Category: Kids

In preparation for my return to work this Thursday, today was Laurel’s first day of daycare.  I dropped her off, came back home and the tears began.

I have been mentally preparing for this day for a few weeks and I was fine while getting her ready and even dropping her off.  However, I returned home before heading off to an appointment and that’s when it hit me that something was missing.  It’s been almost a year (if you count the pregnancy), that I have been home by myself.  I went to Laurel’s room to tidy things up and there was no precious baby sleeping in the crib.  I have not been away from her longer than a couple hours since her birth, so to be away from her for the 7 hours she was at daycare was very strange.  I didn’t really know what to do.  On one hand, I enjoyed not having to multitask while holding a baby, or reach back in the backseat to calm her down while driving, but I couldn’t help but be consumed with thoughts on how she was doing… what was her mood?  What was she doing?  How was she eating and sleeping?  I called mid-day to check in on her and they assured me she was fine.

When William and I picked her up at 4pm, she seemed content.  When the teacher handed her to William, she immediately began to fall asleep in his arms, as so to say…”I had an exhausting day.”  It was actually pretty cute.  She was sleep before we even left the daycare.  After reading her daily activity sheet, I saw why.  She did not get much sleep… at all.  She probably slept a combined hour the entire time she was there compared to the 5 or so hours she would have slept here at home.  My sister assured me that my nephew did the same thing on his first day away from home and reminded me that they are overwhelmed by the new environment and all the new sights, smells, noises, etc.  That makes complete sense, so I now realize it will take her a while to adjust to her new environment.

She is making up for the sleep now.  When we arrived home, she awoke briefly to “talk ” to daddy about her day (she actually had quite a bit to say 🙂  She was cooing and making noises at him for several minutes, but fortunately seemed to be in a good mood.  After a quick nursing session, she was out like a light and has been sleeping ever since.  I let her sleep on me for a while (trying to get my bonding in), but now she is next to me in her bassinet while I type this post and perhaps make dinner.  I will likely transfer her to the crib soon.  It will be interesting to see how long she sleeps tonight.  I heard many babies start sleeping through the night when they start daycare and I can see why.

It is hard to believe how fast 11 weeks went by!  I am sad to return to work and not be able to spend my days with her, but we will try to fit in plenty of bonding on evenings and weekends (and upcoming holidays!!).  On one hand, being with a newborn all day.. everyday.. can be quite exhausting, but now that I won’t be able to do that, I am going to miss our day times together.

Well… time to get bottles ready for tomorrow.

Below is a photo of Laurel I took on my phone before leaving for daycare.  Not the best photo with her slumped on the couch, but I was trying to take it quickly before leaving.  I decided to dress her up a bit for her first day 🙂

Dear Laurel,
You are two months young today! The 62 days that you have been in our lives have definitely been challenging, but it’s starting to feel very normal now. You have had a couple of milestones, like rolling from your stomach to your back three times in one day (although you have not been able to repeat it since then), and you have also started smiling a little bit. You also smile at walls, ceilings, and when you are fading to sleep, so daddy and I look forward to more smiles genuinely directed at us.

Your favorite things at 2 months are your activity mat, watching tv from your swing (you’re probably not really watching, but it usually appears you are), bathtime, sucking on your fist, and staring at ceilings and walls. Speaking of walls, you seem to love daddy’s wall of butterflies and blossoms in your nursery. You often stare at it when you wake up.

You have recently become a very noisy sleeper. You tend to moan and groan a lot and we are not sure if it is gas or if you are working that hard to break out of your swaddle. You don’t seem to like swaddle blankets too much, but because of the startle reflex, you can’t sleep without being swaddled just yet. If we don’t swaddle you, you just flail around and scratch up your face. We have tried almost every swaddle, but you manage to break out of all of them. I think one reason is that you love to stretch your arms and legs so much. You did this when you were in the womb also. I could feel what felt like you stretching, but I wasn’t sure. It’s clear to me now that is what you were doing.  Last night, you slept your longest stretch of sleep since you were a few weeks old, 4 1/2 hours!  Then you slept another 3 1/2 hours and then finally another 2 hours before waking up.  I assume this was to make up for not sleeping well at all the previous day.  You did not seem interested in sleeping past 4am and didn’t nap more than about 20 minutes at a time, so it was a rough day.

On Monday, we have to go for your two-moth check-up and vaccines. I am curious to see how much you have grown. I think you are close to 12lbs now and you definitely seem to have grown a couple inches, so we’ll find out for sure. This will be your first round of vaccines, so hopefully it goes well and you still love me afterwards! I moved the appointment to the late afternoon so daddy could go with us and be there to help soothe you (or soothe me!!). I anticipate lots of cuddling Monday night 🙂

The next month will be very interesting for us. You start daycare in just a few weeks when I go back to work.  I know this will be very difficult for me.  I have definitely gotten used to staying with you all day.  I plan to go back on a Thursday instead of a Monday so the transition is a bit easier. We’ll do a few trial runs so we can get a feel for the routine. The one thing that will make the transition easier is that they have cameras in each of the classrooms so mommy and daddy can log in from work to see how you are doing. It will be tempting not to watch you all day! I hope you enjoy daycare and make some friends.

I can’t wait to see what the next month holds!!

I love you!

Mommy

Wow.  It is hard to believe that Laurel is already one month old.  I can still remember vividly when my contractions started and the excitement that ensued as we left for the hospital.  We were very anxious to add a new member to our family and see how our lives would be forever changed.

As I look back on my post from when Laurel was 1 week old, it’s funny to see how some things have changed and some things remain the same.  One thing that has not changed is my constant worrying about her and addiction to various baby and parenting internet sites.  There are actually some really good resources out there like kellymom.com and babycenter.com.  It is also interesting to read message boards to see the kinds of issues other new moms are going through, some of which are the same as mine and some of which I am praising the Lord I am not experiencing (i.e. a baby with colic who is crying for 3 hours straight).  Each day I do feel as though I am feeling a little more relaxed, but I am still adjusting.

One good thing that I was worried about that is no longer a concern for me is Laurel’s eating and weight gain.  By her 2 week appointment, she was back up to her birth weight (actually.. over by one oz at 7 lbs, 6 oz.) and at her one month appointment yesterday, she was at  8 lbs, 14 oz!  She jumped from the 22nd percentile to the 41st percentile.  She also grew one inch.  I cannot believe how much she has grown, but it did seem like she has been going through a growth spurt this past week (eating more), so I guess I should not be that surprised.  She still sleeps a good amount of time for her age, but not as much as she was sleeping before and it takes her longer to put her back to sleep at night when she wakes up.  I am not sure if she has her days and nights mixed up or this is just a phase.  Hopefully it’s the later.

She still dislikes diaper changes, and speaking of diapers, she has already graduated from newborn to size 1 diapers.  I was wondering why we had a few leaking accidents with her newborn diapers that are supposed to be for babies up to 8 lbs.  I guess when your baby is almost 9 lbs, you really do need the next size, but I had no idea she was that big already.  She is also still working her way out of swaddles, but I have not given up yet.

So as I am sure you have deduced, I am breastfeeding, which has been  a lot more challenging than I thought, but I am sticking with it.  It has gotten a bit easier, but still not as smooth as I would like it to be.   Since I will be returning to work in mid October, I wanted to begin introducing Laurel to the bottle, which they say to do between 4 and 6 weeks, so tonight, William fed Laurel her first bottle!  I am not sure who enjoyed it more, but I will put my money on William.  It was a very cute father/daughter bonding time.  Don’t worry… I will be sure to post the picture later.

Well… Laurel is waking up, so I have to run… more to come later…