Back To Work

I went back to work on Thursday. I think it was a good idea to go back for 2 days before going back for a full week.

The work part was ok. I wasn't overly productive, but I did manage to go through and read the 775 e-mails that were waiting on me. I also had meetings with my manager and another coworker to get back in the loop on what's going on on my accounts. I started putting together my personal open items lists to help get me on track. I still need to get up to speed on my 5 new accounts that I inherited when another coworker left the firm July 1st. I found that I really have to pay attention to the time or I could easily forget to go pump. I'm attempting to pump during Luke's normal feeding times, so I can make his meals for the next day. Monday, I got 4 ounces each time, but Tuesday I got 6 ounces each time! I wonder if that means Luke's going through a growth spurt. I did really miss him though. It's different this time. I think I enjoyed my maternity leave more, so it was harder to go back this time. But, I'm back.

Luke had a rough two days at Amy's. I think they just need to get used to each other and hopefully Luke will start to adjust to a routine to give her a break. The first day, she had trouble getting him to stay awake for the whole bottle and said it took 25 to 30 minutes to feed him. Considering he only nurses for about 10 minutes (or less) and gets his whole meal in, I wondered if he needed a faster flow nipple. I sent the "slow flow" newborn nipples. She also thought he acted hungry alot, but she was trying to keep him to a 3 hour schedule as he'd been on at home. I think over all he was pretty fussy all day. Tuesday I changed the nipples and she said that worked much better. He was able to take the bottle in about 10 minutes and didn't fall asleep. However, she couldn't make him wait 3 hours for any of his feedings. I wonder if he was just hungry because I sent his 4 ounce bottles from Monday, but on Tuesday, I was producing 6 ounces. I decided next week to send an extra frozen bag of milk, so if he acts more hungry, she can just give him more. I also said that if he acts like he can't go 3 hours, just feed him. I find sometimes at home that we only do 2 1/2 if he's hungry. She also said his longest nap on Tuesday was about 45 minutes. I think he just has to get used to the new environment. Even at home if he's fussy, Eric has trouble soothing him, but if I take him, he calms immediately. I think a little more time with Amy should help him get settled and hopefully he'll be less fussy and the happy baby I have at home. (I REALLY hope so.)

So, Friday afternoon I picked up the kids and Amy seemed very cool. We discussed the challenges with Luke and she also mentioned that Grace has seemed a bit jealous and has been acting up to get attention. I mentioned that hopefully this is all just transition and soon things will be easier for everyone. She agreed and said Luke is just still so little that we shouldn't get too caught up on him sticking to a schedule. I said, "You're not going to quit on me are you." She just laughed and said, "Oh, no!" Then I got home and cleaned out the diaper bag and found a note from Amy telling us that as of Monday, she will need to raise our rates by $20 per child per week. I was a little hurt that she couldn't just talk to us about it, but I think she's a bit shy and was probably afraid that she wouldn't be as strong/forecful about it if we talked. In writing she could get her point across. Anyway, it's still a good deal, so I'm sure we'll pay it. It's still about $80 per week (total) cheaper than the daycare center. Although, Grace's rate is now only $15 less than the daycare center. I think we may consider moving her back in the fall, so she can get more of a pre-school curriculum rather than all the "free-play" she gets right now. She's the oldest at Amy's and they don't do much working on pre-school type things and with the little ones, she doesn't get to do craft-type projects because Amy's son still tries to eat crayons, etc. Now that the price difference is $15 per week, rather than $35 per week, it may be worth it. Also, the old daycare and Amy's house are pretty close together, so it wouldn't be that much more hassle to do separate drop-offs and pick-ups.

Our other Friday afternoon news was with Eric. Several of the high-level management team was in his office on Friday doing an audit. I talked to him throughout the day and he thought it was going well. But sometime between 4:30 and 7:30 when he got home, he found out that it's highly likely that he will be fired next week. His district manager will be in the office on Monday to review some of his books and see if his numbers have improved enough, but Eric says that he's 90% sure that they won't be good enough. He was given 3 months to turn around his branch's numbers, but with the current mortgage market, it's been really tough for him to get loans in and he just doesn't think it's going to be good. I'm actually not that upset. Eric's hated his job for years and I think this will be what is has to take for him to go out and figure out that he can have a job that he doesn't dread going to daily. We have enough in savings to keep afloat for probably 6 weeks (although the money was set aside for other things like my school and Christmas shopping), but starting today, we are cutting out all unnecessary spending. No more eating out or blowing money on other things that can wait. Also, cutting out any trips out of town with gas prices high. Hopefully, he'll find something else quickly and we won't have to use much of our savings.

Ok, Luke's ready for his mid-morning meal, so I gotta go!