Back in the Saddle

My first week back to work went better than I could have imagined.

On Monday, Nora and I tried our best to savor our last day at home together before things began to change.  She just seems to get more curious all the time, and it is unbelievable to me to see how much comprehension she seems to develop in just a single day.  I have to be careful with her in her Bumbo seat because her head control is still developing, but here she is sitting in it and inspecting her toys from a new angle.

On Tuesday, I had to attend an orientation for new teaching assistants, so I took Nora to campus with me to meet my colleagues.  She took a nice long nap in the morning, so she was in rather pleasant spirits all day.  It was nice to have a reason to get properly dressed and leave the house.  We were met with so much enthusiasm when I showed up with Nora, and it was a delight to introduce her to many of the people I've been working with for the past several years.  

Billy began working from home on Wednesdays this week so he can watch Nora while I'm on campus.  I enjoy his work from home days because he gets to be there for Nora's golden hour.  In the first hour after Nora wakes up, she is often at her most curious, inquisitive, and happy.  I always put her in her play gym during that time, and each day we can see that she is getting closer and closer to rolling over.  She was getting such good rotation on Wednesday morning that we joked she is already much smarter after one day at college!

I had a really hard time leaving Nora that morning, and the car ride to College Park has never seemed so long.  Nora seemed un-phased, though, and she behaved well for Billy.  Once I got to campus, I was distracted enough that being apart from Nora for the longest period yet did not feel so bad.  In lecture on Wednesday, I realized that in all my anxiety about being separated from Nora, I managed to overlook how fortunate I am to have this teaching assignment.  Twice a week, my "job" is to attend an interesting lecture about my own subject area taught by a professor I like and respect.  Once a week, my "job" is to meet with undergrads to talk about books.  Aside from all the grading this entails, it is a job I would gladly do for free.  I felt better after making this realization, and Nora smiled and giggled for me when I got home, so that first day of the semester felt like a success.

Since the class had not yet begun in earnest, my professor cancelled the Friday discussion sections, giving me an extra week to prepare to teach.  On Thursday, I savored the chance to be home again with Nora for a "normal" day.  Evidently, she did too; she took a three hour nap!  She normally naps for around 30 minutes, she sometimes naps for an hour, and on a few rare occasions she has napped for up to two hours.  So a three hour nap is unprecedented... but it was also reassuring.  I think Nora must have been worn out after Tuesday and Wednesday, so it was nice to see that she is finally able to sleep longer when she is tired.

The cancellation of Friday's discussion sections also allowed me a chance to do a "practice run" of having Patti watch Nora for the full day.  Being away from Nora is hard enough; I can't imagine what it would be like if I was also worried about the type of care she receives in my absence. On Friday, the thing that comforted me enough to get some work done was knowing that Patti was taking great care of Nora.  Chuck and Brian were home when I went to pick her up, and it was fun to see how excited they were that they got to see her that day.  I was also relieved to find that Nora hadn't given Patti trouble with eating or napping, and that the two of them had fun playing during Nora's waking periods.

After all that, it was great to be home with Billy and Nora yesterday.  There were several signs that things are finally falling into place, which meant it was the first day I really felt like we are doing a good job as parents.  Nora has started reaching for and holding her toys, she is beginning to tolerate tummy time, she holds her head up much higher these days, and she is getting closer to rolling over.  She is learning so much now that it's easy to see how getting enough sleep is fueling her brain.  She's getting better at self-soothing and she's continuing to nap for longer periods.  Now that she barely puts up a fight before relaxing and falling asleep, it's hard to believe that only a few weeks ago she was screaming and writhing every time we started the nap routine, or that a month ago, it was literally impossible to get her to sleep without holding her for the entire nap.

An added bonus from yesterday was getting a visit from Aunt Vickie and Tres, who leave for their Bahamian cruise today.  After bringing us lunch and patiently waiting for the little sleepy head to wake up, they were treated to a fairly pleasant mood and a few hours of playing.  A while back, I finally found a onesie that said "aunt," which I had to buy immediately because Vickie does not want to be called "auntie."  Nora was also decked out in her little Gap skinny jeans, so naturally I had to take a photo of my two favorite girls.

Tres was last here right before Thanksgiving, before Nora got sick with RSV. For us, that time has really flown by, but having him visit again really drew attention to how much Nora has grown and how much she has developed in the past couple of months. It was great to see him and hear about their plans for the cruise... even before we opened the gift he brought, which could not have been more adorable.  These Tiny TOMS are still a little big for Nora, but that's perfect, since she isn't really wearing shoes yet.

In fact, I loved them so much I had to buy myself the matching pair!  So you can be sure that photo will be forthcoming. : )

Besides a considerable amount of peace of mind, the main lesson I took away from all this is what a difference a week can make.  When you're in your 20s, the weeks all blur together, and it's easy to turn around and realize a whole month has passed unnoticed.  But when you're approaching 4 months old, one week is long enough for an amazing amount of growth and development.  In addition to trying to take things day by day, I hope that next time I start to feel frustrated or clueless, I can say to myself: Give it a week and things will be different.  Surely we will have some weeks ahead where things are as bad as they were good this week, but now that I know just how quickly Nora can change, I hope I have an easier time getting through them.

Today, after we watched the last two hours of the Australian Open final, we took Nora to the mall to make some returns.  She was a little skeptical about having her photo taken. : )

Posts are likely to be shorter and more sporadic from here on out, since I really need to be doing academic work, but I'll try to share pictures and a few thoughts once in a while. : )