.  If I forgo the last bottle, I am certain she won’t sleep until 5:30 or 6.  So I have the choice of going to bed after her last bottle, or going to bed earlier but getting up to feed her at 3 or 4 when she wakes up.  In my opinion, it’s better to sleep less but have a more quality sleep than sleep more and have to get up in the middle.  And I have to get up for work at 5:30.  I guess I’ll have to try to catch up on weekends.  I don’t necessarily mind being tired, I mean it comes with the territory of having a baby, but being so sleepy while I’m driving made me very nervous.

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