First Day

Today was my first day back at work since having Eirik. To say it was difficult would be an understatement! I knew it would be tough to leave him, but I never imagined just how hard it would really be! I spend most of last night trying to get myself organized. I made sure my lunch was made, I had all my pumping stuff together, I had his diaper bag together for my husband to grab... I even laid out my clothes for the next day! I went to bed last night knowing I had done everything to make this morning go as smoothly as possible.

I set my alarm for 5:30. Typically Eirik doesn't wake up until about 6:30 or so, so I figured that would give me at least 30 minutes to shower and eat breakfast. Nope! Wrong. Eirik woke up this morning at 5:25 cooing and grinning at me. Who could say no to that?? My husband entertained him while I showered and ate breakfast and then I fed him again and ultimately got him back to sleep about 6:30, leaving me just enough time to finish getting ready. Leaving was the hardest part. I think its a good thing he was asleep because if he was awake and cooing... or even awake and crying it would have been near impossible for me to leave. I only cried a little bit as I left. Instead I distracted myself with thoughts of work.

The day went smoothly. A lot has changed while I was gone, but a lot is still the same. Everyone was so glad to see me! Everywhere I went people were saying Hi and asking about Eirik. Thankfully I was pretty distracted most of the day catching up with things and people so I didn't have a ton of downtime to get too depressed. The worst moments of the day were when I was pumping. Sitting there attached to the pump made me miss him so much.

I have to admit the day went by quickly... partly because I had to keep an eye on the clock and every 2 1/2 - 3 hours go pump. Before I realized it 4pm had arrived and it was time for me to leave! I was so excited to go pick up my little guy! Traffic was great and I made wonderful time to my friends house (she watches him for 2 hours a day twice a week) and then... 1/2 mile from her house I see flashing lights in my mirror! Was I speeding? No... I have a crack in my windshield! All I could think is how close I was to seeing my little man, and I knew he was hungry, and here I was waiting for the cop to write my repair order. Talk about frustrating!

To say my little guy was hungry would be an understatement! He chowed down for a good 10 minutes and then gave me a look as if to say "where have you been all day?!" It was so wonderful to be with him again. I hear from many other working moms online it does get easier and the first few weeks are the hardest. I have to keep reminding myself of that. Now I have to go wake my little sleepyhead up. He was so exhausted when I picked him up that when we came home he pretty much passed out!

I'll leave you with a photo from yesterday. I found a onesie with one of my husbands favorite bands (pink floyd) on it, and I couldn't resist getting it for Eirik to wear on fathers day. You can see how exhausted Eirik is in the pictures... we did the photo op right before bathtime!