More Like a Gently Sloping Valley

So, not quite a precipice. My return to work went really well. I'm busier than I'd like to be this early, but it's great from a job security standpoint, and so far it's staying on the pleasantly full rather than the overstuffed side of things.

Thanks to a bouquet flowers, an embarrassingly large balloon display (both from JP), and several dozen baby pictures, my office is a cheerful place. It feels like I never left, in a good way. It's just my cozy spot among my co-workers where I read and write legal things and talk to people as they pass by my door. I think the weirdest thing about returning was how not weird it was to be back at my desk after 3 full months away. It felt like I could have just been here on Friday, but now I have this three-month old daughter. I have kids plural. That's strange, but in a completely wonderful way.

I had assignments waiting for me. One I'm not so excited about and one I am. I fell right back in with my morning tea, lunch diet coke routine. I talked to the same people I always talked to... I really can't describe how odd it was just to slip right back into everything and then look at the pictures on my desk and smile thinking about my baby girl that I didn't have the last time I sat here.

The kids are doing great- they've already been in daycare for two weeks and it is going wonderfully. Claire is a total teacher's pet because she takes a 4.5 hour nap in the middle of the day and then spends her other 3 waking hours smiling and eating. Her teachers take pictures during the day and then post them on a password-protected site and it is hilarious to see my big baby sitting amongst all the normal sized infants. She gives all her baby friends lots of smiles and is apparently briefly confused to hear a baby cry, but then smiles right away when she realizes it isn't her. Landon is loving his new class. He's the youngest one- his teachers decided to bump him up an extra half level after last year, and they've all said they think it was the right decision. He has lots of new friends and loves the fact that baby Claire takes buggy rides in his new "big kid" playground.

Obligatory first day of work pics

The toughest things about my day yesterday was my 45 minute commute thanks to Tropical Storm Hermine and the blisters I got on my feet for wearing 3.5 inch heels on my first day back. I'm still adjusting to the idea that I can't just take another few months off again, that this is a permanent state of being for the forseeable future, but it's a perfectly acceptable one, especially in slightly lower heels.