We survived my first week of work!

Arden watching me type on my computer. Boy is she working those abs!

Indeed we survived. I feel so incredibly lucky. Not only did I LOVE maternity leave, I enjoyed my first week of being back at work too. It was lovely to see everyone, and I didn’t feel particularly “behind”. In fact, due to the long holidays and folks being out sick, I felt decently energetic and organised compared to everyone else 😬.

We bade farewell to Aaliyah in the new year as Arden is no longer “a newborn”. We are so very grateful for expertise and loving care through these last four months. Read about her Slow Birth Collective. Without Aaliyah, I’m pretty sure postpartum would have sucked and been so very much harder. I hope we will be connected forever and that Arden will get to know her.

And yes enjoying work of course is only possible also because we have help — we would not survive otherwise. We were very lucky to find a COVID-conscious and experienced nanny, Theresa, to support us 5 hours a day. Arden was very serene and happy with her this week and it was very assuring. Though it snowed a ton Thursday and Friday, and Theresa was snowed in and couldn’t come! Even then we survived, and Arden joined a meeting or two ❤️

Two unexpected meeting attendees.

Working from home has been a godsend. I can only imagine HOW MUCH HARDER IT IS for folks who have to go into the office. The commute. The pumping between meetings. No mid-day cuddles. Baby care arrangements falling through. Getting dressed for work in easy to pump clothes. Well, having to get a new work / pump wardrobe now that I am 7lbs over my normal weight. Gosh. The list is pretty long. And then of course there is not sleeping through the night so any extra time doing something else is time not sleeping… we have decided not to start sleep training Arden yet. It’s a longer story but for now, we are going to be baby-led. Ask me next week 😬😆😵‍💫

Even with work, I still feel decently present for many of Arden’s developments, though I suspect this is mostly because Tandy captures so many awesome videos and pictures of her throughout the day. Videos seem to render funny here, so head to the Arden gallery for videos. Photos of the week below.

Arden with her friend the rabbit. It squeaks and Ouisie sits up every time…. “What’s that what’s that”. Tandy has a very cute (and wonderful) routine of introducing her to her friends each morning and every comes in for kisses and hugs. She has MANY friends. Pebbles. Paisley. Douglas the dinosaur. Henrietta the hippo (tho I’m not sure it’s a hippo…). Ellie the elephant. It’s the sweetest thing to see Arden be genuinely happy to see her friends and giggle and smile as they come to say hi 😍
Arden reached out to hold Pebbles’ hand as she was falling asleep. Teething is rough!
Sleeping in mommy’s arms.
Out on a walk. Matching hats on a sunny snow day 🙂
And Uncle Robert and Auntie Nancy came back to visit!! We are so happy to have them here and Arden was all smiles. So looking forward to spending time with them. ❤️
Luckily the snow cleared up from earlier in the week!

Going to bed now. I should make it a habit sleep more when Arden is sleeping!

Arden in my arms right now. She says good night!!
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Published by Li Han

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