Gaper Day!

In the skiing world, this day is infamous. Everybody, even experienced skiers, dresses up in brightly mismatched clothing and bids the mountain hello. Today is not my gaper day.

I’m back at work, and I’ve already learned a lot.

1. Working moms are awesome. I give my sweet momma props…she worked everyday of her God-given life. And, I never fully appreciated her because I hadn’t experienced motherhood. It’s an amazing thing watching your baby grow… and soon my little girl will be grown (even though I don’t want to think about that). That’s probably exactly what my mom thinks now.

I think of my mother and smile. She’s been so tough her whole life. And she’s picked up the pieces more than once, and kept moving along. What a strong woman! I wrote my mom a note when I first found out I was pregnant, and I got to write to her how much I didn’t realize and what she had done for me.

2.Working moms who breastfeed and work simultaneously should win an award. I decided that I was going to commit and do my best to continue breastfeeding. It is NOT easy. I would like to keep going for six months, and then introduce solid foods. (I’ll be making all my own baby food, and attempting to keep it free of the bad stuff.) I never thought of myself as very organized, but I have arrived. I made a super delicious, healthy, whole grain lunch packed with nutrients and not contained in plastic.
I made a whole grain fusilli pasta with olive oil, roasted grape tomatoes, garlic and sage, onion, and white wine soaked grapes. I had fruit: packed with flavor and juice. I have some healthy veggies (cucumbers and grape tomatoes), and some dried date, which are nutty, like a Christmas cookie. It feels so good to be healthy and not huge!

Needless to say, Here’s to day 1 of the trek to 6 months of breastfeeding. Also, I’ve supplemented 1 bottle a day of formula- organic formula… the kind that has NO bad stuff. No toxic fluorides, no additives, just good plain goodness of dairy milk. It gives me a little break, and Ryan is learning about the bottle.

3. Advice my mom gave me to prepare for this morning: “Don’t be a wreck for Ryan. She’ll know some thing is wrong, and you have to be strong for her.” So, we woke up at 5:45am. I gave myself plenty of time to prepare and get dressed. I made my breakfast and lunch yesterday. I packed Ryan’s bag for the babysitter yesterday. I even made a little treat for the babysitter. Lemon squares wrapped in a brightly colored handmade box. We got bottles filled and ready. It was an amazingly smooth transition. I was even all put-together looking pretty good. So, I fed Ryan this morning twice. I pumped. Showered. And cried… while she took one of her catnaps. Adam and I walked her over to the sitters, and she was the happiest baby. It made me proud. I’m sure glad I started work on a Friday… it makes the first day an easy obstacle to overcome.

I sure do love my family… everyone has been so supportive of this impending doom. Luckily it wasn’t bad at all. I was surrounded by love and happiness all day. Ryan got baby gifts and happies, and I got to talk about her most of the day. Family, Adam’s and my own, called and checked on me, and it surely was sweet. It was hard, but it could have been even harder. (Plus, I pumped at work for my sweet little girl.)

Keep it up, moms! You can do it if you commit.