Working mom...

I have been a "working mom" for 3 whole days now.  By "working mom", I mean working at a job outside of our home (because we all know SAHMs can also certainly be considered "working moms"!!), and by "3 whole days now", I mean just that...3 whole days!  

And the funny thing??  Our house and lives seem to be running smoother than ever (*knock on wood*).    

Chris had the morning off yesterday, so he kept Rylie home from daycare until about mid-day.  In the morning, he went to the gym (Rylie enjoys hanging out in their daycare), made sure the kitchen stayed clean, did laundry?, and put our dinner in the crockpot...all while keeping a close eye on the baby, feeding her, putting her down for a nap, and getting ready for work himself.  I must admit, I was kind of nervous about how all this would happen... but he survived and I was so proud of him!!  He even wrote me a sweet letter to come home to!  Basically, he has a much greater appreciation for what I did as a SAHM on a daily basis.  It's certainly nice to be appreciated :-)

And me... I seem to be falling in to a little routine in the afternoons so far:  Pick up Rylie on my way home, change in to some comfy clothes, clean out Rylie's lunchbox and start dinner while feeding her some finger foods for dinner, bathe her, cuddle with her in the rocker before putting her to bed, jump on the computer to catch up on blogging/facebook/pinterest/emails/bank accounts/etc, make sure the kitchen is tidy, then maybe sit down to watch some shows before heading to bed myself (or before falling asleep on the couch).  

I have particularly noticed that we have been very good about keeping the kitchen and family room cleaned the most (again, for 3 whole days now!).  The bottles haven't been piling up (I admit, I kind of treated bottles like I do the laundry...only wash them when I run out of knickers! or bottles, in this case...) The dishes are getting done promptly - and more importantly, being put away when they are dry! We have also been kind of tag teaming to get the laundry done.  It definitely feels good to come home to a tidy house after a long day at work. 

I just think it is funny how it is easier to keep a house tidy when you aren't in it as often as when you are home 24/7!  Surely when I was a SAHM I had way more time to keep up with the house that I actually "worked" in...nope!   One of those funny laws (Murphy's or the like), surely....  :-)

First day...

We all survived "Day 1"!!!! I managed to drop Rylie off without any tears (from either of us)! She was quite content when I put her down in the middle of all the cool, new toys. They promptly found their way to her mouth - let the exploring begin...not to mention the generous sharing of germs, colds, and just plain slobber. She seemed to fit right in, though the boys definitely outnumber the girls in the infant room.

Rylie's daycare also made it easier on me by e-mailing me a picture of her doing some painting!  I definitely appreciated that...I think we made the right choice for Daycare for her.

Rylie's first art project at school 3.5.12:

Chris said his day was pretty good. It started by Rylie and I singing "Happy Birthday" to him in bed, then we gave him some paintings we had done. Gosh, I wish I had taken a picture! But you saw the video of her painting it in yesterday's birthday shout-out post. His day at work was pretty normal - "busy" (man of many words, he is! Ha).

We enjoyed Birthday Cake on Saturday night after a dinner 

date for 3 at a local Mexican Restaurant:

My first day went pretty well, too!! Definitely got a good feel of what I will be doing on a daily basis. My position is completely new to the company (the company that is growing in leaps and bounds!), and it is kind of nice to know that my role doesn't fit in to any sort of "box" (though I do sit at a classic cubicle...must decorate ASAP!)...my role will very likely evolve over time. For now, I will be relieving several different people of various things that they do during the day...mundane tasks...but I will also be given the opportunity to give my own 2 cents on how the department develops, and how various different processes/procedures/documents are processed and executed. I will certainly miss the daily interactions with patients in a clinic setting, but I am really excited to work with my new team at Corporate.

After a busy day of "firsts", I decided to plop my duff on the couch for an evening of TV and vino:

Ready or not...

Hi, ho, hi, ho, it's off to work I go!  I've got my lunch box packed and clothes laid out, most of Rylie's stuff is already at her Daycare waiting for her, and Chris is prepared for a normal {though, busy} Monday at his clinic.  A lot of planning and preparation has been done in anticipation of this Monday...this I-had-a-baby-and-spent-nine-wonderful-months-with-her-at-home-and-now-it's-time-to-get-back-to-work Monday...this I-hope-I-don't-ball-my-eyes-out-all-day-at-my-new-job Monday...this just-get-through-the-day-and-then-I'll-be-able-to-snuggle-with-my-baby-again Monday {until i have to do it all over again Tuesday, of course}.  This Monday that also happens to be Chris' birthday, Monday!!

Whew...Ready or not, life's about to get real!  We are going to learn the real art of multitasking...of putting makeup on while feeding the kid a bottle at the same time...of timing the daycare drop-off so I also get to work in time...of trying to avoid being spit up on before handing the kid over to her teachers {note to self: put a spare sweater in the car}...of cuddling with the kid, making dinner, bathing the kid, and putting her down for bed all at the same time...

But I know that we are ready for this.

Rylie is more than strong enough now to be left at a Daycare center full time, though it will be a big adjustment for her.  Hopefully she will fit right in with the other rollers, crawlers and barely-walkers... I'm also hoping she is able to avoid the perpetual snotty noses and loud coughs that I am sure are in her future.  Either way, I'm so excited to see and hear about all the new things she learns each day.

I am ready to get out of the house and put work clothes on {though they are a little snug at the moment!}.  And though I absolutely love my mommy friends, I am looking forward to making conversations about things other than our babies' bowl movements, diaper rash, delivery nightmares, or breastfeeding woes.  Sure, it'll take time for me to figure out exactly what my role means {Facilities Maintenance Administrator}, but I am ready for it.  I also have some personal goals I'd like to reach now that I am out of the house and on my own:  lose the baby weight, reconnect with old friends {30 minute commutes are good for telephone conversations}, make some new friends {mommies or otherwise}, and to just have the time to be me again.

I think Chris is excited and nervous, too, because this means he will be able to spend some quality time on his half days with Rylie without me nagging him :-)  He is a GREAT dad, but that's just it...he's the dad...so of course he does things "wrong" according to mom.  We will have to have a sit-down time to actually go over what Rylie and I do, how much she eats, when she sleeps, etc, so that he has some sort of clue of what to do with her on his own, but that won't take long to figure out.  Pretty soon, I'm sure they will be having tea parties on Tuesday mornings and teddy-bear picnics in the park on Thursday afternoons.

So, yes...I'd say we are ready.  It will be a change, but change doesn't scare us.  We are embracing this change and all of the positives that will come with it!  This change is right for our family :-)

I've got the moves like Jagger...

We finally have a mobile kid!  Like the old saying "slow and steady wins the race"....this day has been long coming!

On New Years Eve, Rylie started showing some serious signs of being on the verge of crawling (on all fours, tummy completely off the ground, butt in the air).  At 6 months at the time, we were thinking "oohhh, boy!  this train is about to hurtle out of control!"  We certainly were not ready to have a mobile kid just then...  But that train just seemed to chug along at a slow and steady pace for the past few months.  She got stronger and stronger, began rocking back and forth on all fours, would pivot around in circles, and experimented with moving from sitting upright to putting her hands on the ground in front of her.  But still didn't go anywhere far.  She wasn't a barrel roller either - the kind of baby that will just roll over and over and over to get to where they want to go.  She was quite content (most of the time, sometimes she seemed pretty frustrated), with looking like a fish out of water with her tummy on the ground and flapping her arms and legs.

Until finally on March 1st, Rylie seemed to have figured it all out.  It was actually really cool, because Chris happened to be home that afternoon and we were all in the family room.  We put a few "Puffs" on the floor in front of her, and before we knew it she just started slowly...methodically...putting one hand in front of the other, with her legs following suit.  Chris and I were actually quite dumbstruck as we watched this happening.  Haha, such a simple little milestone, but for some reason it just seemed so surreal to see our once tiny little baby actually get up and move.  We felt like her own little cheering squad in that moment!  Too bad I didn't have any pom poms on hand...  And I'm sure Chris would have done a somersault if he knew how!

Until finally on March 1st, Rylie seemed to have figured it all out.  It was actually really cool, because Chris happened to be home that afternoon and we were all in the family room.  We put a few "Puffs" on the floor in front of her, and before we knew it she just started slowly...methodically...putting one hand in front of the other, with her legs following suit.  Chris and I were actually quite dumbstruck as we watched this happening.  Haha, such a simple little milestone, but for some reason it just seemed so surreal to see our once tiny little baby actually get up and move.  We felt like her own little cheering squad in that moment!  Too bad I didn't have any pom poms on hand...  And I'm sure Chris would have done a somersault if he knew how!

What makes this moment even more special, is the fact that I'll be starting work so soon and I was so afraid I'd miss her crawling for the very first time.  And icing on the cake - Chris was home to see it, too!

Here's a little video:

Whirlwind...

Phew, I feel like I have been riding on a crazy whirlwind for the past few days.

That thought that I had about going back to work??  Yea...that's happening!

I was given the job (Facilities Maintenance Administrator) with ATI last Friday and they want me to start asap.  But, they gave me this week to tie up loose ends and figure out what to do with Rylie.  After throwing around numerous options, we finally settled on enrolling Rylie in Chesterbrook Academy (sounds pretentious, eh?!  haha).  It will be very hard for me to leave her, and a huge adjustment for us as a family, but we are sure she will be well taken care of and have a lot of fun with her new friends and teachers!

I guess I'll have to save picture taking for the weekends now :-)  I plan on enjoying every second playing with Rylie after picking her up after work before she has to go to bed.  Like I said, this will be a huge adjustment for all of us :-S  {happy face and sad face all that the same time}.

For now, I have to continue to tie up those loose ends, gather all the things Rylie will need at daycare, and  just enjoy my last few days of "freedom"!

Work?!

Yes I said it... Work! I didn't think I would mutter the word for a LONG time since having Rylie. Alas, I believe I may have to break down and look for a job. It's not that I don't want to work, I just don't want to miss out on anything that Rylie does! Plus, I would only work part time so that I can be home with her at least some of the time, and with the price of childcare these days, I'm not so sure a part time salary is worth it. But I'm willing to look...

Found a part time job tonight that actually sounds decent...accounting/payroll... 20 hrs a week... local position (the past couple jobs I held had at least 30 minute commutes each way)... Sounds good, eh?!

Well, cover letter and resume sent... Now, the waiting game!

And while I wait... Explore childcare options! In home daycare? Part time Nanny? Daycare center? Ugh, it all sounds so scary :(. I don't even like the thought of leaving little Rylie for an hour to go to the store, let alone a few hours to go to work! Oh boy, this is going to be hard... I'll leave that search for another day!!