The First Week Is Over

And our baby is home from daycare.  He made it through just fine.  I made it through.

Monday was AWFUL - for both of us.  I dropped him off with 3 pages of instructions, including a matrix of times for eat/wake/sleep.  It's been a week, and I'm reasonably confidant that schedule is still in the folder untouched.  He ate off schedule and only slept for 20 minutes.  When I picked him up at 3:00, he had been awake for 4 hours.  Austin's wake times are 90 minutes at most.  He was so overtired that he couldn't settle down and sleep.  I was up with him nearly all night long.  Poor guy didn't know what had hit him.

Tuesday was a little bit better.  Mrs. Fran was pleased that he slept twice for a total of about an hour.  I was once again horrified.  I brought him home and put him to bed.  He took his longest nap to date - one hour and 40 minutes.  He woke up for about 20 minutes, ate, and went right back to sleep.  After a good nap, he had a normal night waking up around 2:00 to nurse.  I, on the other hand, hardly slept because I was so worried about how to handle his schedule at daycare.

Wednesday was a breakthrough.  Austin took 2 really good naps (about 90 minutes each) and acted like his normal happy self when I picked him up.  Still, I was concerned and arranged to stay with him at daycare to show Mrs. Fran how I manage his schedule on Thursday.

Thursday was crazy.  God bless these people that look after our children.  I don't know how Fran does this every day.  It is nuts at that daycare with 4 babies under the age of 2 tottering around.  Austin did great with me there and took his naps right on cue.  I explained to Fran what certain types of crying generally indicate and showed her how I put him to sleep.  I hope it helped her.  It made me feel more comfortable working with her for the day.  Of course, being at the daycare also gave me a ginormous headache!

Friday was a great day!  Austin seems to be more comfortable in his new environment.  His eating is getting back on schedule (especially since Fran is more confidant about how much he needs to eat) and his naps were great!  He took a one hour nap in the morning and 2 two hour naps throughout the day.

Now, hopefully, I won't ruin his schedule over the weekend!  I just might because I have a lot of cuddling, kissing, and baby time to catch up on!