End of maternity leave, last week left

This time next week, I’ll be getting ready to start my first work week since early December. It will be hard to leave Will, but he will be in the care of someone who will spoil him with lots of attention. With state testing and 8th grade “graduation” activities, I know the 9 weeks will fly by. I’m going to rely on a lot of my old activities from last year and hope I can get by fine without ever staying late. Come 3:10, I’m out the door and on my way to pick up my little man! I met with my substitute the other day to find out where I need to pick back up on things. A lot of the students seemed really happy to see me, so that lifted my spirits about coming back. Hopefully after the adjustment period, both Will and I will be fine. He’s in such a good routine, but the times will have to change starting next week. I may try to wake up early for the next few days to test out the schedule and see how it goes. He’s not the best napper in that he does not want to nap in his crib. The great thing is that he’s an EXCELLENT night sleeper. He sleeps from 9 p.m. until 7:30, and this has been consistent for over two weeks now. It feels amazing to get good quality sleep. When he was a newborn, I briefly wondered if I would ever sleep well again in the next year! Of course, I knew I would eventually, but I really didn’t anticipate that it would happen so soon. I feel like I’m jinxing myself even talking about it. I’m sure once he starts teething and feeling uncomfortable, he might have different sleep patterns.

These days, Will is smiling like crazy. We’ve learned just what to do to get him going. His absolute favorite song is Steve Miller Band’s “The Joker.” For whatever reason, he loves it. He seems to like it even more when his daddy sings it. He has also begun laughing, although it’s still a small “heheheh” at this point. I’m just waiting for the day he erupts with giggles. Some of his favorite things include Sandra Boynton books (thanks Mandy for introducing us to this silly author!), puppets (especially when the puppets sing, dance, or read), the floating fish in his little “aquarium,” the blinking star on his playmat, and of course, his gurgling, glowing, musical seahorse. As for activities, kicking his feet is his newest pastime. I think he might have a sense of rhythm because he kicks and moves his arms even more when I turn on the radio. He still isn’t a huge fan of tummy time, but we try it daily anyway since it’s important. Lately, when he drinks his bottle, he wants to hold both of my hands. It’s so sweet and it melts my heart when he stops drinking his bottle to smile at me and grip my fingers.

Motherhood is absolutely the greatest thing. I knew I’d love it, but I just never realized how deeply I would feel. I’ve never been more at peace with life. Sure, there are days when I’m tired and I have spit-up stains on my shirt, but it’s the most fulfilling “job” I could imagine. It is also wonderful to see Brian with Will. He gets the biggest smile when he comes in from a long day at school and sees Will. Will has tons of fun with his daddy, and you can tell that they’ll be big buddies as time goes by. Even though Will is more grown-up, he still looks like a little mini-Brian. After comparing baby pictures, we determined that Will has my baby smile, cheeks, and chin, and well … everything else is pure dad. His eyes are getting a lighter blue, and they’re so pretty.

I’ll probably blog a few more times this week, as I’m sure after next week they’ll become more infrequent due to work. Enjoy a few pictures. I’m a picture-taking maniac, but I’ll confess that we’ve been slow to pull out the video camera. At least I’ll have tons of stills!