A new routine!

I can't believe I've been back at work for 3 weeks and our new little routine is now well-established!  How time flies when you are having fun (??!!)... well, not exactly fun but it's definitely not too bad!

Emily is a little dreamboat of a baby and sooo very happy with it all, which is such a huge relief to us.  It is definitely making being back at work much less stressful than I ever imagined, and it is getting easier by the day.

We have also had 4 days where I have worked at home which have gone very well - Tuesdays and Thursdays.  Emily has done her usual - lots of playtime and entertaining herself quietly (well, not always that quietly I must say!  She is in the process of perfecting her baby screech!!), feeding and watching Baby Mozart / Baby van Gogh which she loves, and it keeps her entertained for a good half hour.  Fortunately she has been so good with her routine, sleeping for even longer than she normally would which is really helpful so I can get my work done.  She always wakes up happy and ready to play!  So cute!

Hmm let me see now... what will I learn?!

Fascinated by Baby van Gogh!

At the moment, Chris is starting and finishing work early, whereas usually he starts late and finishes late, so Emily and I are lucky enough to only worry about getting out of the door on time in the mornings (we leave home at about 6.50am!), and he is here to help with everything in the evenings - every day except Fridays when Chris works his usual hours, so we have to get ourselves sorted in the evening that day.  

It can be tough, I'm tired, Emily's tired and it's all a bit go-go-go, but we get there and she usually goes to sleep happy enough and has a good long sleep (phew!).  Next year though, Chris will be back to starting late and finishing late, so we are going to have a swap around of Emily time.  He will do the morning routine and drop her off to The One, and I'll fetch her and do the evening routine, as I'm dropping off and fetching her at the moment.  So that will be really nice to share the drop offs and pick ups with Chris. 

Well it's great to know we have 2 lovely days ahead of us, no deadlines or work, to relax and recharge, and ... it's only 4 weeks to go till break-up day and the 2 week Christmas break - yippee!!  We can do it!!

Sleep tight everyone :)

9 months old!

Playing with her Jungle Book

The first of 1000 steps on our new journey...

Well, 3 cheers for Team Hodgson this past week as we all survived (most successfully, I might add) the first week with me being back at work full time!  I was pretty anxious last weekend as I didn't know how Emily would cope being with The One for an almost full day on the Monday, but I really shouldn't have worried at all as she was a happy little bunny, not phased by new surroundings at all!!

This photo was taken yesterday, so day 4 of being with The One... very happy and settled!

Neither Chris nor I slept all that well on the Sunday night unfortunately.  Isn't that always the case... you lie there waiting for your alarm to go off... Argh! I was asleep off and on from around 4am, waiting for Chris's alarm to go off at 4.45am, and then waiting for mine to go off at 5.30am.  So I awoke in a semi zombie-like state and just went onto autopilot!  

It was rather a shock that I just knew what to do and when to be honest, having spent the majority of the past 9 months not showering till at least 9am and rarely leaving the house till at least 10am if I could help it!!  I did try and train myself the previous week though using my alarm to get up and shower etc at 6am so I wasn't too jaded on the Monday!

Emily and I were ready very early on the Monday as I had some things to give to The One - nappies, wipes, Emily's toys and things, and I wanted to be able to settle her in properly and I wasn't sure how long that whole process should take - so we left home at 6.30am (gasp).  It all just happened so smoothly, I drove off in shock that neither Emily nor I cried!!  I fully expected to be a blubbering mess, I even told Emily that if I was, it was ok and normal!!  My rescue remedy drops and chewing gum definitely helped keep me calm, that is for sure.

But not a wet eye in the house... Am I a terrible mother?? I thought as I drove off.  And all of that day at work, I actually didn't worry about her at all.... Wow!!  I barely know The One, and yet, I was totally fine with Emily being with her.  Now that came as a shock too!  Plus it was actually a nice change of scenery to be in the office (this is simply a novelty and it will most definitely wear off haha!) and to be with my colleagues again.

When I fetched Emily - I could literally not get there fast enough - she was fine, but a little tired and had done very well for the day.  PHEW, I breathed a huge sigh of relief.  The only thing which was a bit funny was that she wasn't drinking her formula from her bottle.  Hmm!  Strange. She never does that with me or Chris, or others who have fed her before.  But Chris or I have always been with those people while they feed Em, so probably just getting used to a whole new routine. 

On the Tuesday and Thursday, my wonderful mother-in-law (MIL) came all the way to our house to look after Emily while I was at work, and funnily enough Emily was also a bit iffy with the bottle, so she tried the sippy cup and she had some on the Tuesday, and all of her milk that way on the Thursday - yay!  My darling MIL also cooked, did washing and bought us treats... plus of course had a wonderful few days with Emily!  So thankful she could help out as Tuesdays and Thursday will be my working from home days from this week onwards, and I was in the office the whole of last week.

Happily playing at home with my MIL

The rest of the week sailed by although I did have a bit of frustration with The One regarding routines... Emily's, mine, or The One's, but that all seems to have settled down and the juggling of 2 wee babies is getting easier for her and she seems to have them all in a good routine - whatever and however it works out.  I just have to accept she will do things a bit her way and while that is a little hard to do, the main thing is, is that Emily sleeps and eats when she is there, and of course is happy.  She is very, very happy actually, which is so lovely to hear.  Plus she is now drinking her milk from her sippy cup, yay!  So relief all round!

On the plus side, work has been absolutely fine and not too stressful (well, at the moment anyway!) which is a nice surprise and I am easing myself back into it all.  And this week we begin working at home on Tuesdays and Thursdays so we will see how that goes... watch this space :)