Back to Reality

How quickly things can change. One day, you’re spending quality time with your daughter, making daily trips to the park, the next you’re cooped up in an office, not seeing the light of day, nervously wondering what she is up to just about every other minute.

Yes, that is now my reality.

Yesterday was my first day back at the office. After 18 months, I forgot what working full time felt like. Or rather my back (and neck and shoulders, and masseuse) did. And now that it’s a completely different world with a child in tow every morning, the days are absolutely exhausting.

Don’t get me wrong. I love what I am doing (creating a new children’s educational brand with an amazing team) and I love the flexibility I have been granted in my work schedule, but I won’t lie. I’d much rather be home with Hannah.

And I think she’d rather be at home with me. While her days at daycare are getting better, our mornings are getter tougher. Day one she was happy until we entered her classroom. Day two until the landing on the stairs. Today, she cried when we pulled up to park.

The crying subsides 5 minutes after I pull away but I think all 13 kids in her class have periods of tears throughout the day. It’s a huge adjustment and she is doing fantastically at it. Yesterday, she had her first nap at school. It lasted a mere 30 minutes but that was the case for most of her peers.

So while I picked up an extremely happy to-see-me little girl, she also was an extremely tired little girl. And with her unusually early morning wake-ups, she is getting into the routine but the bags under her eyes are growing.

I know it will take a few weeks to fully get into the swing of things but reality isn’t my best friend at the moment.