Back to Reality!

Monday was my first day back to work, although I worked from home on Monday so it doesn't really count.  Tuesday was the real test.  A full day back in the office away from Kiera.  The longest I have been away from her since she was born was about 5 hours to go to a concert, most of which she was sleeping, so I was definitely not looking forward to this.  But the reality is that unfortunately we cannot afford for me to stay home so it was back to work.

Leaving her in the morning wasn't as bad as I expected.  Joel's mom is watching her on Tuesdays (I'm home Mondays and the nanny comes Wed-Fri) so I knew she was in good hands and Barb has spent a lot of time with her so she knows her and her schedule pretty well.  Since I took on a new role at my company my manager and another person came down from Orange County to go over things and begin training me.  There is a LOT to learn so as the day wore on I started to stress more about being away.  The worst part was looking at the clock at 6:00 and realizing that Kiera goes to bed in an hour and a half and I was still at work.  : (  I finally told them that I needed to head out shortly after 6:00 and hopped in a cab (I would normally walk since it is only about a mile!) and headed home.  When I walked in the door I was overcome with emotion from being away, realizing that I missed so much of her day, and what little time was left with her.  I shed a couple tears and then spent the rest of the evening thoroughly enjoying the moments I did have with her.

But today was much better, a more normal day.  I got home at 5:00 and felt SO much better about that.  There is such a difference to me in having 2.5 hours to spend with Kiera vs 1 hour.  I think it will just get easier from here.  I am so thankful to have found a new position that will allow me to stay home one day and make it home at a reasonable hour, to have a great mother in law to help out, and to have found a sweet nanny to watch Kiera the rest of the time.  Oh and for having such a ridiculous maternity leave that allowed me to spend the first 5 months at home with Kiera!  Things just really fell into place and I'm so relieved.  I do wish I could stay at home with Kiera, but I guess the next best thing is having a flexible schedule, great people to care for her when I can't, and to enjoy the time we do have together!

On another note, we had some visitors last weekend!  Kiera's Uncle Ryan, Aunt Kristin, Cousin Brady, and Cousin Addison came down for the day from LA and her Uncle Michael was also in town for a conference from Seattle.  It was so fun for Kiera to get to see Michael again and meet the rest of the crew for the first time!  Brady really took to Kiera and wanted to constantly hold her, play with her, sit by her, push her stroller, etc.  It was so cute!  A few pictures from the weekend...