One Hundred Forty Five: On Wearing Pants with Buttons Again

Today was officially the first day back to the grind. And by "grind" I mean sitting at a desk staring at a computer with an occasional meeting to break up the day.

Today we got off to a rough start. It began with Blake timing his morning feeding at the exact time I would have normally been crawling out of bed to begin searching for the sole pair of pants in my closet that don't need ironing need ironing the least.

That set us back by a good thirty minutes.

But it was during those thirty minutes that I snapped these pictures...which might just be my all time favorites in his ENTIRE life.

Then when I asked him if he was ready for his first day of school, he smiled even bigger and did a fist pump.

Although my maternity leave flew by entirely too fast, and it was completely unfair that I had to go back to work while Jeff enjoyed one last day of vacation, I can't say that I didn't look forward to getting back into a routine at least a little bit. I am just a more productive person when I have somewhere to be at a set time.

Not to say that I actually get to said place at that specific time, but it's the idea of the agenda that my Type A personality thrives on.

But even after the last morning bottle, the whole rest of the daily routine still had to play out before we could get on our merry way.

Jeff: Where's Hayden's backpack?
Me: In his room.

Jeff: Hayden! Davis! Go! Brush!Your!Teeth! ( x 19)
Kids in unison: Ugh! Why do we have to brush our teeth anyway?

Jeff: What do you want for breakfast Davis?
Davis: What is Hayden having for breakfast?
Jeff: IT DOESN'T MATTER

Jeff: Where are Davis' shoes? (yelled from the living room)
Me: Not sure, but probably next to the trampoline. (yelled from the bedroom)

Finally, at 7:35 a.m., we were out the door...and only 10 minutes behind schedule.

If you know me at all, you know that I was actually proud to only be 10 minutes late with all three kids in tow. For me, that's like running a marathon without training. And finishing before they roll up finish line and take down the barricades.

Next I dropped off Hayden in the carpool line as I said goodbye and wished him a good first day of school. I had that whole conversation without letting anyone in the first grade see me. Hayden of course did the same, and said goodbye to me IN HIS HEAD.

A Success.

Next up, I arrived at the daycare with Child #2 and #3. My greatest accomplishment of the day was when I changed the Davis drop off routine. The previous routine went as follows WITHOUT EXCEPTION: right cheek kiss - left cheek kiss - forehead kiss - Eskimo kiss - hug - I love you symbol - and then I turn around so he can "push" me out. Same routine since he was two.

Now the goodbye is much more concise consisting of a quick kiss, side hug and a wave as he walks back to the breakfast table. We talked about the "new goodbye" all the way to school. It went off without a hitch and I was able to part ways from him at the front door and immediately take Blake to his classroom. This was no small feat for Mr. OCD.

At first, it was a little sad to give up the extra five minutes of the ritualistic kissing.

But it was time.

It would have just been awkward to do the routine and get "pushed out" of his dorm room.

Major success!

Then I walked into Blake's classroom as I subconsciously patted myself on the back for my super-mom performance up to that point. I met the teacher and talked about how much Blake typically eats (4 ounces) and how often (every three hours).

We talked about his likes and his dislikes.

We talked about how much he typically sleeps.

Then the teacher asked if he takes a pacifier?

"Um."

"Yes." I said slowly as I remembered that I forgot to pack his pacifier.

"He actually loves his paci."

We chit chatted a little more and I promised to send Jeff up with his paci. But then the planets realigned when I went to the car and found his second-string paci. It wasn't his preferred one, but life's not always fair and the sooner he learns that, the better.

Glass half full: I'll call that a Partial Success.

Still smiling, I got back into my car, turned the Garfield Gets Real DVD off, and listened to Kidd Kraddick in the Morning for the first time since early November.

It felt good.

I was enjoying my commute and peace and quiet without having to TURN IT UP! or TURN IT COLDER! for anyone else in the car. I was even enjoying my diet chocolate protein shake. I was about 2/3rds of the way to work when I started to brainstorm how I was going to tackle my first day back at work.

"First I would check my voicemail", I thought. But surely no one would leave me voice mails when I had left an out-of-office message saying I was ON MATERNITY LEAVE (wishful thinking).

"Next I'd check my email," I said to myself as I also thought about how relieved I was that I wouldn't be weeding through hundreds of emails since I had kept up with them over my time off.

And that's when I realized that I forgot my computer at home.

MASSIVE FAIL.

I blame it on the spanx cutting off my circulation and blood flow to my brain.

So I turned around. Picked up the computer and arrived back at work about 25 minutes later. I parked in the farthest parking spot in the garage.

And then my badge didn't work.

After going to security to fix that I finally made it to my desk only to find a burned out light and a broken keyboard.

It was a very productive day indeed.

All that to say that I have never been this excited to curl up in bed, in my stretchy pants, and watch an episode of The Bachelor. I am even willing to overlook the fact that this season of the Bachelor is a REPEAT and starring commitment-phob.