Our lives as parents » babies

Back to Work

admin — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 21:34:55 +0000

It’s my first day back at work. I haven’t cried yet. I have had the joy of everyone asking me how hard it was to leave Aden. That’s the pleasure in working in a big office, you get the same questions multiple times to the point of not wanting to answer the next person who asks. I think I need to put up a sign on my desk each morning. “Yes, I’m fine. Yes, it was hard to leave the baby. No, I haven’t cried yet, but keep pushing I might. Yes, he is absolutely adorable.”

I have to admit it was a bit easier to leave Aden today as we left him home with his grandmother. She will be watching him this week. Kevin will watch him next week, then his other grandmother will watch him after that. Starting in January, we will be using a daycare center. It was something I was hoping to avoid, but as I have to work we didn’t have much of a choice. Daycare in this town is hard to find. I went to several centers and they were either booked up for years or the center gave me the heebee jeebees and I wouldn’t put my dog in them. (That’s kind of snobby, but that was how I felt.)

It sucks that going back to work coinsides with Aden being more interactive. I know every mom who works goes through this and I really am trying not to be self-pitying. I’m just making my little mommy complaint. Aden’s personality is really coming out. He loves his daddy and just totally lights up when Kevin is near. Even when Kevin is wearing a mask Aden recognizes his voice. Aden loves to do his sit-ups. We can tell he is already going to be very active and need a lot activities to keep him busy. At least in daycare, they will keep him active and busy and he will be tired out when we get home. I hope.

Aden’s First Mountain Trip

admin — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 14:00:27 +0000

We took Aden on his first vacation to the mountains this week. It went so much better than anticipated but in some ways traveling with a seven week old baby was a little frustrating. I am glad I have a husband who helps out so much, although I kept finding myself getting extremely frustrated very quickly especially at night when I was tired and hungry. Kevin got the worst of it then. I’ve noticed that my frustration increases dramatically after 9:00 p.m. and of course that is when Aden gets the most active. I’ve read that traveling with a baby this age is the easiest. I can totally understand that as the couple were traveling with have an 11-month old and that seems so much worse. She did a lot more crying and whining and demanded a lot more attention. As well as it went with Aden, it was still stressful and all I could think of was of leaving him with Grandma the next time. We did have a few fun moments but for the most part I feel like I didn’t get to relax. Because I was constantly watching Aden, I missed out on some things. I like taking lots of pictures, enjoying a relaxing dinner without having to get up to change diapers or worry about disturbing everyone in the restaurant.

When we stayed at our friend’s cabin and it started snowing all day, I got really stressed. All I could think of was being snowed in with an infant and no food or water. Luckily there was nothing to be concerned about but to a Florida girl who hasn’t any experience with snow, that was quite worrisome. It snowed all day Thursday. I wish I had gotten to play in the snow more. Kevin was out there making a snowman and snow angels.

We took Aden to the Grove Park Inn and Spa for dinner and a photo. Grove Park is so wonderful. They had a photo-op set up for the guests to use and we did get our Christmas shot. Their gingerbread house competition was displayed and they were marvelous. The fantastical creations inspired lovely visions of Christmas. Between the snow and the beautiful Christmas decorations at Grove Park we had a lovely holiday experience. I just hope we didn’t do the wrong thing with bringing Aden along. I’m so worried he’ll get sick. Then I’ll be labeled a bad mother. How could I possibly even contemplate taking out an infant and risk exposing him to so much? Is this what parenthood is all about? Constant worry and stress? How could anyone want to do this more than once? I keep reminding myself that people far less intelligent than myself manage to raise children, I guess I can too. It doesn’t seem to help my stress level at all though.

Family in the snow

I’m a Parent?

admin — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 20:27:52 +0000

Aden in the car seat

I’m a parent. I’m a parent. I’m a parent? I keep repeating it but am not entirely sure what it all means. I cannot believe how the time has passed, over a month already! This parenting experience has me completely surprised about myself every day. One of the great surprises is that I love being at home with my new son. I have to work, but boy, if I didn’t have to….I would definitly stay home. Maybe work from home? Aden is growing so quickly and changing every day. I cannot imagine sending him off to daycare soon.