We made it

Well, Brady's first day of preschool was yesterday and we made it through it! Whew. We woke him up early so that I could feed him and we could get him dressed and ready to go when MrKLB needed to leave for work. He was not very happy to be woken up from a nice deep sleep, but he did manage to eat and we got him out the door on time! When we put him in the car I kissed him goodbye and it was only then that I started to cry. I didn't think I would, but I did. MrKLB gave me a big hug and then they drove away. I did cry for a few minutes, but then I decided to reward myself for the 12 weeks of hard work with a nice little nap before I started actually doing my work. It was nice to have a nap where I wasn't worried about whether Brady would wake up or need me.

Anyway, work went okay. I'm easing back into it. I missed Brady a lot so I gave the school a call around noon to see how he was doing and if he had been eating and napping. I was so glad that I called because they said he was doing great and it made me feel a lot better. He had taken his entire bottle at 9am and was eating again when I called. He had even had a couple of small naps. So, I did manage to relax a bit. Later I got an email from the director with some photos that they had taken of Brady. It was really nice of them and brightened my day. I went to pick him up around 4pm and he was hanging out in the bouncy chair looking at the other babies. Everyone kept saying what a happy baby he is and that he was so alert and listened during story time. I could tell he was tired, though, and he ended up sleeping the whole way home.

All in all, the day went pretty well. I missed him terribly and am not ready to start working again, but I'm happy to know that he is doing well at school. Hopefully this will keep up. We'll have a full week next week and I'll be back in the office 3 days, so that will be the true test of how our new schedule is going to work.

I uploaded most of the photos from yesterday to Brady's blog, but since this is really my blog I'll add a couple of Brady and me:

I'm a working Mom

I'd like to think this would be an eloquently written blog entry that details all of the complicated emotions that a mother feels when sending her first and only child to daycare and returning to work after maternity leave. I doubt I have the writing skills to put all of these emotions into words, though. (I am a techie, after all.) I'll write a few notes down here anyway, though, just so I can look back some time in the future and revisit this momentous occasion in my life.

Tomorrow my baby boy will be 12 weeks old. This means that I will officially return to work and he will start preschool. It simultaneously feels like just yesterday that MrKLB was driving me to the hospital so that we could meet our baby and like it has been so much longer than 12 weeks since he changed our lives forever. I've been told that with babies the minutes seem to last hours but the years seem like fleeting seconds. This is already proving to be true.

We visited Brady's preschool on Monday and got to meet his teachers again and see the other babies that will be in his room. I left there feeling 100% confident that we have made the right choice about who will be caring for our precious boy while we are working. Everyone there just doted over Brady and I know he will soon be a favorite. He is really such a good baby. Hopefully he'll be good for them. Hopefully we'll continue to see a happy baby who eats well, sleeps well, and smiles and giggles for us a lot! This is one of my fears... that somehow going to preschool and not being with me all day will change him in some way. In reality, I don't really think this will happen. But the thought does still cross my mind.

I'm excited for Brady to be around other babies. I'm excited that they will start to do sign language with him soon and that they'll involve him in little art projects (that truly are just for the parents!). I'm excited that he'll be exposed to new stories and songs and toys. I actually think preschool will be good for him.

That being said, I'm going to miss the little guy. I'm going to miss reading him stories in the morning (he's so happy and giggly in the morning) and taking him to lunch to meet Daddy and sometimes napping with him on the bed or the couch (yes, I do that!). I'm going to wonder if my time would be better spent taking care of my child rather than working. In the end, though, I know that I need the intellectual stimulation of my job. And I enjoy the nice paycheck. I have never planned to be a stay-at-home mom. I know that I can be an awesome working mom. And I will be. I will cherish the time I do spend with him that much more.

So, tomorrow starts the next phase in my adventures in mommy hood. I hope that Brady has a great time at preschool! I hope that I remember what it is that I do at work...

A pic before I go...