The Storm Before The Calm

In order to make the update from our first REAL Mother's Day Out experience, I feel like I need to rewind and share about what SHOULD HAVE BEEN our first real MDO experience. To take you through our Tuesday of last week (Briggs' school was closed on Labor Day so he was only going Tuesday of last week, the same day I started work).

I'm all worked up that morning trying to get everybody ready, got up early so I could pack up the house us up, had my sticky notes everywhere so I didn't forget anything, J was even home so he could go with us for Briggs "first day of school". While I'm in the shower, the automated phone thingy calls our house..."school will open at 10 because of a power outage"...LOVELY! I'm trying not to freak more than I already am, but that means I have to do my day in 3 hours, what I was suppose to do in 5!...NOT COOL!

I tell myself..ok..we can do this. I decide to just lay back down in the bed and snuggle with my baby. We get going again that AM and while I'm feeding him, phone rings again. This time it says..."power is still not back up and school is closed". WHAT!?!?!...yeah I really freaked then. I mean, I've been off for 4 months and my first day back I'm suppose to call and say I can't come! To make a long story short, my dear friend Debra called in the middle of all the chaos and so graciously offered to keep Briggs. She lives right by my work. So I brought little buddy over to her house and this is what the rest of our day looked like:

A picture right before I left. Briggs and Mommy are all smiles. I seriously wasn't upset to leave him b/c I love Debra, I know how much she loves Briggs and she is a really good updater during the day :)


I haven't even been gone 30 minutes and I've already got a picture text showing me how happy he is...happy baby = happy mommy.


Then I get this picture text...he yawned 10:48 AM.


Soon after I get this picture...with the text saying something like this..."I hope you're paying attention, I would just be holding him but I'm hoping to babysit again, so I'm trying to keep him on schedule"....hahaha


There were a few more pictures that came while I was gone for only 3 hours. It was cracking me up, but BELIEVE ME, if you have to leave your baby for the first time, that's the way to do it with pics of him coming every 20-30 minutes. Only problem during our day...Briggs refused to take the bottle from her. I mean, she did get about 3 ounces down him, WITH GREAT EFFORT! So that's what gave me the idea for "bottle bootcamp". It's one thing for him to act crazy cry when it's one day with my friend and I can run back and get him. It's another for him to act like that for the people who keep him on a regular basis.

So here is the picture that started our day...Briggs and Mommy at school right before we dropped him off.


We came into his room to meet this smiling face. We love Ms. Donna! She scooped little Briggs right up and walked us through the "drop off" routine. I only shed a few tears. Of course Briggs was all smiles. I was actually pretty proud of myself. I wasn't the total mess I had the potential to be.

Then when I came to pick him up...I come in to find this scene that melted my heart. This is Ms. Amy, Briggs' other teacher. We love her too! She was rocking him...and of course he was sound asleep (because that's where he sleeps best is in someone's arms).


They told me as I was walking out with tears rolling down my face..."call as many times as you want". I had to use great self control today and only called one time...I was pretty proud of myself. When I came to pick him up...they filled me in on his day. I was anxious to get the dreaded "bottle report". Much to my surprise....both of his teachers gave him one...they both reported he did beautifully. And by that I mean..he sucked it down without a peep. Ms. Donna told me she tried to stop halfway and burp him and he pitched a fit so she just finished it off and he sucked them both dry! Yay for bottle bootcamp! It really seemed to work. So we shall see what tomorrow brings. Unless I make another post, we can all rest assured that no news is good news :)

So we have officially made it past day one and from what I hear, these things just get easier each time. When I was walking out with Briggs we stopped at the front desk and the director says to us, "You did so good". I assumed she was talking to Briggs...but then she says "and Briggs you did so good too". Ha :)

And a quick sidenote...I had a good time at work. Using my brain for something other than calculating when the next time Briggs needs to eat was really nice. As I mentioned before, my hours are real flexible and just depends on how much work there is. So today I worked 3 hours and had a couple to spare. So I ran a few of errands and even stopped by Sonic to get a drink before I went to pick up my little buddy. So all in all, it was a really good first day.