back to work observations

>First of all, this is good. Aside from orientation being super boring for me since it’s just a review and involves a lot of sitting, I really like the new hospital and I LOVE the commute, which is about 15-20 minutes in the morning and half that in the afternoon. This is literally life-changing.

>Liam has been a champ at daycare. He sleeps, he chugs his bottles (about 16 oz a day so far), he takes a pacifier if needed, he only fusses when he wakes up, and they haven’t had any trouble with his cloth diapers.

>Pumping. Ugh. Apart from leaving my baby, it’s the worst part of being a working mom for me. I totally forgot all the ins and outs of it and my first day back I was a bit unprepared. But now I’m bringing all the things I need, and as a bonus there is a really nice lactation room to use.

>I need to bring snacks. A nursing mama is a hungry mama.

>Right now getting all the stuff ready to go in the mornings is the most stressful part of my day. I know I’ll get my routines down and it will get better though. I need to do as much as I can in the evenings.

>Also waking Meredith up in the morning now is like waking up a teenager. She moans and groans and eventually I just start undressing her in the bed.

>I’m adding three routines to my days that I was never really able to do before: daily Bible study (mornings before anyone else is up), exercise (first thing when I get home from work – although I’m soooo tempted to just go pick up the kids at this time, but this is something I need to do for me), and cooking dinner (as soon as I’m done exercising, and David will help with the kids). It is all totally doable, so now it’s up to me to have the discipline to follow through.

>The sad part is that after only two days I already feel a lot less connected to Liam. When I dropped him off today it was a lot harder than the first two days because I really miss him. The evenings so far are hectic with getting dinner on the table, entertaining a toddler, and trying to get to bed on time, so there isn’t time for me to just enjoy him. I hope the weekends fill my cup of baby time.