9 weeks, 6 days

Hello, world. We are doing pretty well here at the Carroll house. Of course as I near the end of my maternity leave, things start getting way better. I mean, I'm glad they're better, but of course it happens right at the end.

Little Miss is starting to sleep better at night. It's not consistent, so we can't count on anything or really distinguish a pattern yet, but she's giving us more and more longer stretches. She's also getting better at napping, and normally takes two 2-3 hour naps a day. Sometimes I can put her down and get stuff done, but a lot of the time she's sleeping lightly and needs to be held, so we snooze together.

I go back to work December 1st and will do four half days and then go full time December 7th. I am still looking forward to returning to work, but I am also appreciating the time I have left with Eleanor. I make sure to take time to smell her head, make her smile and laugh, rest my cheek on her head, and get lots of cuddles. She really is getting more and more fun to be around, and the long naps don't hurt either.

I am getting anxious about her going to daycare. Don't get me wrong, I 100% know that daycare is the right choice for our family and I believe that it will be great for her social skills and she'll love playing with the other kids someday. But when she's so little, I worry. She is so used to being with me all day, getting lots of attention, being held and played with all the time.... I worry that she won't be able to nap without being held a lot, that she will struggle with bottle feeding (she does fine at it now but prefers breastfeeding), and will feel lonely and unloved in general. I have this strong sense (probably hormonal) that she just NEEDS her mom. I know she'll be fine, and that she will eventually adjust, but it just makes me sad to leave her all day.

We have a trial partial day scheduled for November 29th, where I'll drop her off at daycare and go to lunch with friends and then go get my hair done. I'm looking forward to some "me time," but I'm pretty anxious about leaving her. Then for 2 of my half days, Aunt Kim will watch her, and then for the first week I'm back at work, Caleb will stay home with her. I'm glad that when I go back to work, she'll be with family at first - that should make it a lot easier for me.

We are headed home to Creston and then over to Omaha for Thanksgiving - the farthest Eleanor has traveled so far. Hope you all have a great holiday!