Week Two

Here we are, Hump Day of my second week back at work, and I am tired. Like, really really tired. Last week I worked half-days, so this week at full time is my first "real" week back. With a 1.5-hour commute each way that involves car, walking, train, and subway (as you may remember from when I was preggo), I'm gone a good 11.5 hours. And by the time I get home I'm beat. I know, wah wah, poor baby. It'll take some adjusting.

And today marks my first day picking up the babies on my way home from the train. Blue had been doing it because I didn't have the car seat bases in my car yet, but he squeezed them in last night (remember I have a tiny Mazda 2). They just barely fit. Needless to say, I'll be car shopping again soon. The leading contenders are a Honda CR-V (which we have one of already), a Mazda CX-5 (because I really like my Mazda and it comes in a nice bright blue color so I can still have a fun car even if it's a SUV), a Nissan Rogue, and a Hyundai Santa Fe. I need to go test drive the CX-5 and the Santa Fe. But there's just no way I can drive any major distance in my car with the car seats in it because the seat isn't too comfy as far forward as it has to be.

I feel like I hardly see the babies during the week. One way I've been "keeping connected" is by picking out their outfits. It sounds silly, but taking the time to pick out a week's worth of outfits for Blue to dress them in each day makes me feel as if I do see them in the morning, or that they are at least getting a little love from Mom even if I'm not the one dressing them and bringing them to daycare. I also make sure to read them a story when we put them in their crib for bedtime, and so far it's been me giving them their baths a few times a week. Little moments like these go a long way, or at least I keep telling myself they do.

But really, I miss hanging out with them all day. A lot. I mean, look at 'em!

Periwinkle looks a little sad because I gave her my cold, which I'm assuming I picked up on my commute. I feel so bad hearing her little sniffles, but she seems to be getting better. She's certainly eating better the last day or so, which is good.

Okay, off to find more caffeine...

Almost the weekend!

Settling in at work. Finding an odd kind of zen listening to my Mumford & Sons Pandora station while doing the less-than-fun project I'm working on right now. Ah well, it must be done and I'm the only one there to do it!

I've been enjoying my lunchtime walks, even though it's bitterly cold out. It feels good to get some consistent exercise again! When home with the babies I always have to hope they nap long enough to let me do a workout video or two.

Okay, that was a lie. I never attempted to do two.

Back to Work

It's fun when coworkers ask if it's good to be back. I just kind of cheerily say, "Sure!" sarcastically or "It'll take some getting used to" sincerely. I tried to pretend to be actually happy to be back, but it's not true and I don't think anyone believed me.

I hate it. I hate that some of the only people there I talked to regularly are gone (but I'm happy they found new jobs that are more suited to them), and that I'm not even doing my full job yet. For the next month I'll be doing "special projects," which means all the little side projects I'd try to squeeze in between my usual big projects. Since she has someone doing those big projects for now (my maternity replacement), I get to finish up all those side projects. Which aren't interesting. And it makes me a little nervous that she doesn't desperately need me back. Nothing like going back to work with two new mouths to feed and feeling like your job might be on shaky ground. I'm sure I'm just being paranoid. I hope. As much as I hate being away from the kiddos all day, we need me to keep working for the foreseeable future.

But everyone has been really nice, asking about the babies, asking to see pictures, and deeming them totally frakking adorable. So that's been fun. And I can finally sleep on the train again, now that Periwinkle isn't digging into my left ribcage. How I missed those 30-minute naps in the final weeks of pregnancy!

The babies continue to do awesome at daycare, saving most of their crying for us at home. Although they are sleeping great, so I can't complain too much! They've even slept straight through from 11pm to 6:30am a few times. It's glorious! We are so lucky they are both doing it at the same time. Although last night they were up at 3:30am begging for food, so we aren't at sleeping through the night EVERY night quite yet, but I will take what I can get!

Here's a photo from Day 31 of Project 365, which was Superbowl Sunday!

Indigo wasn't happy to be propped incorrectly (very briefly) on the Boppy for this photo, but I wanted them closer together. He was yelling at me. He cracks me up...

Back to the Big City

Yesterday was a big day. It was the first time I went into the city since that mid-October day when I went on bedrest. I'm not going to lie. It was weird, both for how normal it felt getting on that train and for how from a different life it all felt. It didn't help that, to get to my doctor's office, I had to take the subway to the stop I get off at for work. I had to walk through the same streets I walk during my lunch breaks. Last time I was there, I could barely walk five blocks without getting winded, so it was nice to be able to power walk multiple blocks again.

But I still don't want to go back.

I flirted with the thought of stopping in at my office, but decided against it. Next Monday will be here soon enough, and that's soon enough for me to play catch-up with coworkers.

One of the weirdest things about the whole experience was walking through Penn Station. When I left, the kiosks were all decked out for Halloween. Now they are all pink and red for Valentine's Day. It was like I went through a time warp. It felt like all my experiences of the past three-plus months didn't happen, somehow. It's hard to describe. Perhaps our adventures with Hurricane Sandy don't help the situation, as that made the whole "having babies" thing seem even more surreal.

In any event, I was very happy to get back home and pick up the babies from daycare, where they had another great day, as evidenced by Indigo's smile in this photo from Day 26 of Project 365: