Coming up for air...

Don't worry, I'm still here. In fact, I'm alive and well although completely exhausted from my new life as a working mom. This is no joke, yo. Seriously. But I think Wednesdays will be my new favorite weekday since I can take a time out and remember to breathe on these days off. I thanked Nate profusely this morning for giving his blessing towards my four day work week now. Love it. Even though the other four days are insanely long, it's still worth it to be home one day!











So Friday was much better than I anticipated. What they say is true: it's never as bad as you make it out to be in your head and returning to work is not, in fact, sinking me into a deep dark depression. In fact, my first day back was pretty awesome. All of my co-workers (who are the bomb, by the way) had a sign on my desk that read 'Welcome back, Julia!' with a stunning bouquet of flowers. Hearing, 'You look so good for just having a baby!' all day long is the equivalent to 'You are the hottest person alive' to a new mom. Remember that for the future ladies, that simple phrase will make a mommy's day for sure. Nurses and doctors and all kinds of staff at the hospital seemed genuinely happy to see me again and obliged me showing off my little brag book of pictures I carry in my lab coat. Of course, they all fell madly in love with Truman and let me gush about him most of the day. My patients were adorable and my brain was happy to exercise the Physical Therapist portion of itself again. Pumping was a breeze and taking three breaks in my day made the day go even faster. So far I'm able to pump quite a bit more than Truman eats while I'm gone which does a lot for my confidence as a breastfeeding working mom. I called home during every break and although Truman was screaming in the background two of those times, Nate had it under control. All it took was him deciding to throw our routine out the window (eat, play, sleep, what?) and realizing that Truman will only take a bottle if it's piping hot, not lukewarm to make the day a success. Truman did not starve, he accepted the bottle, and Nate didn't lose his mind. All good things, right?











I could not get home fast enough and was gone for a total of 11 hours that day and also on Monday. Seeing my baby boy after a REALLY long day at work is indescribable. Seeing him in the arms of his daddy as they both grin ear to ear is even better. And of course, as soon as I sit down and start to nurse Truman in the evenings the exhaustion hits me like none other. Tired doesn't begin to describe it, people. But maybe that's because Mister T has decided that his nice 5-6 hour stretches at night are stupid. He much prefers a little 2-3 hour number on his momma. It all started last Wednesday night and is slowly returning back to a 4 hour stretch but boy, oh boy. This has been fun. It's like he could sense the stress in my life combined with a hellified growth spurt and all of a sudden Mommy ain't sleeping for crap. Working on my feet all day for nearly 10 hours after getting 4 hours of broken sleep is a recipe for disaster, right? And although I'm tired it's actually tolerable somehow. It's amazing what your body can take when you are making googly eyes at your adorable baby boy. :)



So my boys are surviving with out me, no problem. It's been SO nice to have Nate at home with T on these days and I love that he enjoys being mister mom. Not every daddy could do it but Nate is passing the 'primary caregiver' test with flying colors. I love that man. Have I mentioned that lately? Our three year anniversary is tomorrow and we are going to dinner tonight. Three whole years being married and almost eight being together. And as corny and cliche as it sounds, every year gets a little bit better. Gag me now, I know.





The other piece of awesome news around here is that Nate's clinicals, which start next week, will be four ten hour days for the first rotation. He will not be working on Mondays which means for the next 12 weeks he will get to watch Truman every Monday while I'm at work! Then my father-in-law Tony has officially taken Tuesdays and Thursdays off to watch the T-man. I have Wednesdays, obviously, which means T will be in daycare only on Fridays this whole summer. I was shaking and almost crying when the daycare director told me that having him just one day a week over the summer would be fine since it's only temporary, and she promised me that they'd help me through the transition of my babe being a daycare baby. I mean seriously, what an awesome daycare place, right? I know I'm beyond lucky, blessed, and you better believe I'm grateful for this surprise set up over the summer. While Truman is still so little we can ease him into daycare and then this fall he'll likely be there at least two days a week. Still incredible, right? My mindset is much healthier when it comes to leaving him now just knowing that our family will get the privilege of watching T-man every single day of the week but one. Wow. Just wow. His first day at daycare will be Friday June 4. And I'm really not even dreading it (yet!) :)





So yeah. All is well around our household. I'm adjusting to my new role as a working mom despite very little sleep. Truman and Nate are living it up and Henry is the same old puppy dog---just happy to have anyone around during the day. Oh and Truman is changing more and more each day. I swear he looks different each night I get home and I am loving those big blue-ish eyes more than ever. He is such a big boy now, isn't he?







It's all good, especially when you have a fist to chew on, right T? :)