D-Day: Back to work

Well we did it.  I have returned to work.  And survived the first day.

It has taken us a long time to get a plan in place, but we are near enough to it now that I can write about it.  Travis is going part time/work from home.  He'll spend one day a week in the office, and then the other hours he'll get in from home in the evenings, on weekends, and during Andrew's naps.  This means that he'll be Andrew's primary caregiver during the work week!  On the one day that Travis is in the office, Andrew will go to an in-home day care.  I'm really happy with this plan to begin with, to ease baby into day care, and that his primary care will come from his daddy!

This week, I am working half days to transition into it, and next week, I'll hit it full time again.

So today was the first day of mommy going off to work:

And daddy staying home to play with baby:

I bravely drove off to work.  It was so bizarre - driving into work and walking into the office made me feel like nothing had ever happened.  Like these last four months had only been a blip.  I only almost cried once.  In the stairwell up to the third floor, I ran into Sandy, who had been an understanding ear and an adviser throughout pregnancy and maternity leave.  I said, "Can I have a hug? I kind of need one."  She obliged, and that was when I was almost overwhelmed.

But after that it was okay!  I pumped milk twice, and got to experience the small-but-adequate mothers' room that I will see three times a day for the near future.  I saw all my colleagues who welcomed me back warmly.  And I got briefed a little on what's been going on, and my brain surprisingly followed right along.

I am filled with hope that this will be very good, once the scary transition is over and we are in a routine.

When I got home this afternoon, Andrew and I curled up on the bed to nurse together, and we took a nap together.  He smiled and cuddled right in.  Happiness.  He still loves me.

I realized I haven't taken nearly enough pictures lately, so I took a smattering this afternoon.  Andrew is really getting the hang of his SuperSeat.  He's very wobbly, but able to manhandle his torso around to manipulate the toys.  He likes to try and put them in his mouth.  He's also got a lot more stamina for it and will sit there for several minutes without calling for help.

I took a video of his wobbly sitting practice.  Admittedly, it's not very exciting - I took it after his initial attack on the toys - but it shows just how big and strong he's gotten lately.

 More cuteness:

Chillin' on the couch, lookin' like a BumGenius ad:

In non-baby Pine Hill news, we are harvesting tomatoes from our first-ever garden!  We've got Romas, Early Girls, Beefsteaks, and Cherries.  Here was the first one of the year, a cherry:

We're also up to our eyeballs in basil, and we have yellow bell peppers allegedly coming.  They've been large and green for an age.  We have some nice looking yellow squash, green zucchini, and cucumber plants, and they have all blossomed beautifully, but none of them seem to be producing any fruit.  Weird.