1st day back to work

My first day back at work was pretty good. The first couple hours were about going through the several hundred e-mails that I had. Then after that, my replacement was here to go through the stuff he worked on while I was gone and what things were still open. We’re still not done doing that as I needed to take a breast pump break, then after that my department threw a surprise “welcome back” potluck for me, then my replacement had to leave to go to class (he’s a 3L at a local law school). It was so incredibly sweet of them to throw me this party. We sat around and talked for about 2 ½ hours about babies, children and a bunch of other stuff. After that, it was time to actually do some work.

I was so excited to see my babies after the longest day we’ve been away from each other. I was annoyed at the traffic on I-5 – I just wanted to get home. It seemed as if the babies were happy to see me. Jon said that they didn’t talk much during the day (except for the “talking” (a.k.a. screaming) they did for food), but when I came home, Ella & Benjamin had a lot to say. It was so cute!!! Ella especially had a lot to tell me. It seemed they had a good day with their papa. Read all about it here.

Today’s workday has actually gone by rather quickly so far. I have a bunch to do so that’s no surprise. I’m looking forward to seeing my sweeties. Both babies were starting to wake up a bit when I left (at least, it seemed so to me) so they might have noticed I left this morning as opposed to yesterday when they were still asleep when I left. Today, since we have only one car, I took the bus to Northgate to meet my vanpool so Jon could have the car in case he wants to go somewhere with the babies. A guy in my vanpool said he could pick me up and take me home if he is the vanpool that day, so that will be nice though he isn’t in the vanpool that much.

Other than being away from my sweeties (though the break is nice though I wish I didn’t have to be so long), the only other hard part is pumping at work. I pumped in the “privacy” room yesterday morning and someone almost walked in on me because the door won’t lock properly so later that afternoon, I went upstairs to the 3rd floor bathroom that has a stall with an outlet in it – that work much better and I used it again this morning. It does feel really awkward to go carrying around the breast pump when my coworkers know exactly what I’m doing. Oh well – it’s important to the babies and to me to try to make it 6 months so the babies can have breast milk for at least that long.

I should go back to work now, but before I end my lunch break I have a quick question. What exactly does one need to do to stimulate babies? According to one reader (a reader I thought I had gone away, but unfortunately, she had not), I’m not doing enough to stimulate them – I’m trying to figure out how she knows what’s going on in my house when I’m with them. I sing to them; I play with them with their toys; I talk to them; I smile at them; I stick out my tongue and they mimic me; we go on walks around the neighborhood and to Greenlake; we play music (of all sorts); they play on their play mats on their backs and on their tummies; etc. – what else am I supposed to do?

Anyway, back to work. Lunch break is over.