Getting in the Swing of Things

When I first started this blog it was intended to be a means to give updates to friends and family about Eli since we are not exactly close to any of our family here in Warner Robins, GA.  As I gather the pictures and side notes I want to share in the blog each week I have begun to realize that the real use of this blog is a means for me to express the joys and struggles of parenthood as a new mom.  The more I learn the more I want to share and I hope that my posts reach people that are either going through the same experiences, will be going through similar experiences, or have gone through them and wish to give me advice.  I have found that my last post about my distress over going back to work struck a chord to many people and because of that I was overwhelmed with love and support.  Thank you for that…it was greatly appreciated.

Monday morning was one of the hardest things I have had to do.   I had to treat it like ripping off a band-aid, I had to do the drop and run.  I put his bottles in the fridge, kissed his little forehead and dashed out of that room and into the truck as fast as possible.  I tried to keep my mind off of it as much as possible and by the time I pulled into my parking spot all of my tears had dried.  I teared up several more times during the day and constantly had my mind on him and how he was doing.  Luckily I am able to take my lunches to go feed Eli myself.  I call this my “mommy” time.  I look forward to it every day.  I get to go into a private room and nurse him in the rocking chair and love on him.  If he doesn’t fall asleep I even get to share a few smiles!

 

The rest of the week went much smoother.  I was able to give him kisses before I left without crying.  I know he is in good hands, I wish they were my hands but I get to go pick him up every afternoon and spend the rest of the day and night with him.  The only thing Eli has had trouble adjusting to is sleeping in daycare.  The room is not exactly warm and very bright with high squeals and occasional screams from 7 other infants.  Eli is the youngest of the bunch by about 4 months.  The oldest is just under a year.  Eli has never slept well flat on his back in a crib without being swaddled and the daycare is not allowed to swaddle.  So he has yet to be able to sleep in the crib.  The first day of daycare he didn’t sleep more than 5 minutes!  This is a far cry from the 4 hours of napping he was getting with me.  Needless to say he passed out in the truck on the way home and slept for 3.5 hours until I woke him up to eat and bathe.  I put him back in bed and he slept for 7 hours!!  It was a good night for mommy and daddy!  Every day he sleeps a little more…he is learning to sleep in a little bouncy seat that the caregivers can bounce while attending to other children.  If anything this experience is teaching him to soothe himself...I may have spoiled him just a bit as I picked him up at every cry of distress. ;-) 

I am beginning to develop my routine for getting him and his bottles and what not ready each day and I will eventually share my ritual as soon as I have it perfected, so more on that later.

Hard to believe Eli will be 10 weeks tomorrow!

My Last Week :-(

I have been dreading having to go back to work since the day after Eli was born...literally.  The day after Eli was born I laid in bed and cried and cried.  Mark kept asking "What is wrong?"...I really was not sure exactly why I was bawling my eyes out (can you say hormones?) and all I could think was that I never wanted to leave this little boy...EVER!  Mark laughed and tried to comfort me by saying "You have 9 weeks before you have to think about that!"  I knew that the 9 weeks were going to go WAY TOO fast and they did.

The week before we left for Missouri, Eli and I went to childcare orientation.  We met his childcare teacher and stayed for a while just talking.  Everything seemed pretty good but the longer I stayed the more I began to realize that I was going to be leaving my baby.  As soon as we got into the car I broke down in tears for the entire ride home.  That was 3 weeks ago and I feel no different about the situation.  This is my last week at home with Eli and every morning I realize I am one more day closer to leaving him for work.  I am pretty sure that next week will be a VERY emotional week for me.  I just pray that he enjoys daycare and that I am able to stop crying.

I have been pretty nervous about being able to get up and out the door in decent time.  So this morning I woke up at 5:10am, took a shower, got dressed and then woke Eli up to get him dressed and ready.  I was able to nurse him right before I left and I arrived at the daycare center on base at about 6:45am.  This will work good so that I will be at work by 7am.  Eli and I spent about 3 hours at the daycare center.  The women there were very nice and very good with the babies.  I know Eli will be in good hands but that does not make it any easier.  I still sat at the daycare and cried just thinking of leaving him there for a whole day.  The women there kept telling me that he will be ok and that it will be hard for me but that it will get easier.  I hope so.

To make it an even more emotional day, today was Eli's 2 month doctor's appointment.  And along with his 2 month appointment came his first vaccinations.  I held his little hands and tried to comfort  him as tears rolled down both our cheeks while he was given his shots.  I hated to see him cry in pain like that but the crying did not last long.  Eli is now 23" long and 10 lb 4 oz.  He is in the 50% for his height and 25% for his weight.  The doctor told me that everything looked good and that he was perfect!

Please pray that I will be able to make it through my first week at work.  I am going to miss this little boy like CrAzy!