First Day of "School"

Today was my first day back at work in almost 6 months, Colin and Claire's first day at day care, and Adam's first day back at school 5 days a week (instead of the 3 days per week he has done all summer, since the twins came home from the hospital).

The night before the "big day," everyone had gotten the memo about sleeping through the night... except the stupid trains that run about 1/2 a mile from our house 24 hours a day. At 2 am, I could hear the train blasting, and so could Adam... from a dead sleep, despite the classical music he has playing all night long in his room to drown out stray baby noise, you could hear the blast of the train horn... and not short, warning blasts that are appropriate for the minimal traffic that is not there... but the long blaring and suffocating horns as if someone is standing on the tracks.

It scared Adam. He woke up, he left his room screaming and running down the hallway with his arms in the air as if he wished he could fly into mine, and I put him back to bed and told him it was okay, he dozed, he got scared again at 2:30. By this point, Colin was not all that hungry but since I had been moving around so much, he was kinda like, "oh, what the hell, I guess I'll eat, since I'm awake and all." (Claire was with Dad and had woken up at 12:30 and didn't hear the commotion... come to think of it, neither did Dad.)

Adam went back to sleep, but awoke again when that damn train engineer had to have turned the train around and started the process all over again at 3:30 am. So from 2 am to 4:30 am, I was up every half hour. Then Shannon had to wake me up at 6:15, 45 minutes after I had planned to get up.

This is why all of my pictures of the first day were done on the iPhone. As it was, I was still later than I wanted to be, but I made it, and that was the important thing.

This is just part of the amount of things you need to pack in advance to supply two infants at daycare. The red bag is full of spare clothes, blankets, and lovie items with Mom's scent on them.

I dressed them in sorta match-y overalls (Colin in brown, Claire in pink), and they looked very cute, but had trouble understanding what we were all doing awake so dang early. They usually like to sleep pretty hard until about 9 after their 5:30-6 am feedings.

What do you mean, Mom? What's school?

Ummm, I'm not so sure...

People to talk to? We're in.

Of course, Adam was sleepy and grumpy after the rough night. The only solace was that he was going to get to play with Ms. Jenny.

Adam, why don't you take a picture with Colin and Claire?

"NOOOOO!"

"I said, NOOOOO!"

Because we are outnumbered even when we stand united, Shannon and I have agreed to drop them off together for the time being. That went pretty smoothly.


We dropped them off, and I didn't cry. I came close, but I didn't. I made it to work.

Mom... Keeping it together

I made it through the day, and then I picked them up by myself. When I walked in the door, Colin was grinning his face off and had his arm linked with Claire's while they laid on the floor and played. I have never seen Colin so happy, and I know from some texts that he got to flirt with Ms. Tiffany and Ms. Lauren a little today. It was comforting to know that they will be loved and taken care of by so many there.

The pick up went smoothly as well, but not without the loss of my sanity, as I was brave and wanted to do it all on my own. I walk in with the frame to the double stroller, and park it near the infant room. Then I go across the building to pick up their car seats and bring them over to their room, go in, try to remember everything I need to take, try to hear everything that happened to not one, but two babies, and then load them up, drive the bus of a stroller back across the other side of the building to the preschool room, park it and the babies outside the door, and stick my head in to try to get Adam to come to me, hear about his day, grab his paper, and try not to go so far away that I'm not guarding the twins who are in the hallway, tired and exhausted and just as ready to get home as I am.

Adam didn't want to "drive" the stroller, but to his credit did exactly what I needed him to do, which was not go too far ahead, not run into the street, and to get directly in the car. Even the driver's seat, if that's how he felt. Just long enough for me get the babies loaded into the car. And he did exactly that. Any other choices could be at his leisure. It was a relief. He's learning to be such a great listener.

But about that whole pick up strategy... we're going to need to rethink that.

We got home, and Claire held on to her pacifier with all her might, Colin passed out before I could even get him out of his car seat, and Adam looked like he needed a good dose of Advil, a pacifier, and his blankie because he's sick again, and with something pretty serious because he's been telling us his "mouth" hurts (most likely his throat because he wouldn't eat anything but mashed potatoes for dinner), and he threw up in the car yesterday after a quick trip to Sarah's and then got a surprise vomit-covered visit to Mamie and Grand Pepa's for a shower and a cool off. Starting yesterday he has been telling us what hurts instead of just whining and letting us guess.

Adam is taking off Colin's socks to make him more comfortable.

We got brief cuddles, I fed two babies, I made dinner, Shannon took Eli to the vet, Adam and I played cars in the playroom where I almost fell asleep, and when he noticed he decided it would be more appropriate if we half-wrestled (to be honest, his heart wasn't quite in it either). Then we went to his room and read two Curious George books, where I almost passed out, and then we all went to Mom and Dad's bed, cuddled, and zoned out in front of the Curious George cartoon until Dad and Eli got home from the vet.

After-work cuddles

But the best part of the day, second to the cuddles, was getting to read three sheets of paper about what my kids did today:

Adam had ham and cheese for lunch with peas and peaches, slept from 12:30 to 2:47 (love that precise wake up time!), and watercolored and painted with a Q-tip because this week they are learning about the letter Q and about ovals (but he already knows all about ovals - they are one of his favorites). He was "Happy."

I also heard via message that Adam was quite the practical joker, and when Ms. Jenny was lining everyone up to go inside after playing in the playground, she looked around for Adam, who was the only one not in line, and heard, "Hey, Jenny!" and lots of laughter. She found him in the other two year old line, pointing and laughing and totally playing with her. Jenny says she laughed really hard because he's such a character. I don't know where he gets it.

Colin took 3 one hour naps, rolled over from his tummy to his back, flirted and smiled at everyone, and ate 5 oz every 4 hours. He was "Happy."

"Today [Colin] had a great first day. He really enjoyed our baby yoga. We worked on stretching his arms and legs."

Claire slept about as much as Adam did - she had a one hour nap and an hour and a half nap. She rolled over from her tummy to her back, and talked to everyone. She ate 4 oz every 3 hours. She was "Happy."

"Today [Claire] had such a great first day. She was such a joy. She loved being talked to. At one point it seemed like she was trying to talk back. She has the sweetest smile."

I have to say that even though the last thing any mother wants to do is leave their children, it's nice to know that if you do have to, you can feel confident that they are getting lots of love and affection from wonderful people who are incredible at their jobs. I didn't like being away from them, but I did like hearing about how much everyone adores them too.