First week is almost over

Re-entry is not easy. It's difficult to take four months off work - four months away from adult conversation, four months away from friends, four months away from a rewarding job that is really fun.
But this week, I had to go back. I was looking forward to it though. I enjoyed the last three and a half months though. I accomplished a lot. I bonded with with Amy and gave her a great start in life. I experimented in the kitchen and became a more confident chef. I began to teach Diana how to read and she's very confident now with her sight words and feels that no book is too hard to read.
It was a great four months.
Monday was hard though. Diana spent Sunday night at Gramma V's in order to give Matt and me a chance to get a routine down with Amy. I woke up and fed her a bottle at around 5 a.m., brought her upstairs and took a shower while she chilled in her chair, packed up all her goodies for the day and we were out of the house by 6:30 a.m.
I learned that pre-planning is crucial. Sunday afternoon I made scones (thanks, Mama Parker for the recipe)and planned on making fresh fruit smoothies for breakfast this week with our Magic Bullet. I put the scones in Ziploc baggies so they were easy to grab on the way out of the house. I also packed my lunch the night before. All that I had to do each morning was take a shower, do my hair and makeup and the rest of the morning was dedicated to getting Amy ready for her day at daycare.
The pre-planning definitely cut down on any stress that could've happened and made the mornings much more pleasant. I arrived at work at 7:30 a.m. each morning a very happy momma.
It wasn't totally easy leaving Amy at daycare, but since Diana has been at the same place for over two years now, I totally trust the people there. I know my girls are taken care of every day and will be happy all day.
And they were. When I called to check on Amy, she was happy, eating well and sleeping in her crib. When I picked her up in the afternoon, she was smiling and happy.
She even has her own "happy place" as we discovered after the first day on Monday - they have swings. She sat in that thing wrapped up in her fluffy blanket and fell right asleep. She did so well that I sent Matt to Target Monday night to go get a swing. Though we still haven't put it together (I didn't say that nights were easy) I know that Amy's going to be swinging away in the living room in no time.
Nights this week were another story. I was not naive to the fact that my needs for the rest of my life will come third to Diana and Amy's. But the craziness of mornings, work, picking the girls up, coming home and fixing dinner, feeding Amy, doing bathtime and bedtime and cleaning up around the house leave me in my work clothes until about 7:30 or 8. That's a long time. I fell asleep on the chair downstairs twice this week before 9 p.m. I know that once I start working out and not neglecting my treadmill anymore I will have more energy so I can't wait for that day.
Diana's teacher did make an observation on Tuesday that made me laugh. She asked me if I was glad to be back at work and I said, "Yes, I really like my job." She said, "You just seem so much more energized now!" It may sound bad written here, but she meant it as a compliment.
It's very rewarding to be a working mother. I feel a huge sense of pride knowing that I am being such a great role model for my girls and doing something so important to contribute to my household. I hated being on bed rest for three weeks. I really felt like I couldn't contribute to my family's well being during that time and to be able to be back to a normal routine is wonderful!