4 months old - back to work & daycare...

So, Teo turned 4 months old on Tuesday, and this coincided with my first day at the new job, and of course, his first day at daycare. Billy was wonderful - he went in to work a bit late so that he could come with us, and I was so glad to have him there. He was able to see the place - Forever Young - and also handle the paperwork while I nursed Teo and readied myself to leave him. It was hard. Very hard. (I'm not quite sure why I put in my contacts or wore mascara!)

The face of a mother who just left her heart at daycare for the first time:


I went to work - 6 blocks away! - and was immediately taken to a prison gang training meeting, which was slated to last 3 hours... and I needed to pump. Yikes! Luckily, I was directed to a wonderful woman, Judith, who seems to be the breastfeeding/pumping advocate in the department. She allowed me to use her office for the first session, and then found me an office that I can use until arrangements are made for me downstairs (I work on the first floor and the office I'm using is on the third floor). She also loaned me a "Do Not Disturb" sign to keep for the duration of my pumping. She is my current favorite person (aside from Billy and Teo, of course)!

The very best part about the proximity between my new office and Teo's daycare is the fact that I get to spend my lunch hours with him! It takes the pressure off pumping, in case I'm not getting much, but more than that, I get to spend almost an entire hour with him mid-day! It really helps me deal with the separation.

All in all, our first day went well. Teo didn't nap much, which we were expecting, but he did fairly well with the bottles -yay! He was happy and smiling both when I saw him at lunch and when I picked him up, and all of the wonderful caregivers said that he had a fairly good day & they all think he's adorable (as if we didn't already know that! hehe)

Zonked out in the carseat after getting home:


It was tough, but I'm very confident that we chose the right place for him. Everyone is nurturing and kind, several of them have been there for a long time, and he seems pretty comfortable there already. I still wish I could be home with him forever, but since that's not feasible, this is about as good a situation as I could have dreamed of.