Running a rat race....and probably coming in last

My parents left after Christmas, and this is my first week back to work after the holidays. Since October, we've had one or both of my parents at home while Austin and I work. Naomi was still in daycare save a few days here and there, and my parents pretty much spoiled all of us by having dinner ready when we came home. And to top it off, my dad walked the dogs so we didn't even have to worry about them!

Now, I feel like I'm constantly on the go, trying to get from one point in the day to the next without a chance to breathe. And to make matters worse, Austin has been super busy at work, so with the exception of yesterday, we've had dinner every night without him. Tonight he didn't even make it home before Naomi's bedtime.

My daily schedule goes something like this:

4:30am - wake up

5:30am - go to work

5:50am - arrive at work

4:15pm - leave work, run to catch train at the WTC

4:40pm - arrive at Hoboken - run to catch NJ Transit train

5:15pm - arrive in Lyndhurst, run to car

5:30pm - arrive at Naomi's daycare

6:00pm - arrive at home, take care of dogs, deal with a fussy Naomi who's hungry and tired from daycare, prepare/reheat/cook dinner

6:30pm - feed Naomi dinner

7:20pm - Naomi's bathtime

7:30pm - pj's, storytime, milk, prayer time

8pm - Naomi's bedtime

8:00-8:30 relax

8:30pm - go downstairs, clean up dinner

9:00pm - cook/prep dinner for next day

10pm - relax/get clothes ready for next day

11pm - go to bed and start all over again.

phew, even typing it makes me exhausted

A milestone of my own

Today is going to be the first day where I won’t get to see Naomi awake. Since she’s always asleep when I leave for work, I’m always excited to see her for a few hours after work before we put her to bed, and desperately try not to schedule anything after work in order to avoid conflicting with this precious time. Tonight though, I’m going to join some college friends for dinner in Manhattan, and probably wont get home until well after she’s asleep. I’m sure I’ll have a great time, and hey, maybe I’ll even feel a little liberated at having a break from my nightly mommy-duties, but right now I’m just missing my little girl. Thankfully I’ll make up for missing her tomorrow since I’ll be working from home in the morning, and in the afternoon we’ll be driving out to DC to visit Austin’s grandmother for the weekend. After a 4 hour drive down to DC, I’m sure I’ll wish I was still having dinner and drinks with my girlfriends!

An afternoon with Naomi = lots of screaming and dancing

Austin had to work again today, so my mom and I spent the day teaching Naomi how to squeal and dance. Fun times.

Milestones Galore!!

Guess Naomi really was going through some major developmental changes.  Thankfully she slept through the night last night.  But today she crawled forward for the first time (sadly I missed it since I was at work, but I got to witness it when I got home...Austin on the other hand is still at work and will have to wait and see it tomorrow or this weekend).  She held her own bottle up to her mouth this morning (again I didn't witness, but at least saw a picture of it!)

She also pushed up from her stomach into a sitting position for the first time - something I was home to witness!

My baby is growing up so quickly!!!

Daycare day 1 recap

Thank God she's only going 2 days this week. That's all I really need to say. I know that when she finally does go full time it'll get easier as she gets used to it, and this sporadic use of daycare is probably not the easiest thing on her, but man was she a mess when I saw her.
She did nap better than last time which was great (two naps of about an hour each).
She did not eat well though, she only had about half of her bottles during the day. And apparently cried on and off throughout the day. (her eyes were puffy when I finally got to her).
Once I picked her up, she was happy, but as soon as we got to the car, when I tried to put her in her seat, she threw a fit and didn't want me to put her down. She kept arching her back and trying to get out of the car seat...it took me around 5 mins to get her in. Normally not that difficult.
Thankfully once she was in, she calmed down, and we drove home. By the time we got home, she was all smiles and my happy baby was back.
Lilo and Stitch greeted us at the door, and that set Naomi off in a round of giggles.
Lilo left us a little extra gift with a big puddle of pee on the floor. Sigh. love that dog though.
Austin worked til after midnight, so I spent the night taking care of naomi, cleaning up dog pee, cleaning all of naomi's bottles and getting her milk ready for daycare. etc etc. rough long night, after a rough long day at work.
One thing I do love about Naomi going to daycare is that I get to pick out her outfits for the day. Something I don't get to do normally when I'm at work. Each evening Naomi and I go through her closet and lay out her clothes for Austin to dress N in the next morning.

Here's the outfit from yesterday. I need to find a job where I can just dress babies for a living.