Mommy Goes Back to School

Yep--Finley and I both survived (and may have enjoyed) our first full week with him at daycare and me at work. Phew! It was a bit dicey since we switched Finley to a new family daycare on Monday (after being dissatisfied at our original spot), but all the stress was worth it: Beth's house is great! Finley's there roughly 7:3o to 2pm each day and he's been napping like a champ, eating everything in his lunchbox, and by day #3, he was gulping down the bottle of milk I'd packed as well. Hooray! Also, he's around kiddos his own size--learning the ins and outs of having to share toys and attention (reality check!). Apparently one boy, Carter, and Finley are often interested in the same toys/stuff and Finley will push/pull up on Carter to get somewhere or to something, but when Carter tries to use Finley similarly for leverage, Finley makes a sad face and sometimes cries...hopefully he'll realize the give and take involved in friendship soon.

The first day, Beth (and Finley) made this collage for us. Boy am I a sucker for my child's artwork! I wasn't expecting it this young, so it was a lovely surprise.

Here are a couple close ups:

He really does look happy here and I love that Hannah's got her arm around Finley's waist (an experienced big sister!). I know we'll have this piece hung up for a long time and then store it away to show Finley someday.

But...I won't lie, after 9 total days of daycare (4 at our old place and 5 at the new), it's still tearful for me at drop off. Finley's been teary himself a few times, but I'm pretty sure he hasn't totally figured out what's happening (which is probably better). On the flip side, it's always exciting to pick him up after school, I feel thought I literally jump out of the car and race in the side door of Beth's house--sometimes Finley's there playing and immediately crawls over happily squealing as he gets closer and other times he's still snoozing when I get there (which of course is a good thing, but means I have to wait even longer to get my hands on him!).

My new job has gotten off to a good start and I think it's a great fit for me at this point in my teaching and personal life. All the families are very kind and it's a wonderfully supportive community to be a part of. I'm sure the realities of being a part time teacher and full time mom (yes, those are the labels I've chosen for myself) haven't quite set in, I'm proud of how we've made it through this HUGE transition. While I have pretty good hours and get plenty of time with Finley in the afternoon, it's certainly been an adjustment to do try and do everything each day. Dan's been very supportive and while he's not exactly volunteering to cook more or take over the laundry situation, I think he would if I asked :) Okay...maybe that's a stretch, but a gal can dream, can't she?

Thanks to everyone who's been thinking of us as this changed approached and sent kind thoughts our way the past couple of weeks!