Back to work
I returned back to work last week. Now that I have more (baby-free) time, I can hopefully (procrastinate) contribute to this blog more. Andrew is such a clingy baby that it was hard during my maternity leave to really put him down to do much.
Work has been fine. Transitioning is easy as I’ve come back at the end of a milestone so there’s just lots of minor things to keep track of. Plus, I have an awesome manager that is sensitive to returning to work. Pumping is no fun but is the reality of being a working mom. Similar to my return with Natalie, I am not pumping anywhere close to what Andrew has each day…but I’m hoping in a week or so, my body will start catching up so I don’t have to worry about it as much. Meanwhile, it’s great that I have a pretty substantial freezer stash that I’d been slowly building up over the last few months (miraculously considering I barely had any time to pump) — the day before I went back to work, it was 186.5 ounces (woo hoo!) That’s even more than what I had when I returned to work with Natalie. I’m also on Operation Boost-My-Supply by doing the following: eating steel cut oatmeal for breakfast (made with almond milk!), keeping bottles of Motherlove More Milk Plus and Fenugreeek at my desk, drinking Mother’s Milk Tea everyday and then drinking liquids as much as possible. The cafeteria now has two of those Coca-Cola Freestyle machines so I just load up my water bottle with Strawberry Powerade Zero and I’m good to go. Another thing I did to make things more convenient for me was buy an extra breast pump that I’m just leaving at work — thanks to Obamacare, I can reimburse this new pump, score! So all I need to do is bring bottles back and forth.
Sleep is still lacking as Andrew still feeds throughout the night and refuses to sleep anywhere except in our bed and in our arms. Matt is helping out more since I’ve returned to work and he’s watching Andrew in the early part of the night so I can attempt 3-4 hours of sleep. Andrew loves to just snuggle up on Matt’s chest.
Otherwise, Andrew really is such a sweet little baby. He gives a nice smile and he’s so cuddly. He’s now grabbing objects with more purpose so we can finally give him little toys to play with (it also means he’s constantly grabbing my hair, ouch!) No signs of rolling yet but his neck strength is definitely getting better. Tummy time isn’t so sad anymore, and he’s willing to hang out on his tummy for a good amount of time now.
We started the nanny share and it’s going great. After a couple weeks of searching, we found a really awesome nanny and she’s been wonderful. We feel fortunate to have the opportunity for a nanny share again. Plus, when Natalie doesn’t have school, the nanny will watch her too…so that’s highly convenient as well.