What a week!

It's day one of my four day weekend and boy do I need it. Both girls started daycare this week....and luckily Harlie loves her new place, which makes me so happy and relieved. Scott drops her off and picks her up each day and says he's really pleased with the environment there. Oh, thank God. Ashlynne's first day at Baby Club Med (thanks Jessica for the analogy) was Monday and after 4 weeks at home with Scott, I was nervous about being prepared, but grateful I wouldn't be starting back to work the same day. I had become accustomed to being away from her  for 4 hours at a time, so now I just had to handle handing her off to PERFECT STRANGERS. But wouldn't you know as I fumbled my way around the infant room I totally started to lose it. I felt anxious as I put her milk away and stuffed her bibs and crib sheets into her cubby, cutely decorated with a big strawberry and "Ashlynne" written in Sharpie.  And then, as I bent down to take Ashlynne out of her carseat, my eyes filled with tears. Big juicy ones that I couldn't keep in by tilting my head back and taking a deep breath. I pulled Ashlynne out and hugged her tight, burying my face in her hair and then the ugly cry hit. Oh freakin' no! I was so embarrassed and sad and wanted to run back home with her. Luckily one of the girls was very sweet and reassured me that she knows it's hard and that they feel like crying for us when parents have to leave them for the first time (I can't imagine this is true but it did make me feel better). The best part of that day and every day since has been making my visit during lunch time-- to nurse and cuddle Ashlynne and witness a small piece of what it's like for her while I'm a work just around the corner.

Luckily her sleep improved as the week went on...

Each subsequent day has brought challenges, one of them being on day two when I sent 3 bottles of milk and was told at lunch time that they wouldn't be enough to last the day. Ashlynne hadn't been napping well and had been acting hungry so down the hatch all that hard earned liquid gold went. Not a great time for a growth spurt Ash. For real. This stuh-ressed me out so much that I had my mom pick Ash up early from daycare and had to come up with a strategy to boost my supply stat. Adding nightly pump sessions was obvious, and then dear Melanie gave me a ton of advice that I'll be using as well. Which leads me to today and the nursing vacation Mel suggested. Aside from helping Scott take the Toyota into the car shop, Ashlynne and I stayed in bed all day long...eating, playing, eating, eating, sleeping, and eating.

 Harlie joined us for a couple hours to watch Brave and snuggle. Then she and Scott spent the afternoon together having lunch and experiencing Glow Bounce at Bounce U. She had a great time and I was so glad they were able to have some quality time together, which can be hard to come by these days. Life is CHAAAAAOS lately. This video of the two of them makes my heart smile.


Glow Bounce - Scott and Harlie from Erin Wilson on Vimeo.