Again, I haven't posted in ages. There is a really good reason this time, though. As of the beginning of August, Isla is in daycare and I'm back at work.
The transition into daycare went wonderfully. We chose to go with a daycare downtown, close to our work. Dave took Isla for 3 days the first week (while I ran around like a mad woman getting things ready for her first birthday party) and she did fantastic. She's a pretty easy going kid so she was happy to go off without fuss and play with the new toys. I was suprisingly okay with the transition as well. I told myself that she would have lots of structured activities (I'm terrible at thinking up new games to play) and new friends so this was a good thing for her and myself.
Going back to work wasn't even that bad either. I won't lie, the first few evenings were really busy and I was very frustrated that it felt like all we did was get home, eat supper, and have a bath before Isla had to go to bed. When I was lamenting to a friend about my lack of quality time with Isla, she suggested taking at least 15 minutes out of every evening to do something that didn't involve a task so that, no matter how busy things were, at least we had 15 minutes of quality time together each night. That suggestion has helped me a lot and now we make sure to spend those 15 minutes playing with a new toy, practicing walking, reading books, snuggling, and it makes my time with Isla feel a little less rushed. Work has been a nice challenge and I'm enjoying being back. The adult coffee runs are something I missed over the last year.
Our main challenge the last few weeks has been with illness. A week after her first daycare visit, Isla managed to catch a cold. Dave then caught the same cold a few days later. The first cold then led into a second cold for both of them (I have managed to stay healthy) and the second cold led to pink eye and an ear infection for Isla. We think Isla had a reaction to the antibiotics for the ear infection (which meant spending an evening at the Children's Hospital) but fortunately she seemed to recover and hasn't had another reaction since. Just when Isla finally seemed to be doing better and we thought we might be entering a healthy phase, Dave then developed bacterial laryingitis putting him on antibiotics and a nasty cough. Isla also has a runny nose again so I'm hoping it isn't a sign of another cold. Sigh. I'm so done with illness. I was ready for the odd cold here and there but this has been a seriously rough go at things.
So, I think that this has been a successful adventure overall. I'm happy to be back and happy that Isla is doing well in daycare. Now we just have to work at getting everyone healthy and things will be right on track.
Location: Kids and Co. Daycare, Eau Claire
Cost: Waaay too much money, but that's what you pay when you have a kid in a good daycare downtown.
Gear: Diapers, wipes, hat, sunscreen, 2 changes of clothes, sippy cup, and a lovey to nap with.
spinach and artichoke pan pizza
1 week ago
