Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween!  The Peanut went as a strawberry this year :)  Her preschool class had a costume parade (loaded the kids into buggies and pushed them around the school into other classrooms so the "big kids" could see them) and then a class party.  Here are some pictures from Leah's Halloween festivities.  

Peanut in all her strawberry glory ...

Other costumes in the 1-year-old classroom included a peanut, two lions, Tigger, a hamburger, a dragon, two cowgirls, and various superheros.  As you would expect, it was adorable.

But this is how our day started ...

"I hate Tuesdays"

But things started to improve once we arrived at preschool and loaded up the buggies for the parade.

"Wheeeeeee, this is fun!"

And then the party started ...  (the kid in the background looks ready to get his groove on)

The kids chatted it up before the food was brought out ...

Leah: "I just heard that they are going to start limiting our goldfish intake at snack time to one handful?!?!"
Leah's Dragon Friend: "I'm stunned!"

Leah has acquired a new "activity" at her preschool mealtimes, where after she finishes her snack, she'll graze around the table trying to partake in her friends' leftovers.  For some reason, my 25th-percentile-for-weight child has the biggest appetite in her class.

Here she is having her first course (her snack) ...

Now, soliciting leftovers from her classmates ...

And .......  success. 

Happy Halloween!

All's well when Dad's here.

Footloose and Fancy Free

This past weekend, we found something that doesn't exist in California: an empty soccer field.  (Although LA has plenty of empty basketball courts - a rare find in the south).*

So we let Leah run wild.  She had the best time, and spent most of this time running away from us.  Since there weren't many people around, we didn't feel the need to chase after her, and she had a blast.  (She also slept incredibly well that night...I think we'll be finding empty soccer fields a lot more often).

As a product of preschool, she also is a bit of a social butterfly.  She has no problem walking straight up to any kid on the playground. It's fun to watch the Peanut hold her own out there.

Leah is walking really well these days.  So for those of you who haven't seen Leah in a little while, enjoy these clips.

*Editor's Correction:  L.A. does not have plenty of empty basketball courts.  They are filled with skateboarders. 

For the Record: Let's Go!

We spent our first weekend at home in 3 weeks.  Unfortunately, BA was sick for most of it.  But we managed to hit the park for some family walking and Peanut swinging.  

Leah added a few things to her "bag of tricks" this weekend, and we got rid of the crib bumpers (which means we have pacifiers flying everywhere at night!).  She's walking pretty well with just one hand now, and can stand for a second or two if you let go.  She'll squat down, but won't attempt to stand up on her own yet.  But she's mastered the heel-to-toe technique, as long as someone is holding her hand.  It's pretty adorable. 

She is blowing kisses (even making the "kissing" sound a little).  She also copied us by saying "Let's Go" and sometimes just "Go."  She also said "big girl" again. 

She bounces balls straight at you, and she discovered that her pacifier bounces on the kitchen floor!  She enjoyed that.

And she likes to sit in her booster seat on the floor in her room.  At first we strapped her in, but then she threw her pacifier across the floor.  So we unbuckled her without her realizing it, and she still thought she couldn't move.  It was pretty funny to watch her reach so hard for her pacifier.  Now we don't strap her in, and she just sits there like a little lady.  After a while, she gets out to look around, then crawls back up to it, but she can't figure out how to get back in.  So she ends up just standing beside it until we put her back in.

While Skyping with BA's parents, BA had to leave the room to grab the laptop power cord.  After waving bye to Dad, the Peanut stayed right in front of the screen staring at Nana until BA returned.  He was so proud that she didn't wander off to climb the stairs or otherwise injure herself.  Then she commenced to show off her walking and straw cup sipping (which she has finally mastered after about 3 months of trying). 

But one of our favorite "tricks" that she's picked up the past few days has been her cuddling.  She's been awfully snuggly recently around us...hugging us and resting her head on us.  And she'll let us rock her to sleep for a few minutes.  We're not sure if this is because she hates daycare so much or is just going through a phase of wanting to be around us constantly.  Either way, we're trying to soak it up (while correcting the daycare issue, of course). 

Here's the scooter at her daycare class.  How cute are these kids in their little chairs all having breakfast together?  Notice the one kid that has to be held by the teacher?  Yep, you guessed it.  That's Princess Peanut, who was too upset to eat her Cheerios next to the other kids.  (Maybe it didn't help that Dad was taking a picture of the calamity).

Seen Recently

Just some recent pictures for your enjoyment.

From daycare (Leah is on the left)...

BA's Corner: Daycare, Changes, and Family

Leah is getting ready to transition to the next daycare class.  I hope the "Tiny Tots" are ready for a big Peanut.  While she's still an "Infant 1," I thought I'd share some daycare pics we got last month (most are from "beach day").  If nothing else, this proves that she doesn't cry all day long, just when we drop her off and pick her up.  Ugh.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Daycare has been a bit of a struggle - one we didn't expect.  New rules, new teachers, and new routines take some getting used to, and we're still adjusting.  For some reason, it seems like Leah has never been fully comfortable in her new daycare, and neither have we.  It's a nice facility and they do many great things with the kids.  But for some reason, we just haven't clicked.  There seem to be a lot of rules and things constantly change, so maybe that's part of it.  They are trying to push the kids from 2 naps/day to 1, and it's not going very well.  Aside from that:

• Leah has started to eat everything on the menu since she's turned 1 (which is great, and fun too)
• We continue to try the straw cup with her (unsuccessfully...although she did it once a few weeks ago)
• We are still transitioning from formula to milk (she drank full milk for a few days, but I don't think her stomach was ready for it, which resulted in some extra loads of laundry.  So we are still mixing it with formula and gradually working up to full milk again). 
• Plus she now has tennis shoes, since the "T-Tots" require them. 

 

Suffice it to say, there are many changes going on over here.  But Leah is sleeping very well at night and we are managing through the changes at a pace she can handle.  Plus, it is so wonderful to have AA back.  We feel like a family again - and a family that has control over our lives!  Monday afternoon, when we returned from our mini-vacation (thank you again Nana and Papa!), we took Leah on a wagon ride up to the pool after her nap.  We enjoyed swimming and relaxing as a family again.  I know it doesn't sound like much, but it is huge.  Leah had a ball splashing and kicking with both of us there, and she especially enjoyed when I would toss her up in the air.  Water splashed all in her face, and she just grinned and giggled.  

 

In our return to normalcy, we have vowed to:

1. Take some time as a family every weekend...no pictures, no blogging, just enjoying the moment
2. Salvage as much of the rest of the summer as possible, so that we don't look back at 2012 as "that awful, wasted summer when the bar controlled our lives."

 

Bar be gone.  We're a family again.

BA's Corner: Enough

How much can a person take? What about 2 big people and one little person?

There are many good reasons why we haven't updated the blog in a week.  Rather than tie them all together in a nice, neat story, how about some data points that help paint the picture of our lives recently?

• We're all sick. And we got Nana sick too. You should hear us all sitting around at night coughing like a bunch of chain smokers (Leah included). We each lost our voice at different times, but have gradually gained them back. It all started with Leah, and she had the worst of it.  She had this virus (the worst I've had in years) on top of a double ear infection.  She had a fever and spent 3 days panting...she was a mess, and it was a little scary.  Poor little girl. 
• Leah's now been to the doctor 7 times in 3.5 weeks.
• She is now on her 5th medication for ear infections; none has worked yet. The 3rd round was a series of 5 shots in her little legs over 3 days. She had 1 ear infection in 10 months in California. She's had infected ears continuously for the past 3 weeks here in Atlanta. We're just not sure if it's the same infection, or different ones.
• Leah's newest medication apparently results in massive diarrhea. In fact, the bottle says "diarrhea may persist for weeks or months after medication is finished." Wonderful. So now we're just sitting around waiting to wear out the diaper genie.  Apologies in advance, Leah. 
• We now have an appointment with an ENT.  Fingers crossed we don't have to get tubes yet.
• We were also "pleasantly surprised" to find some pictures online of Leah's new daycare class. My favorite are the pictures of 2 other kids sucking on Leah's pacifier.  And they wondered why we wanted to bring it home and clean it every night. 
• On top of all this, I just filed a claim for $6,500 with the moving company, if that gives you any indication as to how "smoothly" the move went.  Among other things, our goods were split into 2 shipments without our knowledge, and it took way too long to get into our townhome.  So we've been behind the ball ever since we got here. 

If we have another 2 weeks like these past 2 weeks, AA likely won't pass the bar.  So we had to make some changes. 

• First, we've had some serious help from family.  Nana and Papa came several weekends to watch Leah while AA studied and I got things done around the house.  Unfortunately, I got sick and spent most of that time in bed while Nana and Papa watched Leah AND put together porch furniture, fixed the grill, cooked dinner, etc.  Thank you Nana and Papa!
• Then we were still overwhelmed.  So Gramma drove up to watch Leah this past weekend.  I was feeling better, so I got several things done around the house and even snuck over to get my GA license and a haircut.  I felt spoiled to get my first haircut in several months.  Thank you Gramma!
• We held several conversations last week with Leah's daycare teachers about her drinking bottles in a bouncer chair, which can encourage ear infections.  We were concerned about this from day one here and watched it closely.  But with so many problems lately, we just told them no...every morning and afternoon last week, to each teacher. 
• We're still trying to figure out how to keep other babies from munching on Leah's pacifier.  Can't have that any more either.
• We've pulled the pacifier during the day....only for use in the crib.  We've read that the constant use of pacifiers can encourage ear infections. 
• And now we have pulled Leah out of daycare for at least 2 weeks.  We just can't keep sending her back into the lion's den and dealing with her constantly being sick.  Not right now.  We have to get her well, and we all have to get well too. 
• AA has to get isolated.  There are too many distractions pulling at her right now. 
• So Nana has come to stay with us, at least for a couple of weeks.  She'll be watching Leah, and she's a huge help around the house too.  At this rate, AA is sure to pass the bar.  Thank you Nana!! 
• Unfortunately, this means that Papa will be eating a lot of Long John Silver's in July. 
• Family and friends, we promise things will get back to a state of normalcy at some point in August.  We will make the rounds and spend much more time with everyone.  We just have to survive right now. 

So if you were wondering why the blog hasn't been updated in a week, now you know.  On the flipside, the Peanut has gotten to meet a lot of our loyal blog readers in person, so there's the trade-off. 

In LA, we developed "Exam Mode."  That's when AA focuses on studying and I do virtually everything else that needs to be done.  That means Leah ends up running "Aarons" with me all over town. 

We thought AA's bar prep would force us into 2 months of "Exam Mode."  Instead, we are in "Survival Mode."  We have boxes everywhere, and we have just enough unpacked and set up so that we can survive until AA finishes the bar.  At that point, we can begin to get our lives back in order.

It's really hard to concentrate on work with all of this going on.  But I'm convinced we have the best baby in the world. Given all of this, she is generally just as happy as can be. Whether she's coughing, panting, sweating, or otherwise hurting, she tries so hard to smile through it all.

The rule in our house is that when you're sick, there are no rules.  Whatever makes you feel better, that's what goes.  You can see what makes Leah feel better....and I think it makes AA feel better too!  She's been sad that Leah won't sleep on her anymore.  But Leah has had no trouble curling up on Mommy recently.

Catching a cat nap in between "Aarons."  When she wakes up, she looks around quickly to
figure out where I've taken her this time, and if daycare, new faces, or shots are involved.



We didn't have to worry about her rolling off of our bed...she didn't have the energy.





"Make the pain go away, Mommy."



Pink eye is no match for the baby goldfish I'm about to devour. 
Put down the camera, and hand them over.



Transition Week

At Leah's new daycare, they have a thing called "transition day."  It's where the new babies come to their new classroom for two hours just to get used to the teachers and other kids, and for parents to learn the new procedures for this age level.  Well, this whole week has felt like transition week for me. 

Daycare has not gone as I'd hoped it would.  Leah has screamed and cried everyday at drop-off which she's never done before.  Couple that with the fact that I cried when leaving our California daycare because I was so sad to leave her teachers and you have a lot of daycare-induced crying going on lately.  Aside from that, the teachers here haven't been especially friendly to us.  They're not rude, they just never seem excited or happy to see us.  Maybe they're just timid, or maybe they don't expect to be friends with the parents, or maybe it's because we're new, but it seems like they take a collective sigh when we walk in the door, "oh great, here come the new people, what are they going to ask me about now."  On her first day, BA picked her up after work.  He got to daycare at 5:40 p.m. and Leah was the last baby there and she was crying.  The teacher said she'd been fine until the other parents started coming and then Leah would cry each time she realized it wasn't her Mom or Dad (ugh - knife to the heart).  The teacher said that all the other kids are picked up by 5:30 p.m. in Leah's class, even though they are open until 6:30 p.m.  What?!?!  What kind of job does these other parents have?  I think many of them are stay-at-home mom's who just want a break in the middle of the day.  And I don't have a problem with that, except that it makes us look like the bad parents who leave our kid at daycare all day, and it stresses Leah out to see all her friends leaving first.  I can't take the guilt, so BA and I switched around our schedules for the remainder of the summer.  I'm no longer going to Emory for live classes; I'm staying at home and watching all the lectures online.  He will take Leah in on his way to work (which means she gets to daycare at 7:30 a.m. - she's the first to arrive) and then I'll pick her up in the afternoon.  Right now I'll work until about 3:30 p.m. and then pick her up by 4:00 p.m.  After we eat dinner, I hit the books again until about 8:00 p.m. or until I can't take it anymore, while BA puts Leah to bed. 

Since Leah has had the week-from-hell, I decided to pick her up early yesterday take her grocery shopping.  She had a blast; smiling at strangers, bouncing up and down in the cart as we rolled up the aisles.  She made so many friends at the store.  I was concentrating on picking out blueberries in the produce section when all of a sudden I looked up and these two ladies were waving and smiling at us.  Leah had been grinning at them with her hands clutched beneath her chin.  Another patron stopped me in the aisle to tell me that "she's adorable."  A Publix employee walked by and said "hi there, cheeks!"  And the check-out lady asked me her name and then talked to Leah the entire time we were checking out - and Leah talked back. 

Despite all the transition struggles, I still really like Atlanta.  As mentioned above (almost) everyone is friendly to us, people are holding doors for me (and I'm not even pregnant - it was a miracle when someone would hold the door for me in L.A. even when I was pregnant).  BA and I have gone through a touch of culture shock in Atlanta, just as we did when we first move to L.A. and thought that everyone owned a fedora and surfed all day.  The southern accents are thick and they are everywhere (but I like them).  I have to remember to be nice on the road and not drive like a jerk.  There are bugs everywhere!  Three years out west and I forgot about cockroaches.  Two days in our new house, and I remember how big southern cockroaches can be.  Yuck!  And the trees are still lovely.  In law school, professors will use hypotheticals to teach a concept.  At Pepperdine the hypothetical would usually go something like this, "Surfer walks across homeowner's property to access the beach.  Has Surfer committed a trespass?"  But in my Barbri-Georgia class the hypos go like this, "Bubba wants to buy some shrimp from Big Momma's Gulf Shrimp Company."  Hahaha - I'm not even joking - that was an actual Barbri-Georgia hypo.  Things are different here, but good.

And back to daycare ... I really like the school, I'm just not thrilled with the classroom yet.  I haven't adjusted to their style or manner of doing things, and I have to give it time.  It's a transition week and I have to remember that.  They seem to be doing fun things with the kids - this week was "Wacky Week" where everyday the kids and teachers wear something unusual.  Yesterday was backwards day where the kids and teachers wore their shirts backwards.  The day before was tacky day, and today is beach day.  They are going to let the babies play on a water table and with sand.  These are great developmental activities and it's much more than our daycare in California provided (although we loved our daycare in California because they were so sweet with Leah).  It's just hard on me to see her crying so much, but hopefully soon, the transition will be over and the tears will dry up. 

Leah and Daddy on their way to "Beach Day" at daycare.

Moving to Atlanta

Moving to Atlanta has been stressful but worth it.  I am so happy to be here.  When we left L.A. I shed a few tears as the planed lifted off at LAX.  I was leaving so many wonderful friends in L.A. and two of the biggest events in my life took place in L.A.  It was our home for three years and as I looked down over the rows of houses and buildings, spotted palm trees dotting the streets, I couldn't help but cry a little.  Four hours later, we descended on Atlanta, and I knew we'd made the right choice in moving.  BA lifted up the sunshade and all I could see was trees, for miles and miles, and the buildings of Atlanta sprouting up among them.  I felt as though we were home.  I didn't feel that way about Atlanta during the one year we lived her before law school.  I was bored with Atlanta then.  I guess I still had some wanderlust to get out of my system.  Now, after three years in L.A. I am so ready to be here.  I think this city is going to be just right for our family at this point in our lives.  I love the trees, and the fact that the roads are wide.  I love that most businesses have a free parking lot, instead of having to park in a garage or on the street.  I love that there was only one person in line in front of me at the grocery store on Sunday at noon.  I love that I don't feel frantic here.  After L.A., Atlanta doesn't seem big, doesn't seem crowded, doesn't seem stressful at all.  I know that eventually I'll think Atlanta traffic is bad, but not now.  Compared to L.A. there is no traffic here. 

So here's how the move went.  On Saturday morning we loaded the car in Agoura Hills and drove to LAX, dropping my sister Haley off at her terminal before heading to ours.  BA had to return the rental car, so Leah and I stayed with our 10 bags plus a stroller and car seat (yes, that's right - we checked 5 of them, and miraculously were able to carry on the rest) in our terminal while BA returned the car.  Leah was great on the flight.  We bought her a seat, just as we did for Hawaii, and so she was able to nap in her car seat.  While the other babies were melting down around us, Leah slept quietly and peacefully for an hour and a half.  We were met at the airport by BA's parents, and drove to our hotel.  The next morning, Nana and Papa watched Leah as BA and I went house hunting with our realtor.  We were disappointed with the limited selection of properties in our price range, but found a nice townhouse in our desired area to rent.  We put in an application that same day and have spent the past few days running around gathering paperwork and money orders to help the lease go through.

Yesterday, we took the day off (because there was really nothing house-related left to do except wait for the lease to process) and went to the Zoo.  This is my last day before Barbri begins and so I wanted to do something completely non-academic.  The Zoo was perfect.  Leah didn't really grasp the concept of the animals, but BA and I enjoyed it.  The gorilla exhibit was may favorite because they had a baby gorilla there.  She was one year old and acted exactly like Leah - climbing all over her mother, reaching up to pull her hair, plopping down to eat something she'd found on the ground. 

And today I attended my first Barbri class.  This is the beginning of two months of the hardest, most intense studying I will ever do.  And unfortunately for the first week of classes, I'm attempting to do that intense studying in a hotel room while a moaning, groaning, mischief-seeking, rascal of a 10-month-old, crawls around looking for attention and electric wires to eat.  It's been a challenge.  I've accepted that this week will likely be a loss to me in terms of studying so I'll be putting in some serious make-up time next week once we are settled in our house.

School Portraits

We sent out copies of Leah's first school portrait to most of our immediate family, but I wanted to share it with you, our blog readers, as well.  I love this picture.  It's the first picture where people other than my mother have commented that Leah looks like me.  My mom has always said that Leah looks like me - and I realize that she is probably saying that because it makes me feel better, and not because it's true (love you, mom!) while usually our family, friends, and strangers alike will comment on how Leah is the spitting image of BA.  And most of the time, she is, and adorable too.  But in this picture, our whole family can see the resemblance to me! 

Leah - 9 months

For the Record: Happy Baby

For the Record:  We have a very happy 8-month-old baby.  She smiles all the time.  Really.  After we got over the reflux, thanks to a daily does of Prevacid, Leah has been in the best mood, laughing and smiling.  Lately, she's picked up the unfortunate habit of whining when she gets bored or tired, which is taking a toll on my mental health, but aside from that, she is generally just a pleasant little person.  

Her daycare teachers said that a lot of the parents who come in to drop off or pick up their children say something about Leah. They remark on how bubbly, giggly, and happy she always is.  Sometimes I'll come in to pick her up and she will be happily playing by herself with a toy and doesn't pay any attention to the kid having a coniption fit on the floor next to her.  I account her high tolerance for noise (i.e. the plane rides to and from Hawaii) to all the socialization she's received from daycare.

Her teachers also call her the Gerber baby because they think she looks like the picture on Gerber baby food.  I just think she's absolutely, positively, the cutest baby I've ever laid eyes on.

Speaking of daycare, today when I dropped her off, one of the older boys was having his 1st birthday party.  He was at the table eating cupcakes with a couple other babies.  I know for a fact that one of the babies was already a year old, but I don't think the other little girl eating a cupcake had turned 1 yet.  This made me worried that they might feed Leah a cupcake before her 1st birthday party.  My plan was to completely shield her from all processed sugar, milk, and eggs before she turns 1 and I was counting on her 1st birthday party as her first taste of cake.  I know it's not the end of the world if she's had a taste of cake at school, but I'm annoyed that I even have to worry about someone sneaking my kid sugar without checking with me first!

In all actuality, it's highly unlikely that they've fed Leah anything other than her baby food that I send along with a spoon.  She doesn't even have teeth yet (although I've seen two little ones just popping up along her bottom gums!!!) and I've never sent food that she can grab herself.  So it would be a big jump in logic for her teachers to think that cake is appropriate for her.  I'll have to say something to them this afternoon to make sure we're on the same page.  I just thought it was common knowledge that you don't feed kids sweets before age 1.  But I guess not.  Maybe that's why she's always so happy at daycare .... 

"Leah, are you happy because your teachers have been sneaking you cupcakes?"

"Or are you happy because you're naked today!"

"I'll never tell you, mommy!"

BA's Corner: That's My Girl

How many books do you read a month?

This was one of the first questions my Senior English teacher asked us in high school. My answer? Zero.

There were a few of us with this answer, and we quickly called ourselves "The Zero Book of the Month Club." When given a choice of assignment, we always chose to watch or make videos rather than read books and write papers. True to our mantra, we told everyone that our club met once a month, outside the library.

Rest assured, when I met AA, this was not the first thing I mentioned about myself. I'm pretty sure I had the ring on the finger before I let that cat out of the bag.

We recently discovered that Leah's daycare has a Facebook page and has been posting pictures of her class from time to time. Most of the pictures are of children lounging around, playing with toys, looking cute and cuddly. But when the camera came to Leah on this day, she decided to let everyone know that, indeed, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.



Falling asleep in the crib ... nada.
Falling asleep in the pack-n-play ... nada.
Falling asleep on the king-size tempurpedic bed ... nada.
Falling asleep in the middle of the day, sitting upright at a table in the middle of a sunlit room filled with crying babies ... no problem.

Baby Talk

Well my baby has an ear infection in both her ears.  She's had a cold for about 7 days and last night her cough was so bad that she turned red and was gasping for air.  Her cough was waking her up and she couldn't seem to stop coughing until we got her in the bathroom and turned on the steam shower.  We did three steam showers overnight last night and by the morning I was watching the clock until the doctor's office opened.  Turns out she has two ear infections and a little bit of wheezing in her lungs, which is from some viral cough that usually accompanies the ear infections.  Poor little girl.  She has been sick so much recently which I'm sure is due to daycare.  I have a love/hate relationship with daycare - love them because they take good care of my child and allow me to pursue my career - hate them because she will constantly get sick as long as she's at daycare.  And when she is sick, which is a lot, I can't take her to daycare so either I skip school or BA takes off from work.  We had to do both this week.  It's been a long week. 

Of course Leah was a perfect little angel at the doctors, no constant whining and fussing like at home.  She just stared up at him and blinked her eyes every few seconds so calmly like nothing was wrong.  Maybe she remembered her last visit when she got her shots and thought, "if I just play nice, he'll stay away from me."    

And since it's finally Friday, here's a video from last weekend, before she got this latest cold.  Have a good weekend, everyone!

BA's Corner: Hold my Hand, Part 2

As AA finishes up her last few finals of the semester, here's the continuation of "Hold my Hand."

On Leah's first day of daycare, AA couldn't handle it. She cried too much and I had to take Leah that morning. Leah seemed okay, but she also seemed like she knew something was different. After all, she'd been at home pretty much the whole time since she'd been born, except for some doctor visits. So she knew when we were getting out of her "routine." I walked her out, loaded her in the car, and headed off. She was pretty quiet, and I couldn't see her. So I reached my hand back into her car seat to see if I could feel her moving around or something. She immediately grabbed my finger. I smiled.

There are other times too....strapping Leah into the Express and heading out for a walk, middle of the night feedings, etc. And the first night we officially put Leah in her crib for the night, I had to keep running in to soothe her. She held onto my thumb until she was finally snoring away.

Secretly, when I'm soothing her back to sleep in the middle of the night, I like to hold her hand. I think it makes a difference. I know she won't want to do this forever, and I just love how small and soft they are. Plus, one of the first things I discovered about her (and that I still love) is that she has AA's hands. When I picked her up from daycare that first week and all the babies looked somewhat the same to me, I could be sure I had my Leah by looking at her hands.

BA's Corner: Day Care Pickup

A couple of weeks ago, when I picked Leah up from daycare, this is what I found...

I knew they had been putting her at the table with blankets around her head to protect her, and we'd been trying to get her to hold her head up more and more. But this was the first time I had seen her at the table unassisted like this. I had to snap a few pictures because I knew AA would be disappointed that she hadn't seen it.

Leah was as happy as a clam in her little chair, just swinging her legs and watching all of the other kids run around. It was a wonderful sight. Our girl is growing up!

Starting Daycare

Leah's first day of daycare was on Tuesday and while I think the little Peanut fared well, her mom did not.

First day of school photo.

The plan was for BA to drop her off in the mornings and for me to pick her up in the afternoons, but for her first day I wanted to go with BA to drop her off.  But I couldn't handle it, I had to let BA take her by himself.  And as he was walking out the door I started to cry my eyes out.  This is so much harder than I thought it would be. 

When I picked her up, she looked safe and clean - I guess I can't ask for much else.  She was asleep in the swing.  I think she's going to spend a lot of time in the swing, which is okay, I guess.  I mean, she's a baby; she doesn't do much else.  I really can't expect the teachers to hold her and interact with her as much as I'd like them to.  I just feel sad, and very guilty, when I walk in to pick her up and I see her sitting there, asleep, in the swing because I know that's probably where she spent most of the day.  I think things will improve once she can sit up because then she can sit at the big table with the other little babies and she can play on the floor more.  I know the teachers are busy and have a lot of babies to tend to, but I just expected a little more interaction.  And the teachers are all very nice ladies; they seem to really know what they are doing, but even still, I just don't feel great about it.

Every day this week, I left for school in the morning thinking that I would stay after class on campus to get some work done until 5 p.m. and then pick up Leah from daycare.  And every day so far, I haven't.  I've decided half-way through the day that I don't want her just sitting there and that I miss her too much.  So I leave right after class and run to get her.  I don't get any work done when we get home because I want to spend that time interacting with Leah, doing tummy time, and playing with her - because I'm just not convinced that she gets much of it at school.  I'm still hopeful that daycare will become a positive experience for us all, even if it's not quite the experience I wanted, it's just going to take some getting used to. 

Daycare

We picked out a daycare this week.  Of course the guilt kicked in.  How could I leave my child in daycare?  I never thought I would be a daycare parent.  My mother stayed home with me and my sister full time and I felt so guilty that I'm not doing the same thing for my daughter.  I really admire stay-at-home parents.  They are the best option, hands down.  But I don't really have a choice if I want to finish school - and I do.  And after that I'll need to work to pay off my student loans, not to mention it will be time to use this uber-expensive law degree and make a career for myself.  In this economy, a dual-parent income is almost a necessity.  So I have accepted that hired child care will be a reality for me.  My ideal child care set-up would be for the baby to go to Grandma's house during the day.  And perhaps in the future when we move back east we can have a more individual set-up with a nanny or a family member watching Peanut.  Unfortunately that's not an option here in California.

So we needed to find a place that would keep the Peanut safe, healthy, and loved.  This year is a good introduction into daycare because Peanut will only be enrolled for part of the day while I'm at school, and she'll only go 3 or 4 days a week on the days I have class.  So I feel good about our fall schedule, but unfortunately, there aren't many daycare centers that even accept infants.  I found lots of preschools accepting children age 2 and up, but not many infant care centers that were convenient for us, within our price range, and that didn't scare me. 

We ended up with 3 possibilities.  The first was a Montessori school, with the highest prices.  The babies were all in one room, with cribs lined up along the side wall.  They also took children in that class up to 18 months which I didn't like.  I don't want children walking all over my 2 month old.  I think BA walked away from our tour in shock and a little depressed.  I've worked in daycares before as summer jobs, so I knew what to expect and honestly, the Montessori school was perfectly fine.  The teachers all seemed nice and the babies seemed happy, but I don't think BA was prepared for how impersonal daycare can seem.

The second place was located in a neighborhood and the infants were in their own building.  They had three rooms for different play areas - one room was for babies that could sit up and move around a bit, another had a table with highchairs for eating, and a final room had swings for naps, and tummy time mats for the littlest babies.  All the rooms were connected with 1/2 walls and there was a crib room in the back that was a little darker and quieter than the other play areas. 

The third place I almost didn't tour because we walked in the front door and there was a sign at the front desk that said "Peanut-Free Zone."  I thought, Well we can't go here!   If they don't want the little Peanut, then we don't want them!  Joking aside, it felt like a baby assembly line.  It was the least expensive option and I'm sure it was fine, the babies looked happy, but it just didn't feel homey or warm.  It felt institutional, with florescent lighting and the babies all lined up to eat. 

So we are going with the second school and I'm very happy about it.  I think Peanut will be safe there and I think she'll be loved.  It's the best I could possibly feel about giving my baby over to a stranger for the day.