Adventures of a Working Mom: RJ's First Day of School

Well, I'm not crazy about my new station in life as a "working mom". I much preferred being a "stay at home mom" this summer. Life was a lot less hectic, and I got more sleep, and well it's a lot more fun to play with RJ than planning and delivering lectures and attending faculty committee meetings and writing my review portfolio (more on that later).

The First Week of Classes

Classes started on 9/5. However, the Child Development Center, where RJ will spend his mornings while Momma is in class, didn't open until 9/10, which added a whole new level of complexity to my first week back since I had RJ a lot more than I normally will and hence didn't really get a good start because I was basically getting the bare minimum done and not getting ahead at all. Lance took Tuesday and Friday off and watched RJ while I was in meetings and class, between which I breastfed. Then Erika watched RJ for a few hours on Wednesday and Thursday when I was in class. It was hard to fit feedings in around all those beginning of the semester faculty meetings, especially since RJ usually takes about 40 minutes - 1 hour to eat (mostly because he likes to nurse). Last week we were not on a schedule at all, so he would be ready to eat when I wasn't or wouldn't be ready when I was. I really prefer feeding on demand, but it's a little too hard with having a real world schedule.

The Schedule

So this week we're trying to establish the following schedule, and so far, RJ has been fairly cooperative.

5am - Cheryl wakes up, pumps, showers, and gets dressed and ready for the day and runs around packing up any of RJ's stuff that she forgot to the night before. Lance either sleeps if RJ is asleep, or keeps RJ distracted until it's time for feeding.
6:15 - Lance changes RJ's diaper and gets him dressed for the day.
6:30 - Cheryl attempts to eat a bowl of cereal while feeding RJ
7/7:15 - Cheryl and RJ leave
8ish - Cheryl drops RJ off at the CDC
8:30 - Cheryl pumps
9:30 - RJ drinks 4 ounces of previously frozen boobie milk at school
10:30 (MWF) Cheryl pumps
11:10 (TR) Cheryl pumps
12:30 - Cheryl picks up RJ and feeds him
1:30 (TR) Cheryl takes RJ home
1:30 (MF) Erika watches RJ
2:00 (W) Erika watches RJ
3:30 - Cheryl feeds RJ or if she has meetings, Erika feeds RJ 4 ounces of frozen boobie milk and Cheryl pumps between meetings
4:00 (W) Erika leaves
4:30/5 - (MF) Erika leaves
5 - Cheryl and RJ leave school
6:30pm - 5am RJ is fed on demand - but we try to feed him one last time before bed at about 10/10:30 - he usually likes to eat every two hours after his 6:30 feed until he goes to sleep. Once he's asleep I only feed him when he wakes up - which is still variable - or 6:30am if he wakes up between 5 and 6:30.

This schedule seems to be working so far. It's not perfect, but it does minimize how much I have to pump in order to keep RJ exclusively breastfed like he is at the moment and I'm not away from him all day long. (It's hard enough not being with him in the mornings and MWF afternoons!)

Keep the boobie milk flowing!

Why don't I pump more and see RJ less during the day(and hence get more done)? The first reason is that fresh breastmilk is better than frozen, so if I can feed directly, I will. The second reason is that RJ's saliva actually tells my breasts what he needs most, so the milk is dynamic to meet his ever changing needs. The third reason is that RJ is better at getting his fill from my breasts than the breast pump. We've determined that RJ eats about 4 ounces a feed, but in a pumping session, I usually only get 3 ounces at best, but I'm getting better. So I've determined that I need to pump twice in the morning when he's at school, eating once, to replenish the supply. This also means that I do get a little surplus in case he goes through a growth spurt and needs two feeds or more than 4 ounces at a feed at school (I give them 8 ounces of frozen milk every morning).

The CSU Stanislaus Child Development Center ("The CDC")

The CDC is a great place for young children. It's run by the Child Development Program that I teach in, and one of my colleagues is the director of the center in addition to her workload as a professor (she does have a reduced course load to allow time for running the CDC). It is one of a kind in that all of the teachers are students working on their degrees. In fact, along with their paid "internships" as teachers, their CDC experience is also a course, where their assignments are their weekly lesson plans and the state-required assessments of the children. The positions are very competitive, so I know that RJ has top notch care. In his classroom there is at least a 3:10 teacher:child ratio maintained at all times. The school also serves as a lab for the university. Many courses (including mine) require observations of the children from the observation booth (which parents also have access to). And some lab courses require that students enter the classroom and work with the children, performing assessments or experiments to aid in their understanding of child development. These students, along with students earning fieldwork credit increase the ratio even further.
RJ is the youngest in his infant/toddler class, with the next youngest being 9 mos. old and the oldest are 2 years old.


RJ's First Day of School

RJ had his first day of school on Monday. He seems to really like school and he has responded well to his teachers, who all adore him. This picture is of RJ on his very first day with Krishawn, his head teacher on Monday, Wednesday, Friday. He behaved very well, and even gave Krishawn a spit-free day (we have them from time to time - but they're not common, especially when he sucks down a bottle!). He even managed to come home in the same outfit he started out in, despite the fact that he did not give Krishawn a poo-free day.
He was happy when I picked him up and Krishawn told us that he really enjoyed watching all the other children play and enjoyed falling asleep in the snugli on their walk. It certainly won't be long until he's playing right with the other children, and he will learn so much from them! The other children are all very interested in their littlest playmate and seem to be playing very nicely with him when he's accessible. All in all, I think RJ will really enjoy being at the CDC, and I will tolerate being at work and look forward to being a stay-at-home-mom again next summer!