Return to Work: Week One Down

Well I went through my first week of work and I think I was rather typical. The night before was incredibly sad.  I felt like crying all day.  I packed our day full of fun at the park, bought her a treat to eat (a doughnut, not healthy but the guilt of leaving her won out).  Our first day was sad but I tried not to focus on it too hard.  For me, I am still finding the return to work surreal.  Almost like work is a vacation and that soon enough I'll be called back to be Belle's full time care provider.   It doesn't feel real that this is my new normal. 

I was able to choose a lovely homecare provider that my neighbour has been using for years.  So, I get the amazing word of mouth reference that's worth its weight in gold.  Sure there are a few things that I don't love about the situation but I also feel if I don't have concerns about health or safety than I need to relax a little bit.  Someone is doing a very important job for me that I can't do nor do I want to do full time.  Belle transitioned well.  Not perfect as for the first two days as she thought 4 am wake-up calls were ideal.   All the breastmilk in the freezer is of no use because she doesn't want it, if it's not from mommy.  She's a snob like me.  Food needs to be fresh.  Here are a few tips that worked for us:

• Do a few trial runs with your care provider.  Belle had a couple afternoons so she felt pretty confident.  Not a lot of time, just a few hours was enough. 
• Go back to work at  non-peak times.  I work in education and went back the week before labour day, which meant I had time to just think without a lot of demands being placed on me.  And I was rewarded with a 3-day weekend with my girl.
• Embrace feeling like the new kid in school again.  A lot has changed in a year at my work place and rather than wanting things the way that they were I am excited about being someplace new.  Although it's still really familiar there were things about my job before that could have been better and it's so great having a clean slate in a way.

Dinners went well.  With 4 am wake-up calls the slow cooker went one day.  Then we did some wraps and some fish.  All was excellent and I am hopeful that the new normal will be something that I enjoy. 

With four days of daycare my Belle has already started to learn to be more confident.  She is trying to walk more, climbing stairs and verbally she is already pretty dynamite but I do see improvements.  I am a very proud momma.  She nurses a little more in the evening.  Usually twice but nothing too much out of the ordinary.  So far so good. I am looking forward to more.  Babble is becoming a great source for me and how to think about and cope with parenting http://www.babble.com/ .  I'll look for an amazing video the founders did for TV and blog about it this week.  I think you'll love it.