We survived

The first full week back in the swing of things -

• Yoni back at the BAC from dawn till dusk
• Mommy back to the downtown Houston office - albeit on the 57th floor rather than the 52nd or 44th -[We're moving on up!] With a new wardrobe, a new handbag and a new attitude.
• Yaeli with her first bottle feedings (ok 2nd, bubbe gave her one bottle once upon a time - BTW we're still on a strict diet of boob juice and no formula - so far anyway)
  And introducing Yael to the whole newness of the pacifier episodes (for me she choked on them, for the not-mommy persons, she did just fine!)
• Abba having to rely on rides with people other than the Mom-taxi, and getting excited about his upcoming English classes, while desperately needing a vacation from his life right now - he didn't get maternity leave like me and his head is so full he really needs a break! About the only thing that truly makes him laugh and smile these days is playing with our special little Yonster!
• Our first round of birthday parties. We had a joint party on Sunday that was for 2 boys in Yoni's class. And directly following that, we went downstairs to the Family Fun Day at the JCC where Yoni spent literally hours jumping in the Disney Princess moonwalk.
  What a difference a few months make.
  At the Fall Festival he was not quite coordinated enough to enjoy jumping on the Tiger moonwalk, but 2 months later he couldn't get enough - even with all the bigger kids rumble and tumbling about in there too. And this was after a sports-themed party filled with active activities for active 3 year olds.
  Needless to say he was exhausted!

The whole breat-milk pumping thing causes some interesting questions in the ladies room from my co-workers, since that is the only place I have found on my floor that doesn't have a window in the door frame or that isn't out in the open. It's not ideal - to put it lightly. I pulled an office chair (at least its a pretty comfy one) into the ladies room and stuck a sticky note on it asking to please not remove the chair from the ladies room. Then when I need to pump at the office (twice a day at the moment, but I should probably up it to once more at work and once more at home) I just roll the chair into the handicapped stall and face away from the toilet (next to the the little trash can in the wall - YUK!) with my handy little lunch kit on the floor in front of me. In addition to the less than sanitary space, I also have to contend with the oh-so-pleasant sounds of others using the toilet.

But the important thing is that it is still enough for Ms. Yael to survive on during the hours I have to be away from her. And like it or not, this phase will pass sooner rather than later :(

So one of the reasons I was so grateful for having made the transition back to work when I did was that it was a short work week. I was able to contend with all the trials and still know that the weekend was only a few days away. And everyone at the office has been extremely nice and excited about me coming back.

Also, my witchy co-worker was absent and still on vacation on the west coast giving me a few blissful days of getting back into the swing of things without having to contend with her breathing down my neck. Today was her first day back and that is exactly what she did.

She immediately pointed out all the things she could that were wrong with the work I sent out on Friday (which I was just supposed to be proofreading). Then she changed the access I had to one of our essential programs, but when I brought it to his attention, my supervisor got her to change it back.

Also today, the woman who has been doing my job while I was out was absent with the stomach flu, so I had to deal with fixing mistakes she had made previously in my abscence, plus 3X as many reports (Mondays are always hectic) and having my nemesis back on the premises. In addition, I have another department breathing down my neck, waiting for me to update a report that I didn't pass on to anyone while I was out - job security - so that they can use it for end of the year accounting and accrual purposes.

All in all, it is nice to be needed, but I hope I can cope with the added stresses of running a one-car family and keeping up the professional standards I expect for myself.