Back to Work

We had a glorious maternity leave.  I say we because this time it coincided with Jason's slow time at work, so we spent many of our days at home together.  I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little bit concerned about all that quality time, but It. Was. Wonderful!  Jason was super helpful with the boys and with Nora and with errand running.  Once I was back on my feet, he started working on our basement, but still we were both home together a lot.  We binged watched all five seasons of Breaking Bad at night after the kids were in bed, and then started on Orange is the New Black.  We really had a great time being at home with our little bundle.  We also kept Charlie home with us on Tuesdays since he is going to speech in the morning, and we tried to pick Jack up not too long after he got off the bus (he didn't want us there right away because he wanted to play with his cousins for a bit).  Overall, it was a fabulous 13 weeks and 2 days.

The Wednesday after we got back from Florida, my dreaded return-to-work date arrived.  You would think by the third kid, going back to work would get easier, but alas, it did not.  Nora is one lucky lady, though.  Similar to her brothers, she is going to Grandma and Grandpa Lang's on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but unlike her brothers she gets to go to Grandma and Grandpa Clayton's house on the other days.  Grandma Clayton made an arrangement with her work where she would use her vacation and sick days on Mondays, Wednesdays and every other Friday so she could watch Nora and then work on the other days.  My parents agreed to watch her every other Friday too, SO, no day care at all for our sweet baby girl.

Nora's first day was with Grandma Clayton, and they sent me this picture of the happy girl in her swing...

 I also got this lovely flower bouquet delivered at work from the kids (i.e. Jason).  Made my day!

We had a busy day that first day back.  After work Charlie had a meeting with his new soccer team, AND Jack lost his first tooth.  Eventful day for the Claytons.

I went back to work at a very busy time, so I had a lot of catching up to do.  In the first week alone, I worked 2-3 of the evenings after the kids were in bed.  Not fun.  Overall we have adjusted to being back to work.  Jason started back up mowing grass the week after I started back, but we have a good system to manage our mornings and evenings and it's going as well as we can expect.

Nora is doing great with all the grandparent time!  Here are a few other pictures I got over the first few weeks...

We realize we are very lucky to have so many helping hands around and willing to help us out!  I have no doubt our transition would have been so much harder if we were dropping her at day care each morning, so for that we are so grateful!

Traumatized by Fredbird

Just a quick post this time...

Last Friday we had a Cardinals celebration at work and Fredbird came to visit.  Since it was a day care day, I decided to bring the boys over to see him before I dropped them off at school.  We talked about it the night before and on the way there, and even saw a commercial with Fredbird Friday morning before we left.  Turns out that was not enough preparation for my poor baby.

We walked down the hall after someone directed us where to go, and I saw him right away (he's tall - I could see his head over the cubes).  He saw us and came around the corner and Charlie immediately started screaming "NOOOOOO!" and backing away whimpering and crying.  He was beside himself!  "Mommy hold me!  Mommy hold me!  Nooo! Nooo!"  I wish I had my video camera going!

This was Fredbird's reaction:

Jack got a kick out of it.  We showed him this picture and he said "that's me waiting to talk to Fredbird."  While I tried to calm Charlie down, Jack got to give Fredbird a high five, knuckles and then posed for this picture:

Poor Charlie has not stopped talking about this.  Literally EVERY day since then he has said at least twice (usually more like 5 or 6 times) "I not see Redbird any more" and "Redbird at home taking a nap" (which I had to tell him when I picked him up Friday to calm him down).  The poor child is truly traumatized.  He's even scared of his Cardinals 101 book which we were previously reading nightly, but of course has a picture of Fredbird in it.

We're planning a family outing for the boys' first Cardinals game later this year; hopefully Charlie forgets about this experience before then because as of now he's saying "I not go to Dardinals dame."

Back to Work

Well, I'm sad to say my maternity leave has come to an end.  It was a wonderful 12 weeks, but it had to end sometime.  Monday was my first day back to work, and Charlie's first day at my work's day care.  I managed to drop him off without tears, which surprised me (...and the director....and Jack's old teacher Ms Jill....and basically anyone who knows me).  To be fair, I was distracted by Jack's meltdown.  We took Charlie to his classroom first and when we got there Jack froze and then was hysterical and clinging to me.  I think he thought I was leaving him in the infant classroom.  He wouldn't calm down or listen to me, so I ended up leaving Charlie there and taking Jack to his classroom.  By the time I got back to Charlie's room, he was unpacked, they had read my instructions and Ms Mary was holding him.  SO, that made it easy for me to give him a quick kiss and dart out the door before the waterworks had a chance to start.  Success!

I went to visit him at lunch - I promised the teachers I wouldn't continue that everyday, but I had to this first day!!  When I got there he was happily lying on an activity mat looking at the toys dangling overhead.  I held him for five minutes and then went about my day.  I could get used to that!

He did really great all day and his teachers (and every teacher I passed on the way to get him) told me how cute and happy he was.  Jack freaked out again when we went to pick him up, refusing to set foot in Charlie's classroom.  Funny.  I guess from now on we'll be dropping Jack first in the morning and picking Charlie up first in the evening to avoid any confusion.

The only negative from Charlie's first day was that he didn't seem to get a lot of sleep.  His paper said he slept for 1 hour two different times and then a third nap for 45 minutes.  He's still not really on a schedule, but he generally takes at least one 2-3 hour solid nap during the day.  I'm sure the extra noise will take some getting used to.  It was clear he was pooped Monday night - he slept most of the night.

Luckily Charlie's teacher remembered to take some pictures of his first day because Mommy forgot!!  Thanks Ms Mary!

Tuesday was his first full day at Grandma & Grandpa Lang's, and Grandma has already dubbed him "Angel Baby II."  He slept most of the morning, woke up for a bottle around 11:45, was awake for an hour, then slept the REST of the day - perhaps making up for Monday.

As for me, I'm doing fine.  If I had a choice I'd be home with my babies every day, but there's no sense in dwelling on that.  This happens to be a decent week for me to return to work because my boss and the whole team that I support are in Chicago for a meeting, which is giving me time to ease back in and reacquaint myself with all my projects.  And in 2.5 short weeks, it'll be Christmas break, so surely I can make it that long! 

The highlight of my first day back (other than holding Charlie at lunch) was when I got a phone call from the security guard of my building saying I had received flowers.  Attached was the following note: "We love you Mom!  Mommy, Thank you for being so wonderful and taking such good care of us.  We appreciate everything you do for us.  Hope you have a great day.  Love, Jack & Charlie"  Isn't my husband the best??

Turf Perfect is going full time!!!

As most of you know, Jason started his own business late last summer. As it turns out, the business has grown to the point where he will be stepping away from his full time job at Anheuser Busch in order to focus solely on lawn care & landscaping. His last official day will be Friday, April 10th, although he'll most likely continue on a part time basis through the end of the month as they attempt to find a replacement.

(!!!Shameless plug Alert!!!) If you or anyone you know has lawn care or landscaping needs, Jason would love for you to consider Turf Perfect.

Jason Clayton

(314)402-3753

turfperfect@gmail.com

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Work field trip

I was out of the office yesterday because we went on a work field trip. We took a bus about 4 1/2 hours away to Monmouth, IL, where Monsanto has a research farm that is about 460 acres. It was pretty cool - lots of corn & soybeans planted there. The long ride made for a long day, but it was interesting to learn more about our company.