A week of firsts....

This week marked several firsts in the life of the Coffeys:

Mommy's first day back at work
I must admit--the first day back wasn't nearly as bad as I had anticipated. The morning was a bit rushed to get out the door, so I didn't have a lot of time to really feel sad. Jamie and I teamed up to drop the kiddos off for Owen's first day (Isabella and Owen luckily go to the same school). I teared up while I was there, but Owen seemed happy and I knew I'd see him in a few short hours to nurse him, so that made it easier. I spent the previous week very upset and had gotten most of my crying out then. His teacher's are fabulous and very loving, so I knew he was in capable, caring hands. When I arrived at my office, I was greeted by several "Welcome Back" signs, including a print out of Dwight from my favorite show "The Office" saying "Welcome back Lauren" which made me laugh. My co-workers also brought me beautiful flowers, and my boss brought me brownies, which were irresistible. Later another co-worker brought me in 2 beautiful plants, because she feels responsible for 2 of mine dying while I was on maternity leave. My loving pod decided to go easy on me my first day, so I didn't have a lot of work to do. I spent the day catching up with people, sorting through mail and emails, and visiting Owen at school. The day flew by and before I knew it, it was time to pick up the kids, who I missed so much! The next two days also went pretty well, and it was nice to be back amongst my colleagues. As much as I missed being home with Owen, I knew that if he was happy, I could also be happy. 3 cheers for working moms!!


Owen's first day at daycare AND HIS FIRST SUCCESSFUL BOTTLE FEEDING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
As for little Owen, he did incredibly well at daycare....I was so proud! The most exciting news from the whole week was that he decided he would take a bottle of breastmilk!! I brought a bottle for him to school, not ever anticipating that he would actually take it. When I arrived on the first day at 11 am to nurse him, his teachers shared with me the fabulous news that he did take the bottle with no problems whatsoever! No hysterical crying, no tears, and he didn't even put up a fight. I thought they were kidding--I totally couldn't believe it. After trying to give him a bottle for 6 weeks, after having 5 people attempt to feed him a bottle, after trying 12 different kinds of bottles/nipples, and after trying both formula and breastmilk, ALL of which he rejected, I thought I might never see the day that he took a bottle. I couldn't have been prouder to hear that he finally did it!! Way to go Owen! At first, I was afraid it was just a random fluke, but he continued to take a bottle a day for the next 2 days, and even took 2 bottles on Friday. This means that during the work-week, I can continue to nurse him one time over my lunch hour, rather than twice a day. While I absolutely loved being able to go visit him twice in one day, it was a lot of running around, and I was never relaxed because I was rushing as fast as I could so that I didn't take too much time. Now I can bring him 2 bottles of breastmilk a day, and spend my full lunch hour nursing him and being with him. Yipee! On the mornings, evenings, and weekends (basically anytime I am with Owen), the plan is to continue to nurse him and not bottle-feed him--and then while he is at school, he will get a combination of nursing and bottles. So far, Owen has been really happy at daycare and seems to be enjoying his time there. I'm so glad that my worst fears weren't realized--I was afraid he would be so upset and would cry and be starving all day long, but so far, the opposite has been true. It really makes this whole going back to work thing so much better. And to top it off, my friend Mag's son Sebastian is doing equally as well in his new environment, which makes me really happy. We were both so worried initially, and now we can rest easy (at least for now!) What good boys we have :)

Owen's first introduction to Grandpa David, Loretta, and Connor
This past weekend, Owen met Jamie's father David, step-mother Loretta, and 2nd cousin Connor for the first time. Because of certain circumstances and conflicting schedules, we hadn't had a chance to get together yet. They came down for the afternoon and got to meet the little bugger. Owen was a good boy for their visit, and Isabella spent the day playing with Connor, who recently turned 4. Everyone had a good time, and it was nice to be able to finally introduce them to Owen.

Owen's first time in his Exersaucer
Jamie put together Owen's Exersaucer and we let him play in it for the first time. The package recommends 4 months as the age to start, but Owen is really trying to sit up these days, and seems to get frustrated if he's not upright, so we thought it would be a good toy to put him in for practice. He's still a little small, but he seemed to enjoy playing in it for a bit.