FIRST DAY AT DAYCARE

Jay and I woke up this morning with a new routine to follow. No longer could we get ourselves ready for work, grab some cereal, and pass James off to his grandma in whatever state he was in (awake or asleep, dressed for the day or still in his pj's, clean diaper or not). Nope. No more. James started daycare this morning and that meant that he had to wake up at a set time and get ready for the day, the same as us. Luckily, we packed his diaper bag the night before. We gathered the required packages of diapers and wipes. We pre-made his bottles. We laid out his clothes. And we even set an alarm (previously, we had just been getting up whenever James woke for his first morning feeding, whether that be 5am or 7am). Then the real "fun" began... Here we are ready to leave the house with everything a baby needs for a week at daycare:

James did great when we dropped him off and we were really proud of him. He snuggled right into the arms of the daycare director, but was also busy checking out his new surroundings with a concerned look:

Jay held himself together fine, although he was understandably a little nervous. I, on the other hand, was a bit of a mess. My little baby is grown enough to start daycare, ready to spend an entire day outside the house without his Mommy or Daddy! It was rough on me, but I only cried a little, and not until I was walking out the door. In fact, I had my composure back by the time I buckled my seatbelt. That's not so bad, is it? And I was very productive at work until about 11:15am when the daycare called... Don't worry, it was nothing serious, just gas issues. I had to explain to them that Mylicon drops do nothing for our boy - his gas is just loud and stinky. Sorry. Needless to say, I couldn't wait to get there at noon for his lunchtime nursing session to check on him myself though!

They had rocked him to sleep while calming him during the gas episode, but he woke enough to eat well, then woke up completely to play with me for a half hour before I had to go back to work. He was all smiles for me and his new caretakers (there is one lady that exclusively watches the infants, one lady that takes the lunch hour shift, and the director - who checks in throughout the day). They all told me what a joy James was: an easy and happy baby. He spent the morning watching the other infants in the nursery, swinging in the swing, and kicking around on the floor and in his crib. He even took an hour nap after his 9am bottle. Go James!

There are 2 other infants in the nursery, both girls, 12 and 13 months old. In fact, James is the only boy even when you include the toddler room next door (the 1-2 year olds). What a lucky guy, eh? Maybe tomorrow we'll take him to daycare wearing the onesie that his Uncle Davey and Auntie Taryn bought him, which says "Lock Up Your Daughters" (hee hee)! Here is our big boy at the end of the day, happy, but tired from 8 hours of exciting new experiences (he could barely hold his eyes open, but he fought sleep all the way home and didn't pass out until I'd walked him around the neighborhood): Here is James' first "report card" from daycare - I told you he was a good boy!

Tomorrow is another day, and we're hoping that we all settle into more of a schedule this week. Maybe even an earlier bedtime for James (due to exhaustion from playing with his new girlfriends all day)? We can only hope...