The Gift of a Smile

Christmas has come and gone before my eyes. We had a great time celebrating with my family, but wish we could also be with the Kauffman's when they are together next week.

I still find it a little hard to believe it is Christmas when the temps are in the 70's, but the family time and Christmas festivities helped. We think Norah enjoyed her first Christmas, evidenced by how often she showed off her new smile (photo of that to come soon).

Our Christmas was spent at my parent's place on the lake. We went up Christmas Eve around noon. We typically do our Christmas celebration in the evening, so we started with the grandkid's gifts before dinner. My mom put out quite the spread for our meal, and then after the kids went to bed we did our little Christmas. And it was little...this year we decided to really scale back and just do a few stocking stuffers. Instead of the usual gift exchange we chose a cause to which we will all donate money. The focus is much more on the kids now anyway, so it worked out well.

My last week of maternity leave is next week already. My first day back to work will be January 7. I was told it would go by quickly, and I believed it, but wow. I am feeling very anxious about going back to work - not the actual work itself (I think in some ways that will be rerfreshing), but figuring out our schedule and leaving Norah in daycare. I pretty much think about it constantly. One night last week I couldn't go to sleep and I was trying to figure out how I could workout in the mornings. If I need to be to work by 8:30, I would have to leave the house at 7:45 to get Norah to daycare. I figure an hour and a half to get myself ready and feed Norah, so I would need to be back from the gym by 6:15, which means arriving at 5:15, which means getting up before 5. I'm just not sure that will be possible while I am still getting up once to feed Norah. I would have to go to bed by 8:30 to get my optimal amount of sleep. So then I starting thinking about the evenings - leave work a few minutes before 5, get Norah and arrive home at 5:30. That would give me 3 hours to feed Norah twice, eat myself, and get bags packed for the next day.

I know I need to just stop thinking about it, enjoy the time I have with Norah now, and let it all work itself out, but that is usually easier said than done. I try to think of everyone who has done it before me, and have confidence that we will figure it out and make adjustments as needed to create the best possible situation for Norah and our family. On that note, I'm going to stop writing about it and get on with my day to enjoy every precious moment with Norah that I can. And they really are precious...