Day Care

This week was Rachel's first full week of day care. Last Wednesday we did tour the place and tried it out, but this week we were going for the real thing. It's been a growing and learning experience....for mom.

As far as I can tell, Rachel loves day care. She's about 5 months old....so when I say "she loves day care" this is an assumption based on the fact that she doesn't cry or isn't fussy while she's there.

I wasn't sure how I would react to day care. Would I cry as I left the building? Would I pine for her all day? I found out that I almost teared up as I walked out the door, but the tears didn't come because I reminded myself that she's getting lots of attention and I'm earning a full pay check again. And with those thoughts I walked out the door and headed home to work. I do have her on my mind constantly throughout the day, but with the good reports I get each day when I pick her up I feel a little less guilty about not being her care taker.

Yesterday Jason went with me to pick her up so he could see the routine and the Director asked to sit with us for about 30 minutes a do an informal orientation with us since we'd been there a few days. I love this day care and the ladies that run it. They are so encouraging and supportive. We asked a few more questions that have popped up since we've started and were told about some up coming activities at the center.

She also told us that yesterday they had a long tour with people from their corporate office and they were in the infant room for a while. Our daughter just happened to be having tummy time and we were told that one of the corporate folks couldn't take hearing our daughter fussing any more and got on the floor with her and apologized that they had to keep her on her tummy. Then as soon as someone picked her up she stopped crying. THIS is one major reason I'm so glad she's there. I can't stand to hear her fuss either, which is why she wasn't getting the tummy time she needed. The ladies there are just used to it after having who knows how many 100's of kids go through their class and all of them hate tummy time. They can deal with it so much better than I can. It's really good for her.

And, as we were fairly warned by many of our friends, the "day care germs" have now infested our daughter. She's not sick, sick. She's just got a cough (which is sadly kind of cute) and she sounds like she's got gunk in the back of her throat. But she's not fussy or miserable, just a little "icky". Yesterday she slept a lot at day care and then slept more at home and thru the night. I know her body is fighting germs, but it's not overwhelming. It's also good for her.

I've been coping well with this change. I've enjoyed being home and working full time uninterrupted. I do miss her though. When I get her home I have to hold her for a while when we get home before I can put her down.

This past weekend we had my family over for Easter. My parents brought this massive suit case that came home with them from Louisianna. It was my brother and sister-in-law's and it was FULL (I mean FULL) of our neice's hand-me-downs. MOTHER LOAD!!! I wish I would have taken a picture of Rachel's room after I'd unpacked and sorted the clothes. The floor of her room was completely covered. We now have enough clothes to not have to purchase anything else until after 18 months, at which time Alana will have grown out of more of her stuff. Although some are kind of worn, they are super cute and perfect for day care. Hooray!! Loving the hand-me-downs!