Six months back at work

I've been thinking about today, April 22nd, for a very long time.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I was told early on that I should give working motherhood six months. If six months went by and I was still unhappy, then I could think about making drastic changes (such as quitting my job).

So for week after miserable week, I just focused on making it to April 22nd -- six months back at work.

Now that I'm here, I can state definitively that no drastic changes will be made. I feel really good about the balance I've found between working and motherhood. Some days are better than others, but on the whole, I'm pretty happy.

I'm getting nervous about starting my new job. I'm sure that it will temporarily upset this delicate balance that I've finally found. But I'm ready for it!

I am a fabulous mom!

I've been scouring craigslist for potential daycares for Littles in Dallas. I've found some good options. I've also found some ads that make me feel like Supermom.

Example:

I need someone twice a week from about 5p-10p (usually 9:30p)to pick my 2yr old child up from daycare and watch him in my home. Not much to do but get him ready for bed and feed him. TV is his actual sitter. Paid weekly. Please email with your rates and a little history. Great for college students.

TV is his actual sitter? For a two-year-old? Wow. Just wow.

Here's another gem, in an ad for an in-home daycare. The daycare itself sounds lovely, but my jaw dropped when I read this excerpt under "Rules":

Please do not bring any fast food for your child to eat unless you bring some for the other children. If you want your child to eat prior to being here please feed them before they get here. ( I did have a problem with one parent I babysit for because their child would not eat anything other than fast food and they would bring McDonald and the rest of the children didn't understand why they couldn't have it. I try and be fair to all of the children.)

Are you kidding me? There are parents who actually think it's acceptable to drop their children off at daycare with a sack of McDonald's every day? Boy, why have I been trying to make sure I always have some frozen veggies or something else wholesome and easy in the freezer for Maria to heat up for Littles? I should just stop off at Mickey D's in the morning and be done with it!

It's official, part 2!

So I hinted in a previous post that there was something exciting going on, besides my new job.

Well, it's now official. Hubby told his boss yesterday that he would be leaving his job!

Hubby started this job just over a year ago, when I was about six months pregnant. At the time, he was working at my company (although in a totally different division from where I work). He decided to leave with two of his co-workers to create a new start-up company.

We knew that the risk was high -- certainly, not all start-ups succeed -- but that the potential reward was high as well. We also knew it would be a lot of work.

The company has actually done very well. But all the work has really gotten to Hubby, and to me, for that matter. Particularly for the first six months of Littles' life, he traveled on business at least once a month, and even when he was home, he pretty much worked and slept. I know he was sad that he couldn't spend much time with Littles, and it was hard on me to have to shoulder the vast majority of child care responsibilities.

He started tiring of it all around Christmas, and so for the past three months or so, he's been better about putting the work down and doing more with Littles and around the house in general. It's been wonderful.

He had a business trip about two months ago to Dallas, which is where we used to live, and he ended up talking to one of his old friends. His friend works at my company and had just started managing a brand-new team. The work sounded fascinating to Hubby. And we had been talking about moving back to Dallas -- much of Hubby's family is in Texas, we both have a lot of good friends there, and it's a lot closer to my family on the East Coast.

So Hubby applied for the job and got the offer a few days ago. He'll be staying at his current job until May 5th, then taking a few days off and starting his new job in Texas on May 12th.

Now, I'm sure you're thinking, "Whaaaaaaaaa? Didn't you just get a new job?" Well, yes, but fortunately, it's a work-from-anywhere position as long as I'm willing to make trips up to Seattle. My new manager is a little concerned about the extra expense of flying me in from Dallas rather than San Francisco, and she's worried about the time zone difference between Dallas and Seattle, but I think I can effectively mitigate those risks.

The other thing you might be thinking is, "Whaaaaaaaaa? You're moving in a month?" Well, no. We're planning to move in early June. So yes, we're going to have about a month where Hubby is working in Texas but Littles and I are still living in California. It will be tough, but we have some weekend visits planned. Actually, the really tough part is that I'll probably have to travel up to Seattle during that month, but we found out that my company provides up to 100 hours of heavily-subsidized backup child care per year. So when I do need to go to Seattle, I can bring Littles with me, use the backup care in Seattle, and still pay for Maria back home (which is part of our nanny share agreement).

Hubby and I are still hashing all this out, and I'm sure many of my future posts will revolve around this pending move :)

Where I pumped today. Fourth in a series.

Yes, I pump while driving!

I only do this when I have a lengthy commute (at least 60 minutes) to a customer site or, like today, to my WOMEN Unlimited training program. It works out well, because if I can pump on the drive in, during lunch, and on the drive home, then that gives me enough pumping sessions for the day without having to take much time at all away from my work.

What I do is I put the pump on the passenger seat (you can see it on the left of the picture above) and get it all hooked up. I use an AC inverter for power -- it plugs into the cigarette lighter and provides a normal AC outlet to plug my pump into.

I then put my Hooter Hider on -- that's the white apron-like thing in the picture. It's designed for nursing in public, but it works well for pumping as well, because it has boning that helps the neck stand out so I can see what I'm doing.

Once I'm properly covered up, I get myself hooked up to the pump. As you might imagine, I have to use a hands-free kit. I usually use this hands-free pumping bra, which works very well. Today, though, I just used some hair bands. (I'll probably use the bra from now on -- the hair bands definitely didn't work as well.)

Then I'm off! All I have to do is pray that no cops decide to pull me over, because that would be hard to explain :)

As far as safety goes, I don't feel that the pump is really a distraction once I get it all set up (which I usually do while parked). But I prefer not to think about what would happen to the pump and my body if I got in an accident.

I'm glad that I have just a few more months of this craziness left.

Maybe now it's more clear why I get so excited about pump rooms with chairs, fridges, and no airbags :)

It's official!

I have a new job!

My trip to Seattle last week was actually for a job interview. (I kept it quiet until today, when I got the official offer, because I know my co-workers occasionally read this blog.) It's for a program manager position -- I'd actually have responsibility for shipping a piece of software that my company develops.

I'm really excited about it. It's a great fit for me, and a perfect "next step" in my career.

I am not as excited about the fact that it will require semi-regular travel up to Seattle, about 1-2 weeks per month. But relocating to Seattle just isn't right for our family right now. Plus, I think it will be good for Hubby and Littles to have some bonding time while I'm away!

Pumping will be a challenge, as always, but since my start date is not until May 5th, I'll be just a little over a month away from quitting pumping for good anyway.

There's some other exciting stuff going on, but again, I want to keep it quiet until everything is official :) Stay tuned...

Pumping away, away from home

I was a little nervous about the logistics of pumping while in Seattle, but it all went pretty smoothly.

I left 31 oz of milk for Littles on Sunday night, a mix of refrigerated and frozen milk.

I nursed Littles at around 6pm, just before leaving for the airport. She got one more bottle that evening before bedtime, and I pumped when I got to my hotel.

Staying in a Residence Inn made things a lot easier, since I had a full-size fridge and freezer to keep my milk and ice packs cold overnight.

On Monday, I woke up at around 8 AM and did a long pump, about 60 mins. I hoped to do another pump before my meeting at 11 AM, but I was running late and had to skip it.

I did get a short 10-minute pump break shortly after lunch, at around 1:15, so I got to check out the pump room in our Seattle office:



It's a nice setup, with two "cubicles" and a curtain, so that two moms can pump simultaneously with some privacy. There is also a small fridge, which came in handy for keeping my milk cool while I was in my meetings. No freezer, though -- I put my ice packs in the freezer in the main kitchen.

After my 1:15 pump break, which only lasted about 10 mins, I got another short pump break at 2:15 and then a longer (30 min) pump break at 3:30. My meeting ended at about 4:15, and since I was in no real rush to get to the airport, I pumped for about 20 mins until I was pretty empty. Then I pulled my ice packs out of the freezer, packed up my milk, and hit the road.

This is probably the only time you'll ever hear me say this, but thank goodness for the TSA's stupid liquids ban! I got to the front of the security line at the airport, and TSA asked me to pull out all my milk. That's when I discovered that I'd left one of my coolers of milk in the rental car! If it weren't for the liquids ban, I might not have noticed until I got home. Fortunately, I was able to run back to Avis and have them search my car for the bag, which quickly turned up. Whew!

My flight was delayed for over an hour, so I had plenty of time, even with the rental car incident. I ate dinner and then pumped for the last time at about 9:00. I pumped in the handicapped stall in the bathroom. I didn't chronicle that location for my "where I pumped today" series. Sorry.

(I've since gotten a tip that the family restrooms at most airports have a power outlet and more privacy, since they're a separate room, rather than just a stall where everyone can hear the whoomp-whoomp of your pump. I'll probably return to Seattle in a few weeks, so I'll check it out!)

With the delay, I ended up getting home shortly before 2 AM. Littles ate all 31 oz that I left, and I brought home right around 30 oz, so that worked out well. The milk in my Medela bag with a Medela ice pack was still cold when I put it in my fridge, 10 hours after I'd left the office! My Playtex Fridge-to-Go bag didn't work out quite as well -- it was no longer cold at all when I got home, but that milk was from my last two pump sessions of the day, so I figured the milk was still fine, having spent less than 10 hours at room temperature.