Our New Normal: A Work in Progress

Seth turned in his last paper Tuesday. Pulled his last all-nighter Thursday. Took his last final Saturday.

And on Saturday night I went to Michelle's Christmas party for a couple hours by myself. Sunday morning, after a lazy morning in bed for all three of us, I drove to the Container Store, did some shopping, and picked up lunch. It was amazing. I felt semi-normal, for the first time since the tornado that is Finley joined us. (An extremely rare "sleepy" photo is at left. Extremely.)

Seth's end-of-semester deadlines have been priority for both of us for the last month or so, and he's done an incredible job juggling school responsibilities with new fatherhood. But all-nighters and the impossibility of studying at home with a tiny terrorist on the prowl have meant fulltime baby duty for me, and it is indescribably terrific to have my teammate back. I cannot reiterate often enough that this is a two-person job! (At minimum.)

Today I went back to work. I'm incredibly lucky that I didn't suffer the crawl-under-your-desk-and-cry trauma endured by most of my new-Mom friends. Thanks to Seth's Christmas break and the lifesaving arrival of Grandpa Tony and Grandpa Jayne, I got to leave Finley and Seth asleep in bed rather than suffer the gutwrenching daycare dropoff.

And Seth saved me from the tears that still threatened at just the right time, texting me a hysterical play-by-play of his morning with the little tyrant. (Apparently, she began "not cooperating" with the plan to sleep in shortly after my departure.)

Grateful for daddy-daughter time (not the least of which reasons included Seth finding out the hard way that his little angel does not always behave like the sleepy snuggler he usually comes home to), I enjoyed my first workout (minus the ridiculous office Christmas run/shuffle pictured at right) in 6.5 weeks. I also savored a deliciously silent, uninterrupted cup of coffee before introducing my mostly-male office to the breastpumping/ milk storage ground rules. So that should be interesting.

This particular phase of the Niemans' adventures seems to be characterized by near-constant adjustments, so in keeping with that theme, it's back to work I go- in search, once again, of our "new normal." Here goes nothing!

Photo of the week: yes, I did take nine pictures of my kid's face while pooping. And the result is awesome.