4.5 Hours

So today, from when I picked Violet up to when she fell asleep, we spent four and a half hours together. And those hours were spent running up to the Schoolbox store to buy bulletin board decorations, idling in traffic on the way home, making a Target trip for kleenex (having a classroom, but no assigned kids means I don't get to assign school supplies, so I guess I'll be covering some of the basics myself), eating dinner while Violet shrieked (in a happy, girlie way) in the exersaucer, giving her a bath, reading with her for a few minutes, getting her ready for bed and then passing her off to Matt for her bottle. I also spent a good deal of that time on the phone with various teacher friends, lost in my head trying to keep the information overload from short-circuiting my brain, and talking to Matt about everything going on. I still have dishes to do, laundry to put away, I have to pump, and of course, I'm sitting here writing this.

Not the most quality time with my baby. And in just the two days since this all started, that's the biggest change I've noticed. That even when I come home, the time with Violet isn't the same. Now maybe I'm just running on adrenaline because it's the first week. Maybe things will get easier. I'll become more efficient, be able to juggle more at once. But for now, this is the way it is. And it kinda sucks. Even when I'm with Violet, I haven't been able to make her the priority like I used to. Before, she was basically all I had going on, along with figuring out dinner and keeping the house clean. Now I have a bazillion other things to think about and get done with only an eighth of the time I used to have. And I don't feel like I even have time to properly lament the change. I'm trying to stay four steps ahead of myself and Violet just has to get in line like everything else. It makes me sad.

Violet shows off her sitting up and reading skills. Just a few seconds later, she attempted to eat the book, so she's still grappling with her concepts of print. (How's that for a fancy teacher term!)

Today Violet studied snuggling in daycare. I'm sure she aced it! Oh, and a quick hello to a new blogfriend Rachel. We met at last weekend's dinner party and I dominated the night with way too much baby advice. See, Rachel and her dear hubby are expecting and be still my heart, they aren't finding out the gender in advance! I could never hold out. Although it is one of life's last great mysteries, so good for them.