I'm back at work!

Yesterday I went back to work...

I wouldn't say I'd been dreading it all week - but I couldn't quite see beyond Friday, and could definately not imagine what the day was going to be like. I felt sad that it was the 'end of an era', our special time together has ended, even though it is only going to be for one day a week that we will be apart! Somehow Elizabeth's babyhood seems even more distant, and as I got ready for work busily yesterday morning I couldn't quite believe I was about to leave her for a whole day. For fourteen whole months I haven't left her for longer than a couple of hours, and as she was with me for nine months prior to that, its been a long time since I've been alone!

Driving to work the old commute on the M6 seemed horrendous, and it was like stepping back in time. It was foggy and wet, and traffic wasn't at a standstill, but pretty close to. I arrived, and a new member of staff (Karen) introduced herself as soon as I walked into the staffroom which was nice. I set my bag down, waiting for the 9am meeting, but nobody else arrived so instead I set off down to Tim's office, and was given my timetable then shown down to Jenny to talk me through the rest of the day. I felt odd all day long. People kept realising it was me, doing a double take, then saying "You're back?" in desbelief. It has been a long time. I had to reset my password with IT so that I could check my emails - all 726 of them! I felt more than strange standing in front of a class of students (albeit a small class, and albeit only to say hello!). The mental stress of worrying about how Elizabeth was doing, and how I was going to prepare to teach in the afternoon wore me out, and I was quite glad to leave the office at 1.30pm, and head down to Aston. The VT who was supposed to be leading the class didn't show up, so I had a very stressful afternoon, standing in the 'tuck' cupboard trying to ring Tim, and being put through to my favourite person in personnel instead... eventually I just had to 'wing it' and hope for the best, but after 14 months away trying to deal with statistics with a group of A2 students is far from ideal. Finishing at 5pm on a Friday is also far from ideal. It was cold and dark, and teeming down with rain. I stop-started all the way along to the M6, then chugged along there until I finally got home shattered at 6.10pm. I didn't get quite the excited response I thought I might get when I did arrive home - Elizabeth looked fairly non-plussed. It was very strange having to just get her ready for bath and bed, having spent less than an hour with her. That's it for the week now though - so I'm official BACK AT WORK!!!

Happy New Year!

Reflecting back on the Christmas period I can hardly believe that we managed to get everything done... When husband and I sat down before Christmas to look at the timetable of events it looked really daunting, with no 'down-time' despite the fact that we would be staying at home and only visiting family on Christmas Day and Boxing Day, and having visitors in the evening here on Christmas Day and Boxing Day.

We ended up tired, frazzled and snapping at each other, probably because the usual 'run-up' to Christmas was too mad-cap and stressful, trying to do too much at the last minute. Then when Christmas Day came the pace was relentless, to the point that you felt each minute had to have an activity attached to it! We worried that we wouldn't have enough time for Elizabeth to open her presents before we would have to dash to our first venue, but thankfully she did, and she seemed to really enjoy looking inside the wrapping paper to see what she'd got. She gave dolly a kiss straight away, and seemed to love her farm and Little People - she has been playing with it ever since! Our 'budget' presents for ourselves were a revelation - small things but very gratefully received.

The schedule went well on Christmas Day, with Elizabeth sleeping peacefully for a couple of hours in the afternoon while we had our dinner, then having a busy afternoon of opening presents before settling happily to sleep again at her normal time. The premise was that we'd do exactly the same again the next day but for a number of reasons it didn't work out. She slept in later in the morning, so wasn't ready for her morning nap until later, and consequently didn't want her afternoon nap, so slept in the car on the way home - but still went to bed at the right time, so the end result was hardly a disaster!

It might seem that we have become obsessed with sleep and routine, and that Christmas has had to be shoe-horned around it, and that is probably true. She is sleeping better though, and this is why we cling on to the routine for dear life!

New Year was a challenge - down to Surrey to stay with friends overnight, involving a day of packing and travelling, a few hours of drinking and game playing, three hours sleep, then another day of packing and travelling. The bit in middle was great fun, but very tiring all round, and now husband is back at work and we're back to 'normal' things generally feel more on an even keel.

Elizabeth has her re-scheduled MMR jabs tomorrow morning, so I've no idea how that might impact on things. She had her first shoes yesterday - we went to Clark's in Wellington for her fitting (she is 4F) and she seems to really love them. Still not walking as such, but I reckon within the month she'll be off! Her new toys seem to be keeping her occupied - she has tried drawing with her new crayons, and likes looking after all her animals. She still points out:

• steam
• hot things
• birds
• noses

and can brush her own hair (and ours). She holds up her hand when she wants to walk now, and drank her first drink through a straw the other day - a fruit smoothie. Apparently breastfed babies can deal with straws quite easily, so we gave her the smoothie to see whether it would work as a 'clean' alternative to finger food as a snack for travelling! We also bought her a booster seat for our travels, and she coped pretty well with it although it is a lot more stressful than the highchair as you have to be permanently checking and monitoring.