‘School’

Well we are almost a month into me going back to work and Caroline going to ‘school’.  For the most part, it has been a great transition.  She did very little sleeping to begin with, which stressed me out quite a bit since she has always been a good sleeper, but she has adjusted well and does some pretty decent sleeping while she is there.  She is such an observer and so nosy and busy that she would just rather be singing, playing, talking, or laughing than doing such a silly thing as sleeping.  I’m sure, though, going from a quiet room at home to a busy ‘school’ room was enough to get adjusted to.  But she did it, like she has done everything, like a champ.  When I drop her off Mrs. Val and Mrs. Nita are so happy to see her and she just gives them a big toothy grin and I know she will be just fine.  All of her friends say hey to her and then I kiss her, tell her I love her, and head for the door.  It is all I can do to get to 4, but once I do I’m in my car and at her ‘school’ as soon as I can get there.  I’m greeted at the door with one of her teachers and (most of the time) that big ol’ grin I’ve been waiting for all day long.  If she hasn’t slept well, she is usually so tired she can’t even hold her head up.  If she looks like that, she’ll be asleep before we even reach the road!  Every day I get a report card to let me know about her pooping and peeing, how much she ate of her bottles and when, and how she did with her naps.  Mondays are usually pretty light on the sleeping since she is getting back into the busy routine at ‘school’, but by Friday we have had a couple 1 1/2 to 2 hour naps – which makes this momma very happy!!

Even though I know that she is doing great and doing great things, the bottom line is that it sucks.  It sucks to know that I have to go 8 or 9 hours without seeing her.  It sucks that out of the 3 hours that I have her at home before she goes to bed, she is asleep for half of it.  It sucks to know there is someone else watching her that may not do things like I do.  It sucks that she may not be getting as much sleep as she needs.  It sucks that I miss her and that there is a small ache in my heart all day until I can get to her again.

That is the down side.  I try not to roll around in that too much, because this is the way that life is now and it is not going to change any time soon.  So let’s focus on the positive.  She is making friends.  She is at a great place where I know the people there are taking great care of her.  She is building up her immune system.  She is learning and building brain cells every day.  She is learning how to adapt to life without having to have her mommy and daddy around her all the time.  She is experiencing things that she may not have experienced if she was home with me all the time.  4 o’clock has always been a good time of the day, but now it is just 1,000 times better.  I used to not be a morning person at all, but now when my alarm goes off I usually hop right into the shower, because the faster I get ready, the faster I get to see my sweet girl.

After all of that, the moral of the story is that we are all going to be just fine.  We are going to adapt to this and I will get to see my sweet girl grow more and more every day.  While all of that is happening, I’ll be praying for Thanksgiving Break, Christmas Break, Spring Break, and Summer Break to hurry up so I can spend time with my baby!!