Back to It.

At 7:05am on March 1st I left my home. At 7:28am I pushed the elevator button twice to avoid the elevator carriage that I hate, and then rode in my favorite elevator to the 2nd floor. I used my key card to enter the secure area, and walked down the darkened hallway illuminated at the end by the CEO’s office light. I flipped on the light switch for the executive area and sat down at my desk. There on my cubicle wall was my 2011 calendar still open to December, and the printout of the Outlook calendars for December 8th still posted from when I left work on the 7th, and there above my phone, the tiny printout of the ultrasound picture of my baby’s profile. It was as if a weird time warp had occurred, and if I didn’t know any different, it would have seemed as if my life hadn’t changed at all. Or that I can now post a color picture of my gorgeous baby, smiling even!

My company has been amazingly supportive of the new role added to my life and helping me to balance that with my return to work. I know that by law they had to provide me with a similar position, etc., etc., but they suggested a week of shortened hours to transition myself back into the swing of things, ultimately leaving the choice to me as to whether I wanted to do that or just return full time. That they are being so understanding is just remarkable to me and I am so grateful for that. They also seem to be genuinely happy to see me back at work, and that means a lot to me, too.

My mom has been an amazing support person and she has made the transition back to work for me seamless, as much as possible, and so much easier for all of us than if I had to put William in daycare. William is an incredibly blessed little boy to have a college professor as his weekday caregiver! I am beyond fortunate to have a mom like mine. She is such a blessing to us and I hope that someday I will be in a position to help someone the way my mom is helping us.

Tony is an absolutely fantastic father to William. I knew he would be. I always joked that when we had a kid I wouldn’t have to do anything but birth the baby and then hand him off to his father for raising. Of course, that’s not exactly true, but it was an amusing thing to say. Seriously, though, he is so involved and hands-on, and he helps in any way that he can, despite the fact that he works two jobs.

The relationship I have with my birth doula/lactation consultant has morphed into that of a long lost sister. I never thought when I was searching for a birth doula last year that I would have such a sustaining and fulfilling friendship with the one I chose, but she is so wonderful and helpful and has such an amazingly sweet spirit and energy. She has been integral in my success with breastfeeding William, which for me has been far more challenging than my pregnancy and birth (which, given his birth story is really saying something!). Now that I’m transitioning to pumping for him at work and breastfeeding him in the evenings, nighttime and early morning, it’s been even more important to have her as a guide. She truly is like a long lost sister to me.

It also helps that the little person who all this is about is an amazingly patient and healthy little boy. William is definitely an armful and has needs. There are times when he’s just not having a good day, he is a baby after all. For the most part, though, he exhibits patience and has the disposition of a baby who’s older than he really is. Plus, he smiles and laughs and “talks” to us a whole lot, and that makes it so much more fun than if he were crying all the time, which I hear a lot of babies tend to do.

Despite my commitment to my cichlid’s fish tank and doing water changes religiously every week, I lost two of them in the last couple months to some unknown disease. Or maybe they were just old and would have died anyway, I don’t know. My tank dwindled down to just two fish, one of the original gray females and the albino male, living together like an old married couple who hated each other in a 36 gallon tank. They spent most of their time hiding from each other, and if they happened to run into each other, they fought, and it made me sad. A couple weeks ago I called Fish Whisperer and he excitedly came over and took them and their tank. I was thrilled to learn that they have been moved into an 80 gallon tank where, according to him, they are reigning over all of his cichlids because they are so much bigger than his fish. We still have Tony’s guppy tank and they are so much easier to care for than those violent cichlids!

It’s worthy of mentioning though because it is the end of a decade for me with those fish. Maybe someday, when I have more time, I will enter the world of fish hobbyists again. For now, though, if I don’t even have time to bake the gingerbread cookie dough that I mixed up in January and had to freeze a week later, then I sure don’t have time to dicker around with dying fish! Who knows, maybe we’ll have gingerbread cookies in July.

In the meantime, we have a rainy weekend coming up. On my agenda: Wear green and go to Chick-Fil-A for free food, attend the annual Green Dinner with family, attend mass with family and the rest of the time? Snuggle my gorgeous baby (and try not to squeeze him so hard that his head pops off) and love on my husband!

Now, for your entertainment, a couple videos of William… the first one he was only 4 weeks old. The next one he was 6 weeks old. The picture is from his 3 month portrait session that my mom gifted us with.

Video 1: LINK
Video 2: LINK

Happy St. Patricks Day!

xo