Alabama Tracks

After ten weeks of being home with my baby, I went back to work, much to our chagrin.  I never in a million years would have imagined that I would enjoy staying at home as much as I have.

Today started at 5:20 when I got up to nurse Ruthie.  10 minutes prior to my planned wake up time, I didn’t think it was too bad.  We were out the door by 6:45 and to the daycare about 7:15.  I handed her over to  Sharon and she immediately had change her diaper and clothes.  She handed her back to me after some routine procedures, and I nursed her, handed her back to Sharon  As soon as she got her again, another diaper and clothes change needed.  This time it would be clothes that they have there in the daycare.  Who knew that she would need more than one extra outfit for the day?  She never goes through that many outfits in a day at home.

After some time at the office and answering several people about how I was doing, how she was doing, and if I was happy to be back, I headed back over to the daycare to feed her again.  I continued to go back every 2 hours to feed and burp her.  The only bottle they had to give her was her last one at 3:45 this afternoon.  The ability to see her throughout the day made it easier for me as I proceeded with my day at the office.  I managed to stay really busy as my desk was completely covered with stuff along with over 200 emails of which needed to be dealt with.  When it was all said and done, I was very pleased with what I was able to get accomplished while visiting Ruthie three times throughout the day.

At 4:30 I picked her up and she was on yet another pair of loaned pants.  The girl just had some issues today.  I have since found out that DHR does not allow the center to wrap the babies in blankets in the cribs.  My baby is one that likes to be swaddled in order to sleep.  Looking over her daily sheet, the poor girl didn’t sleep more than 45 minutes at a time.  She was of good disposition every time that I visited and I was very glad that she didn’t have to wait her turn to receive a bottle.  I saw many a baby crying waiting for their turn to be fed.

When we got home I focused all of my attention on her.  She fell asleep many times on me throughout the next hour.  When Joel got home with Arby’s for dinner (because I didn’t feel like doing anything extra) we ate, fed and bathed her.  We swaddled, rocked, fed again, and off to sleep she went.  My poor Super Peanut was so tired, I can only hope for a good nights rest tonight.

Though my day could have been a lot worse, it was plenty stressful and emotional.  We hold on to hope that we will be able to make the plans necessary to one day have me at home.   Hopefully sooner rather than later.  We continue to pray and would covet any you could offer up on our behalf.

Peanut has started to look more intently at objects and is more content to lay and talk to herself.  She is so deliciously sweet and knew her mama every time I picked her up today.  Tonight she looked so pleased to be in her daddy’s arms as well.  Her recognition is getting better every day.

Tomorrow is another day.  We only have four more days of this week and I’ll have another couple of days at home.  We’ll make it as none of this is unexpected to God who has already ordained our days.

How cool is it when your boss comes in each day asking how you are that morning?  Having been through pregnancy with his wife 9 times, he knows what to expect and how to act.  Could it get better than that?  Not only does he ask but he’s said “never plan babies around work schedules.”  Yesterday he even asked if there was anything he could get me while he was out getting a perscription.  Here I’ve been planning when I could get pregnant as to not interupt their work and my boss is cool with it.  I’ve been so blessed. 

By now, word is around the office.  I’ll tell a few friends at choir tonight if I feel up to going.  I’m getting increasingly more tired as the days go on.  The nausea has subsided a bit but I am still very hungry.  I have found that I don’t look forward to cooking right now - mostly because I have to eat what I make even if I’m not in the mood for it.  Budgets call for it. 

 Sleeping has also started to get interesting as I lay in bed for quite a bit longer than I typically do waiting to go to sleep even when I’m so exhausted.  I wake up as if I had just awoken from REM sleep.  Every morning is a chore and I know it is just going to get harder. 

 I’m making it though rather well.  I’m not turning green yet.  My cravings are not intense.  My clothes still fit for the most part (with a little creative planning) and the prenatals I’m on right now are not effecting me funny.

I plan on leaving early from work on Friday to attend my mother and sister in law’s graduation from thier textile school. I have been told that they are planning to come to see us on Saturday.  I just don’t know what is on the docket. 

I gave Flala a bath the other night.  She was so good and just stood in the tub crying to get out.  She never claws her way out of the tub and on occassions will let me turn her over in the tub.  She soft as ever as a result.  I must say it was rather funny as Lily watched and as soon as Joel came around she bolted as if to say “You’re not putting ME through that!”  And yet, every morning she sits in the empty tub watching me get ready.  Go figure.

 

Challenges seemed to bombard me today. There was nothing that was just too hard to do, it was just stuff out of the norm and out of my comfort zone. My bosses weren’t in the office today so all in all, it was a great day. I’ll not complain. What made my day challenging was the lack of stuff to do. Never before have I just read a personal book on company time but today was the first day that I did it. I actually had time to read two chapters. I could’ve read more, but the guilt remained. That darn work ethic I asked several departments for work to do and then I wasn’t able to drag out the task to take a long time. Both people were flabbergasted how quickly I got the jobs done. I can’t work slowly. It’s either not in my DNA or it is my OCD behavior to the job done and get it done in warp speed.

My day closed with me joining a few of the other administrative assistants at Parisian’s to kill some time. From there we were on to the IAAP meeting at the Capital City Club. For those of you not familiar with the Club, it’s the ritzy, high flalutten place in Mont. IAAP is a administrative professional’s organization focused on personal development. It was interesting but yet another set of challenges. Not only did I have meet about 10 women that were so much more the administrative professional than I, but I had to get over my shyness with some public speaking. Yep, you heard me right. Public speaking. Not my forte nor my favorite thing to do. A friend at work spoke on impromptu speaking and then had each lady there get up and speak on a topic. Thankfully, I was given the topic of “my favorite animal.” I bit the bullet and got up to speak. Oh sure the nerves kicked in but no where near what they have been in the past. I spoke for about 45 seconds about why I like cats and how much like a cat I was. I sat down and several people actually said that I did a good job and that they could tell that I had done some public speaking in the past. I guess speaking to 9,000 + a few times and then teaching a training class has really paid off. They’ve asked me to join the group of which I have thought of doing it, but that is only if the company will pay the dues. It’s $100 to join for a year membership and then $20 per month for dinner. The dinner will need to come out of my pocket but it’s a good meal so that may not be too bad to swallow. I may have even found someone else to take cake decorating classes with me. But, a very large challenge may still lay ahead of me. Fran from the AL Forestry Association (I interviewed there before I got on with Alfa) may be a visitor to the group in a few weeks. It should prove to be interesting to say the least.

So thus my day ended on an up note. I felt good about the challenges that I had overcome. A new mountain crossed for my book today. Why did I ever say my life wasn’t interesting? I’ll close with the following quote:

“Our lives are not determined by what happens to us but by how we react to what happens, not by what life brings to us, but by the attitude we bring to life. A positive attitude causes a chain reaction of positive thoughts, events, and outcomes. It is a catalyst, a spark that creates extraordinary results.” —- Anonymous