All Things Haley: Mommy Month Day 16

Ok, I think this will be my last daycare post for a little while (at least my last post completely dedicated to daycare). Today went better than I had expected, and I'm so glad.

We used our new (bat crazy) schedule and had plenty of time in the morning. Woke up when the first baby woke up (this morning it was Caleb at 4:32...usually it's him somewhere around 4ish). I fed both Caleb and Grace to give Daddy a little extra sleep (Grace was still sleeping so they weren't hungry at the same time). Usually Daddy wakes up with me to feed them. Then I put them both back to bed, woke up Ben at around 5:20, he went and started his breakfast and I went out to the gym. I spent about 25 minutes working out and came in around 5:45. Ben walked on the treadmill and listened for the babies to wake up. Then I got in the shower at 5:45 and started getting ready. Ben relaxed a little bit and then started getting ready after I was out of the shower.

We finished getting ready, I ate some breakfast, and had most everything packed in the car by 6:45. Woke up the babies then and changed diapers and changed them out of their pj's. Then, of course, we took some pictures and loaded the babies into the car. We were on the road by 7:00. Got to daycare around 7:10, learned the ropes of signing them in, dropped them off with their teacher and gave her our instructions and when they last ate/woke up, etc. Then we gave lots of kisses and waved goodbye. Grace was sitting on the play mat playing with toys and smiling as we left. Caleb was in the teacher's arms- they were the first babies there- and was looking at me (without a smile) as I walked out the door. It broke my heart. I think I cried one or two tears, then sucked it up and went to work.

I called to check in around 9:15 and they had apparently eaten pretty well and fallen asleep for their first nap with no problems. Then we went to go see them at 12:30 and they were both asleep in their cribs taking their second naps! Their cribs are in the back of the class but not in the corner. They are right next to each other which makes Mommy happy! Grace woke up about 30 seconds after we walked in. Miss Larinn got her out of the crib and she smiled and smiled! We held her for a little while then I put her down to play and watched her practice sitting up, playing with toys, and interacting with a new friend, Cash! He's six months and is already crawling and all over the place! She's gonna learn quick, I can tell.

Caleb woke up about ten minutes later and Ben got him out of the crib. He was super groggy but after a couple minutes he recognized us and started smiling. I held him for a bit then laid him down on the mat next to Grace. He just hung out until Daddy started tickling him and made him laugh really loud. I needed that.

We stayed a few more minutes and then said our goodbyes. I felt so much better after going and seeing them hanging out, not crying, and seemingly so comfortable there.

We left the office at 4:00 and got to daycare by 4:10. They were both asleep again when we got there, Caleb in the swing and Grace in her crib. Apparently Caleb had taken a really short 3rd nap and had just fallen asleep again in the swing. Grace was still on her 3rd nap, going on an hour and a half. Caleb wasn't too happy about waking up but Grace was all smiles. We got their bottles, their dirty outfits (yep, they each had an outfit change- called it), and their daily reports that showed when they ate, how much, when they napped, how long, and their general mood for the day.

The best part was that the teachers had taken a bunch of pictures of the babies throughout the day- a TON of smile shots and some cute sleeping shots. LOVED it!!! I wish I had soft copies, but they're not good quality so scanning them probably wouldn't work. They also made signs to put on the door to their room that said Caleb and Grace are our new friends and had a little blurb about what they did that day- Grace had fun interacting with new friends and Caleb enjoyed just observing and being the new kid in town. It was pretty cute- they had big pictures of them out on the door for all of their classmate's parents to see!

They'll be putting pictures of them on their cribs and we can bring pictures of us to post on the insides of their cribs as well. :) You know I'm doing that.

We got home by 4:30 and fed them each a bottle. Then it was play time- Caleb was a bit grouchy, but that's par for the course. Ben and I traded off a couple times so we each got time with both babies. Then we rinsed the bottles, finished a load of laundry, ate a quick snack and started bath time. I got in the tub with the littles today and got to play with them a little more in the water- just what I needed.

We fed them again and put them down by around 6:40. Ben washed bottles while I finished feeding Caleb (he takes longer at night), then he just hit the gym and I'll go start dinner as soon as I'm done writing. Then we'll eat, make bottles for tomorrow, pack up the diaper bag with new clothes (I picked out all of their outfits for the week and laid them out by day on Sunday night), and sit down for maybe 30 minutes before we need to go to bed by around 9:30...praying that the babies don't wake up too much in the middle of the night (last night Grace needed her binky twice, oy).

Then, we start all over!

Phew- what a day! Definitely not even close to enough time with the babies. I wish they would stay awake longer at night, but we tried that two nights ago and Grace had a massive meltdown, so it wasn't good for any of us.

This is my new norm. It's not ideal, but it works. I spend all day thinking about them, but I have a lot of work to do so that distracts me from how badly I just want to squeeze them. I'm sure at some point this will just be normal and I won't feel like I'm missing out on being with them so much. Hopefully that day will come sooner rather than later, because I hate this gut wrenching feeling that I'm not where I'm supposed to be.

I'm so happy that they don't seem to mind the daycare, though. I mean, what can I say? They're amazing!