Back to Work! Eek!

January 9th, 2008 is going to be a big day in our household. Georgia's 5-month birthday. My and Joe's 4th anniversary. And my first day back at the office. Eek!

I know that I have been incredibly lucky to have had 5 months of maternity leave, 3 1/2 of which were paid. So, I absolutely cannot complain. But it's still been emotional for me lately preparing to go back to work. As Beth has pointed out to me before, whether you have 4 weeks or 4 months of maternity leave, it's still a big adjustment to go from essentially having your child with you (sometimes physically strapped to you, no less) at ALL times, and attending to her every need or want (sometimes to the point of neglecting your own desires, such as sleeping, eating, or showering), to leaving her behind and jumping back into the paid workforce. As of this time last week, I really had not been away from Georgia for more than about 3 hours at any one time since her birth.

I'll spare you the bulk of my thoughts, but just wanted to share a few:
--Of course Georgia has come a long way developmentally, and it has been so exciting to watch her grow, but I also feel like Joe and I have come a long way together as parents. I remember preparing to take her to her first doctor's appointment just 3 days after she came home from the hospital, and having to backtrack from the 9:30 a.m. appointment time to figure out when exactly we should aim to feed her/dress her/change her/have her awake/asleep/packed into the carseat in the car in order to drive about 15 minutes, park, and check in on time. I think we planned less for our week long vacation to France last year than we did for that doctor's appointment. Now we're much more streamlined and able to throw things together and go with the flow a little bit better. I mean, we're out the door in 2 hours flat, no problem. (Ha ha - just kidding.)
--I may have set a world record for the number of trips to Target by any single person in a 5 month period. And don't misunderstand -- this has nothing to do with the baby's needs, or me buying baby things. It has everything to do with us living walking distance from Target, and me being excited about being able to go there in the middle of a Wednesday, instead of on Saturdays when every other person in Chicago is there. I remember calling Beth shortly after Georgia was born (actually, I think it might've been 4+ weeks after) to tell her that I had managed to get out of the house and take Georgia in the stroller to Target with me on my own, (to which Beth properly responded with enthusiasm and congratulations on this wonderful achievement). (To anyone who's had a baby and managed to carry on with life as usual within days, hey - more power to ya. That was not me.) : ) Anyway, that first trip to Target was the first of MANY. Today I made my last maternity leave trip to Target.
--I'm not going to gush on the blog TOO much, but suffice it to say that it has been great to be able to spend so much time with my sister (who was also on leave) during this maternity leave. She's taught me everything I know about babies, kept me company, fed me, supported me, given me an adult to talk to, etc., etc. Today it really hit me how much I'm going to miss hanging out with Beth after I return to work - not just Georgia.

Okay, that was the wordiest blog entry yet! Moving on...
On a positive note, I could not be happier with our childcare situation. We are doing a nannyshare with Harry, of Hello Harry fame. For those of you who aren't familiar with this whole arrangement, the nanny is none other than Harry's Aunt Stephanie. So, I like to think of this as an "auntshare" as much as a "nannyshare." (Note: The foregoing was not intended to offend any of Georgia's or Harry's actual aunts or to diminish Stephanie's professional nannying skills!)

Okay, I will shut up now, and give you the pictures, which is the real reason you probably stopped by this blog in the first place! Good night, and wish me luck tomorrow!


Stephanie, Georgia and Harry in action.




Joe and Georgia trying out our new stroller, which was purchased to accomodate the 2 kiddos at once; they'll sit kinda double-decker, which you can't tell from this picture.


HOW COULD YOU NOT MISS A FACE LIKE THIS?!