Christine returns to work!!

Christine returned to work Monday and she adjusted fairly well, although not without her expected motherly anxieties. The plan when everyone went to bed Sunday night was to be sure that Austin was fed at 8 am. This would allow him to be able to hold off until Christine's lunch hour to eat at 11:30 and then again a little after 3 pm at Achieve when Christine finished work. To make this happen, it was decided that if Austin were to wake up before 5 am to eat, then Christine would feed him. If he were to wake up after 5 am, then Keith was to feed him about 3 ounces from a bottle (instead of the usual 5 ounces as would be customary with a full bottle feeding), and simply try to set him up for the day ahead.

As the morning rolled around, Austin started stirring at 5:30 am. Keith got up, warmed a bottle, grabbed up Austin (closing the door so Christine could get some quality sleep), and fed Austin. Austin finished eating around 6:15, but wasn't too excited with the idea of returning back to sleep as his eyes were WIDE open. Keith tried diligently to get him to go back to sleep, but occasional rest in the bouncy seat in the living room was the best that could be done....keep in mind he was happy and content, just not sleepy (not to mention he had fallen asleep a little before 9 pm the night before).

Well...this was (emotionally) unacceptable for Christine. Something about schedules and how Austin was going to get squirrelly or something with her returning to work. Admittedly, your author is having a hard time recollecting the specific details of the conversation simply because all ideas coming forth from Christine between 7 and 9 in the morning were very illogical. She was upset (apparently), because we were upsetting him. Yet, somehow and someway, he remained content, happy and peaceful in the living room. It was all very confusing to say the least.

Despite her concerns, which were all stemming from the deepest of possible love for Austin, he did great! Christine fed him at 8 am (as planned) and left him with his very capable father at 8:45 am. Austin fell asleep from 9 until 10 am. He was very fussy when being held after waking up, and Keith was fearful that maybe, just maybe, Christine's prophecy was about to come true...but alas, he just wanted better attention. Keith turned Austin to face him, they sat down on the couch together and sang songs, smiled, and talked (ok, Keith talked, Austin cooed and listened to Keith's ramblings). After about 30 minutes of hanging out, Austin started to get bored, so Keith got him in the car, drove to the park and took him for a walk for about 40 minutes before traveling to Lauren's house.

Lauren's house is located in close proximity to all of the school's that Christine works at, and she has graciously invited Christine to feed Austin at her house while Christine is on her lunch break from work. Everything went according to plan....Keith arrived first and got Austin changed and prepped for his upcoming meal; Christine showed up about 5 minutes later and everything went very smoothly. While she was feeding, Christine shared that she missed Austin a lot, and cried when everyone kept asking how he was doing, but otherwise she was coping well with her return to the workforce.

After Austin was finished eating, he hung out with Lauren for a few minutes prior to returning to his car seat to accompany Keith to Achieve. After an 8 minute drive, Keith had 10 minutes to set up the bassinet (courtesy of the Hammerle's) in the back room of the office and introduce Austin to a few patients. But once 1 pm struck, it was time for Keith to start an evaluation, so Rich took the content boy, only to have him scream "bloody murder". Joelle, hanging up the phone, leaped to the rescue and consoled Austin for the next 10 minutes with intermittent success. Even when Keith was nearly halfway through with the evaluation, he could still hear Austin in the other room making his presence known (as he is apt to do). However, within a few more minutes, silence filled the air....Austin was asleep in Sang's arms and ready to be placed in the bassinet where he would sleep until Christine picked him up and placed him in his car seat (he was still too tired to eat) to head home.

Why didn't Christine simply wait until Austin was finished sleeping and just feed him at Achieve? Because...there was company waiting for them at the apartment. Liz and Stacey (with their daughters, Emily and Rachel, respectively) were hanging out at the pond and waiting for Christine and Austin to arrive so they could all hangout together. As the story goes, Austin was still sleeping, so all 3 ladies (each with child in stroller/carriage) went for a walk around the neighborhood. Christine said that she really enjoyed spending time with Liz/Stacey and cherished the time spent and stories shared. Not as many pictures were taken as on previous visits, but there were a few good ones...one of which is Austin lying side-by-side next to Emily. Check out how much he has grown in the last 4-5 weeks (in comparison to a picture taken 5 weeks ago):



All in all, it seemed that although it was a long and trying day for Christine, Austin handled the day extremely well and the day ended on a very positive note with Christine hanging out with her friends and their children...not too shabby. Not too shabby at all.



We can only hope that everyday goes so smoothly in the future as the day went today...what are the odds?