Day in the Life- Fall 2016 Day 2

As I mentioned in my DITL last week, I thought that documenting my first day back to work would be interesting as it would be quite a contrast with my DITL post on maternity leave last week. Work days are never super exciting and they don't contain as many pictures, but read on if you dare! (Not only was it my first day back to work after maternity leave but my FIL and his wife are in town to meet Wes and help CP out with the kids all week.)

If you want to join in on the fun you have until October 16th to post your DITL entry and send it to Julia. Information on how to participate can be found here.

Day in the Life- Fall 2016 Day 2

October 11, 2016

CP- 40 years old

NSC- 38 years old in two months

Izzy- 3 years old in one month

Wes- 2.5 months old

Buster- 5.5 years old

10:40- In bed and trying to fall asleep after gathering all of my stuff together for work (work bag, charge work phone, make salad for lunch, pumping bag, etc.). I start to get anxious (for instance when I realize that I was supposed to call work last week to let them know I would be pumping because we only have so many rooms- whoops) and can't fall asleep despite being exhausted so around 11 I put on some white noise.

2:20- Wes starts to cry. Damn it's going to be a bad night of sleeping on my first day back at work. Nurse him. Thankfully it is quick but he doesn't burp so I wonder if that is going to spell disaster? He either burps like he just chugged a beer or he doesn't burp at all...there is no in between.

2:45- I head back to bed. Wes starts to fuss/cry so I have CP get up to put Wes down again. He is back in our room by 3.

6- My alarm goes off and at first I am confused, then dismayed at how quickly 6am came. I change Wes then nurse him. CP comes in wanting to know if he can shower while I pump. I'm dubious that CP can shower quickly enough since he is prone to long showers but agree to it. After Wes is done nursing I burp him (again, no burp), give him a lot of kisses, then he goes into the vibrating chair while I pump. I am definitely out of pumping practice as I have to adjust a bunch. While I was on maternity leave I made the decision not to pump very often as I wanted to enjoy my time with Wes and not stress out about creating a freezer stash. He certainly nursed enough so it wasn't like I needed to pump a lot to drastically increase my supply.

6:35- I'm shocked that CP is out of the shower while I still pump. 7 ounces total.

CP hates these LulaRoe leggings and I will never wear them outdoors, but they are nice to sleep in!

6:45- I'm in the shower and 30 min later I am out and dressed. Hair down and styled! An underwire bra! Makeup! Something other than stretchy/yoga pants! It's amazing! Wes is fussing in his crib and CP is downstairs cutting meat for dinner tonight so I pick up Wes and nurse him. I wasn't going to make the train I had hoped for anyway. It's a quick snack for Wes and then I eat a banana before I walk out the door.

7:30- I'm out the door and walking to the train. My neighbor is putting out the trash and asks how I am doing. I respond that it is my first day back at work and she says "say no more. I understand." My mind races as I walk to the station thinking of all of the things that I need to get done including buying a train ticket which I should have done last night.

Once on the train I buy a ticket on my phone and sign into my work phone to see if I have any meetings scheduled today. Nothing so far but I may have some in my email that I don't know about. I've been periodically checking my work email while I have been out so that I didn't have 1500+ emails to go through like last time (although I would have likely had many more this time around now that I am a supervisor). Right now I have 259 substantive emails. Hopefully most will just be background information and not emails that I actually need to respond to. I decide to put my work phone down and mindlessly look at Facebook as I am starting to get anxious again. My train arrives at the station downtown and I decide that I will be taking the stairs inside the station instead of the escalator every day (I allowed myself the escalator while I was pregnant).

During my walk to work from the train station I pass a heavily pregnant woman and think to myself "thank god I am not pregnant and never have to be ever again." I then realize that statement is the first time I have thought that in at least six years!

8:30- I'm into my building and I get in line to buy a chai latte and some oatmeal before I realize that I don't have my wallet with me (it's in the diaper bag at home). The nice lady in front of me pays for my oatmeal as the woman behind the counter asks about the baby and tells me that I look great (such a nice thing to say to someone who just came back from maternity leave).

I head upstairs, drop my stuff off, and say hi to my boss. He is very happy that I am back at work. We talk for a few minutes before I grab some more water and talk to a few more employees. Scarf down my oatmeal and try to sign into computer. I call the help desk when it I get a weird error message and find out that because my computer hasn't been in the docking station in almost three months, the system thinks that the laptop has been lost and doesn't recognize me. Great. Now I have to wait for someone to come put my computer back on the network.

9:40- Head downstairs to pump. 5oz. Can't remember if that is good or bad.

10:10- Back upstairs where I check in with two more of my employees, make myself a Starbucks Refresher, and work through easy emails on my work phone.

11- Head downstairs to fill out some paperwork for my train subsidy and see if anyone from IT is in to get my work computer on the network (nope). This is going to be a waste of a day. I check in with my "problem employee."

12:10- I eat lunch (thank goodness I brought a salad from home today since I don't have my wallet!). CP texts that Wes has had no milk and that he is "chill" along with a picture of Wes sleeping. I freak out because it has been 5 hours since Wes had a snack of milk. CP texts back that he has been sleeping the entire time, which doesn't make me feel any better. I let CP know that Wes does take a nice morning nap, but in order to make sure that he sleeps at night, we should make sure that any naps don't last longer than 2.5 hours.

12:45- I head down to pump again and net 4.5 ounces. I come back upstairs and try to find someone in IT again. I'm told that the person that can help is traveling and to send him an email- hmmm that is information that would have been helpful HOURS ago. I head into my office and am shocked to find someone in my chair. She is working with the traveling employee to get me back on the network and thankfully at 1:30 I can finally get into my computer. So only most of the day was wasted... I start to go through my emails.

3:30- I pump again yielding 4 ounces then continue with emails upstairs until 5 when I run out the door to try to catch my train. I run into another manager who is happy that I am back. We catch up quickly but the short talk makes me miss my train by one minute so I catch the next one, reading blogs on the way home. I realize that I am running on pure adrenaline at this point, so this time to decompress is nice. I get off the train with two of my neighbors and we discuss the lack of sleeping with our kids and then our crazy dogs.

6- I get home and Buster is barking while greeting me at the front door. Izzy runs over and shouts "Mommy!" and gives me a big hug. I hear Wes crying, take him from CP, and then nurse him.

6:40- We (CP, Izzy, Wes, myself, FIL, and his wife) pile in the minivan and arrive at a nearby Mexican restaurant. We have been here only once before (for Father's Day this year) and really liked it so hopefully we have another great experience. I give Izzy a Melissa & Doug coloring book and between that, chips, and her meal Izzy stays pretty content throughout the meal. I drink a yummy strawberry mojito, all the adults share a lobster empanada, and my entree was salmon with mango and avocado. The restaurant was a little loud so conversation was hard. The manager/owner came over at the end of dinner to give us a free dessert (sweet potato bread pudding) which was awesome. Izzy took the entire scoop of ice cream off the top with her fork and ate it all to herself.

Wes sleeps through the entire dinner which was awesome.

8- Left the restaurant and dropped off my FIL and his wife at their hotel. On the way we quiz Izzy on the color of our house, our street name, our city, and the name of the city where my parents and my sister live. The only one she didn't get is the state we live in and who lives in Hawaii (trick question- CP was trying to get Izzy to say his mom since Izzy thought she lived in Hawaii after our vacation there in February). I joke that "Mommy's crazy aunt lives in Hawaii." Everyone laughs so Izzy keeps on repeating it so I'm pretty sure it's embedded in her brain. My mom will get a kick out of that (we are talking about her sister).

8:30- We are back home and Izzy heads upstairs with CP to go potty, brush her teeth, read some stories, and head to bed. She is exhausted. I change into pajamas, pick up the house a bit as there is stuff EVERYWHERE and take Wes upstairs. I change his diaper and put him into a onesie for sleeping while giving him lots of kisses. We head downstairs where he gets his medicine, I turn the Cubs game on (tied!), and then nurse him. Buster comes over for some loving but I don't have any hands to pet him. For the next hour I tickle, kiss, and try to keep Wes awake while watching the Cubs start to lose the game.

He certainly won't fit into this "My First Easter" onesie this spring so I might as well use it now!

9:30- I head upstairs with Wes. We read a board book about a train and towards the end, Wes lets out a big poop. I change his diaper and kiss his feet which makes him smile. I nurse him, then sing to him while burping him. He goes down at 9:50. I head into the bathroom to do my nighttime routine, then jump into bed to make a few notes on the day. I turn off Modern Family at 10:15 and fall asleep pretty easily.

5:50am- I wake up and realize that Wes slept the entire night!!! AND the Cubs won in an intense game? I feel bad that I didn't stay up to watch but sleeping through the night was GLORIOUS.