L.A. Baby is 3 months old now and thus my 12 weeks “off” on maternity leave have ended. I had every intention of treating this blog as a journal to L.A. Baby and writing all about our glorious first 3 months together, just the two of us, but then, life interfered with that grand plan. The “grand plan” being the journaling. “Life” being all the fabulousness of having a tiny baby to dote upon and all the craziness of everything else. L.A. Baby and I did have a nice time together. L.A. Daddy and I elected to keep L.A. Toddler in pre-school while I was home recovering and bonding and it worked out very well. Most mornings we took the leisurely approach and she arrived at school around 10am and after lots of learning and playing with her friends she got to come home earlier than usual in the afternoon. Keeping L.A. Toddler on this schedule helped her adjust to her new family of four. At home she had to share the spotlight and mom’s and dad’s attention, but at school she was the same girl, who played with the same kids and who entertained the same teachers. So far, we’ve not had much jealously, if anything L.A. Toddler wants to hug and kiss her little baby sister a little too much. L.A. Baby greets the first hug & kiss with a drooly, toothless grin that stretches from ear to ear and then by about the 10th hug & kiss she’s giving the “somebody help me” furrowed-brow expression.

L.A. Baby has a smile to melt even the coldest heart. She’s just a happy baby. If you smile at her, she smiles right back. Nothing really gets her down. Last week she received a couple of vaccines and after an ear piercing scream and the most startled, “how could you hurt me like this, mom?” look, the nurse rubbed her sore little leg and began cooing and smiling at her and wouldn’t you know, L.A. Baby forgot all about the pain in her thigh. Total screaming and crying time was about 60 seconds. You can’t ask for better than that.

What was I going to write about again? Oh yeah, work. My brain is mush. I think all the smart cells went to L.A. Toddler and L.A. Baby. This is a good thing for them, not such a good thing for my employer. Although, living in LA there’s one thing I’ve learned - temps are temps for a reason. No one wants them around all the time. This is a good thing for me ’cause my bosses and peers welcomed me back showering me with compliments and stories of how much they missed me. I’ve been back to work for 3 weeks now and I’m easing into my former break-neck pace. Thank you to my bosses for allowing me that ‘easing’ time!

Returning to work was really difficult at first, but after the second week back, L.A. Baby had adjusted to the schedule that we forced upon her. I’m a big proponent of getting a baby on a schedule as soon as possible. Not a strict, wake at 7am, eat at 7:15am kind of thing. More of a wake around 7am, then eat, then get dressed, etc. As long as each activity is followed by the next activity each day her little world has stability and she knows what to expect and when to expect it. Some mornings she wakes up earlier, but all that means is I’ve got her dressed and ready to go and she gets a little snooze in her carseat before we drop her off at daycare. And this means I get a few extra minutes to touch up my makeup or sip some coffee. And the schedule certainly makes the evening routine smooth. She knows that once we change into her jammies and she nurses, it’s time for swaddling and rocking and she’s out like a light in about 5 minutes. I have a hard time letting go of her and lying her in her crib after being apart all day so she usually gets about 20 minutes of rocking and cuddling. Supposedly she’s old enough that I should be able to lie her in her crib drowsy but still awake but I’m just not ready for that yet. And as much as I believe in a schedule, I also believe that you can’t spoil a baby (at least one that’s only 3 months old). She wakes me up once or twice during the night to eat, but she’s all business and right back to sleep and I’m back to my pillow in about 20 minutes. How cool is that?

All in all, my returning to work has been hectic and sometimes frustrating, but it allows me the adult interaction that I need and at the end of the day I’m a better mom for it.

Are you a working mom? Share your story!