Back to work

Today was my first official day back at work, and Frank's first full day at day care. I have to say, this day was thoroughly exhausting! I woke up at 5:30 a.m. so that I could get myself ready for work before Frank woke up. I then woke Frank up at 6:45 a.m. to give him his medicine, play with him a little bit, dress him up in his super cute new outfit from Nana, and feed him a bottle. Then I got myself dressed, and we were out the door at about 7:50. We made it to daycare right around 8:15, and I made it into work by 8:45. I was much happier dropping Frank off at daycare today than I was last Friday--it was much less chaotic, and they had set up all of Frank's things, had a big "Welcome Frank" sign on his classroom door, and just generally made me feel so much more comfortable. I made it out of there without crying, and I was genuinely happy about the day. I had lunch with two of my favorite coworkers, and I was beginning to think that going back to work was not so bad.

Then, around 2:00 p.m. I decided to go over to the daycare to visit Frank and see how he was doing. When I got there, he was very unhappy. He was whimpering, wide-eyed, and just seemed scared and overwhelmed. I have never seen him that way before, and it was heartbreaking. I stayed over there for about 20 minutes, holding him and walking around with him, trying to calm him down and soothe him. He was holding on to me for dear life, but he did not really cheer up when he saw me like I was hoping he would. I know that it is going to take Frank some time to adjust to daycare, and I was thinking that maybe it was a mistake that I had gone over there to see him. I left there feeling pretty depressed, and I had to call Frank and have a good cry before I went back up to work. It was tough!!! I could not focus on work at all after that, and I left the office immediately once the clock hit 5:00 and headed back over to the daycare. On my way over there, I saw one of my sweet coworkers whose son is over at the same daycare and she told me that she saw Frank outside with one of the teachers and that he seemed really happy. And she was right!! When I got there to pick him up, Frank was back to his usual happy self. Ms. Chelsie told me that he had a much better second half of the day and that he loved when she took him outside. I was so happy to see him happy! When I took him out to the car, he smiled at me really big and we had a great little conversation. I was so relieved that he had gotten over his emotions from earlier in the day.

We had to stop by Firestone on our way home to get my new tire installed on my car. They moved really quickly tonight to make up for their terrible customer service last night, which I appreciated, but we still did not get home until about 6:30. That gave me just enough time to heat up leftover pasta for dinner, change my clothes, and start Frank's bedtime routine. We had a great time getting him ready for bed, and he was extremely animated and playful, which I love. He was out by around 8:15, and at that point I was so exhausted I thought that I was immediately going to have to go to bed myself. Thankfully, I have gotten a second-wind of sorts, because I need to clean the house tonight before the maid comes tomorrow! When I finished getting Frank ready for bed, I realized that I had not turned the TV on since I had gotten home. This is probably the first time in the last 3 years (since Frank has been traveling for work) that I have not turned the TV on immediately after getting home. Welcome to my new world--too busy to even turn on the TV, much less watch it!

My first day back at work was a roller coaster of emotions, but I am confident that we made the right decision in me going back to work and Frank going to day care.

Here is Frank giving me the pouty face while I was trying to quickly eat my reheated dinner. I have to admit, I felt guilty not holding him every single second he was home tonight, because I know that he is not held as much at daycare as he is at home!