Much to my chagrin, our little dude spends some of his hours in daycare. If I could have it my way, I'd be a full time stay at home mom, and I'd work full time too. I just flat love both my jobs, there are no two ways about it... Since my wish for double the hours in a day is yet to be granted, the hubs and I have worked out *the best possible schedule* to minimize little dude's time in the arms of other caregivers while still allowing both of us to work full time.
He's been at daycare a few weeks now (I've been back at work that long too), and during the first couple weeks, I would drop him off and promptly cry my way to the office, which is a 2 minute drive << it's so close I could throw a stone and hit the daycare>>. One word: MISERY. After the initial 2 weeks I think it sunk in to a certain degree that this is our new normal, and I find myself feeling better about the setup.
There are 2 women who care for the babies in the room where our little dude stays, and I like them both very much. They're great with the babies, and I trust them with my son << those are HUGE words coming from the mouth of a new mother, FYI >>.
Here's a recap of a recent happening:
I arrive at 1:30 to pick up the munchkin, and Miss L tells me they made an executive decision not to give him his second bottle because he had *just* started asking for it and they thought I'd prefer to feed him << our little dude is breastfed exclusively, whether it comes from the boob or the bottle >>. Little did they know I had *just* finished pumping at work before I went to pick him up. Effectively he had an empty tummy and I had empty milk jugs <<that's actually a myth- when nursing, the "girls" are never actually empty >>. So I pop the little dude into his car seat thinking it'll be a quick drive home and I can feed him a bottle from the comfort of his rocker.
WRONG.
Two minutes into the 10 - 12 minute car ride home he is fired up, and I mean FIRED UP. The poor kid was wailing. Now don't get me wrong- baby crying in the car is not uncommon, but when I know he's crying because he's starving or sitting in a lake of pooh or some other discomfort that I can remedy, it's heart wrenching. And I knew for a fact he was hungry.
Arriving to a loooong red light intersection just as it turns red, a brilliant idea also arrived to my mind. I grab the bottle that he did eat from at daycare << that I know for a fact Miss L rinses but doesn't wash >> and I put in exactly 4 oz of my still warm, recently pumped milk. I reassemble the bottle, push the front passenger seat as far forward as it will go, and I pull the little dude's seat as far forward as it will go too << our compact SUV has a back row of seats that can be moved forward or back just like the front seats >>. I flip his sun cover and pop the bottle into his mouth. He's not big enough or coordinated enough to hold the bottle on his own, so I drove home holding a bottle in baby's mouth with one hand while driving with the other.
To my credit, there was no music or phone to distract me, and I was entirely focused on safe driving skills while my little man sucked down his milk as if he hadn't eaten in days. The drive home consisted of a short stint on the interstate (I had to merge right once), a merge to the left off the interstate, followed by 3 left turns (2 of those at traffic lights), and 1 right turn. It was about 1:30 in the afternoon- not exactly a high traffic rush hour.
Baby was quiet and even a little bit sated by the time we got home, at which point I finished feeding him properly.
Does this one count as a New Parent Win or a New Parent Fail?
He's been at daycare a few weeks now (I've been back at work that long too), and during the first couple weeks, I would drop him off and promptly cry my way to the office, which is a 2 minute drive << it's so close I could throw a stone and hit the daycare>>. One word: MISERY. After the initial 2 weeks I think it sunk in to a certain degree that this is our new normal, and I find myself feeling better about the setup.
There are 2 women who care for the babies in the room where our little dude stays, and I like them both very much. They're great with the babies, and I trust them with my son << those are HUGE words coming from the mouth of a new mother, FYI >>.
Here's a recap of a recent happening:
I arrive at 1:30 to pick up the munchkin, and Miss L tells me they made an executive decision not to give him his second bottle because he had *just* started asking for it and they thought I'd prefer to feed him << our little dude is breastfed exclusively, whether it comes from the boob or the bottle >>. Little did they know I had *just* finished pumping at work before I went to pick him up. Effectively he had an empty tummy and I had empty milk jugs <<that's actually a myth- when nursing, the "girls" are never actually empty >>. So I pop the little dude into his car seat thinking it'll be a quick drive home and I can feed him a bottle from the comfort of his rocker.
WRONG.
Two minutes into the 10 - 12 minute car ride home he is fired up, and I mean FIRED UP. The poor kid was wailing. Now don't get me wrong- baby crying in the car is not uncommon, but when I know he's crying because he's starving or sitting in a lake of pooh or some other discomfort that I can remedy, it's heart wrenching. And I knew for a fact he was hungry.
Arriving to a loooong red light intersection just as it turns red, a brilliant idea also arrived to my mind. I grab the bottle that he did eat from at daycare << that I know for a fact Miss L rinses but doesn't wash >> and I put in exactly 4 oz of my still warm, recently pumped milk. I reassemble the bottle, push the front passenger seat as far forward as it will go, and I pull the little dude's seat as far forward as it will go too << our compact SUV has a back row of seats that can be moved forward or back just like the front seats >>. I flip his sun cover and pop the bottle into his mouth. He's not big enough or coordinated enough to hold the bottle on his own, so I drove home holding a bottle in baby's mouth with one hand while driving with the other.
To my credit, there was no music or phone to distract me, and I was entirely focused on safe driving skills while my little man sucked down his milk as if he hadn't eaten in days. The drive home consisted of a short stint on the interstate (I had to merge right once), a merge to the left off the interstate, followed by 3 left turns (2 of those at traffic lights), and 1 right turn. It was about 1:30 in the afternoon- not exactly a high traffic rush hour.Baby was quiet and even a little bit sated by the time we got home, at which point I finished feeding him properly.
Does this one count as a New Parent Win or a New Parent Fail?
Is there really anything like a new parent fail? The joy is in learning, making some mistakes as you go along. It's supposed to be win win win no matter how silly it may feel. That is what they tell me anyway. lol.
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