Awkward School Photos…Already?

I never thought that at just under 12 months, Zoe would already have that awkward school photo.  You know the ones with the terrible backgrounds, terrible hair, or an outfit that your mom swears you picked out even though it looks HORRIBLE.  I'm pretty sure the only thing that would make these better would be the laser background from back in the day (you know the one).

Of course, we had to buy a few.  I have a feeling we'll get sucked in every year….

Why do I worry?

I have no idea why I worry about this little girl.  She adapts pretty well to any situation we put her in.  I called her new daycare today and Miss Penny just loves her already :)  The stinker only took a 30 minute nap so far, but that's nothing new when she's not at home.  She has even given a few suggestions on helping us introduce more solids and cutting down one bottle which are very welcome considering she's been doing this far longer than me!

Moving Daycares

I NEVER thought we'd be moving so soon.  I was dead set on finding a place and sticking with it.  Because what baby wants all that change so often?  Scratch that, this mommy can't handle change :)  I like things to stay the same.  I always have.  I get nervous and anxious about trying a new dish at our favorite restaurants.  Make my little human have to get used to a whole new set of ladies taking care of her?  No thank you.

But alas, here we are just 1.5 months into this going back to work journey and we are already moving.  I feel so pathetic not even being able to say TWO.  But like my boss said, I need to go with my gut.  And my gut tells me this is best.

We love the building Zoe is in now.  But she can't stay.  They close for the summer (teachers' kids) and she'd move to the twelve month building and we just don't get that "warm fuzzy feeling" there.  And it may sound stupid, but I want that.  These women see my baby more than I get to (which is so sad in itself), so I want to make sure it counts.  I felt terrible telling her teachers.  They keep saying how much they'll miss Zoe next week and in the fall.  I cried today when I went to pick her up and said goodbye.  I was done for as soon as Miss Linda gave me a hug and wished us luck.  But like her lead teacher said, while they'll miss Zoe "I appreciate that as a mother, you are doing what's best for Zoe."  I just hope this is what's best.

We are moving to a place where we already know one family with a little girl Zoe's age.  And I actually babysat for a little girl whose family took 2 of their 3 kids there and only pulled them out because they moved further away.

I hope this is our "forever" home.  Or at least where we stay for a long time.  A place where Zoe can make friends and love on her teachers.  Because who couldn't love these cute, chubby cheeks???

Let's just hope that some of her daddy's go with the flow attitude rubs off on her.  Because I don't think Aaron could deal with 2 of me in his life :)

Week One of Daycare

I guess I probably shouldn't count it as one week since she was really only there for three days.  But you get the drift...

As expected, I had butterflies in my stomach going to bed Tuesday night and woke up all jittery Wednesday morning.  I kept telling myself, "Just think how much you'll be able to get done today without any interruptions.  You'll be able to do so much without having to worry about bottles and naps."  It's funny.  Any other day I would kill for just a few hours of me time. But then when I have the time, all I can think about is the clock and when I get to pick her up.

Aaron and I dropped her off together.  He'll be doing the drop off normally, but I wanted to be there on her first day.  She was perfectly fine when we handed her off to Miss Mary.  I, however, didn't do so well.  Miss Linda and Miss Mary both have older children and told me over and over how hard it was every year to drop their kids off too.  They promised it would get better and reiterated that I could call or stop in as much as I would like.

I did my best to wait until noon to call.  At that point, little stinker hadn't napped yet which is so not like her and I had it in my brain that she would never nap, she'd get so overtired she'd be a nightmare at home, and on and on.  Have I mentioned I obsess over things? Yeah, it's a problem.  I picked her up at 3:30 pm and she had finally napped a little.  Two short catnaps, but I'll take it.  She had another catnap when we got home at her normal "catnap" time.  We had our parent group so she was up much later than usual, but she did pretty well considering how her day was completely off.

Thursday, still with the catnaps but she at least had a morning one. I had to pick her up again early for a doctor's appointment.  She snoozed away after we got home.

I know she'll figure out the napping thing.  And if she doesn't, oh well.  That's what I keep trying to remind myself.  There's nothing we can do at this point.  

All in all, I'm feeling much better.  The women are all so nice.  There are several babies so hopefully she'll make some friends that she'll follow through the program.