SURVIVORS!

Justin, Jillian and I made it through our first day of daycare. Whew! This morning was very hard - one of the hardest things I think either of us has EVER had to do. But we did it. And survived it. :) Here is how it went... (Unfortunately no pictures again - I forgot the camera this morning! I'll try to remember it tomorrow.)

We arrived at daycare to meet Jillian's teacher, Aleyda. She was so sweet and stood back and watched as we hovered over Jillian and hugged and kissed her repeatedly. We were "those parents" this morning! By the time we left Jillian was still the only baby there (I love that about this place - there is a separate classroom for every three infants rather than all of the infants being in one room with several teachers). As Justin and I walked out Jillian just looked at us. I'll never forget that face - it was a mix of "are they really leaving me?," "who is this woman?," and "is this what you got me up at 5:45 for?" It was such a sweet face. Not necessarily sad, just very confused.

Anyway, the minute I saw that face I cried. I knew I would - I haven't been away from Jillian for longer than a few hours since she was born. Justin was sad too and we spent the drive to work talking about what she must be thinking. Once I got to work I was feeling much better - seeing all of those familiar faces helped a lot! Everyone was happy to have me back and to be honest, I was feeling happy to be back. Time flew and before I knew it it was noon. I couldn't wait any longer so I called Cosmo to see how Jillian was doing. Aleyda called me back and left a message saying that Jillian was doing great. She was taking a nap and had eaten well and had played all morning. I hung up the phone with a HUGE smile on my face.

By 3:00 Justin and I couldn't wait any longer. We headed back to Cosmo to pick up our girl. When we walked in she smiled - I think we were both looking forward to that smile ALL day long. :) She then fell asleep in the car on the way home. A long day for her with more stimulation than she has ever had before.

It's 9:00 now and Justin is at school (only 10 more weeks until graduation - woo hoo!). Jillian is sound asleep. I'm so proud that we all survived this day. I think/hope each day after this will just continue to get easier. Aleyda's comments on Jillian's take home sheet today were "Jillian had a great first day. She is a wonderful baby." We couldn't agree more.

Thank you to all of you who kept us in your thoughts today!