Top Ten Tuesday

Morgan is 6 weeks old!  That is SO crazy!  I return to work next week, and Morgan will be at the home daycare full-time starting Monday.  *sigh*  Part ot me is sad because I know I will miss a lot of "firsts" because I have to work, but the other part of me is excited to return to work (and then that makes me feel guilty...as in..shouldn't I WANT to stay home with Morgan full-time and be heart broken to have her at daycare?).  Even when I dropped Morgan off at the home daycare for a "trial run" last Thursday for a few hours...I wasn't heart broken at all...worried, yes...but heart broken, no.  Morgan seemed very content when I returned to pick her up, and her daycare provider was overjoyed with the new baby in the house (Morgan is the only infant).  I'll be leaving Morgan for a few hours again with her daycare to have a few hours to myself on Thurday: a massage and haircut...  Yay!  Maybe things would be different if I had family around to help, so I could have those moments...but I think that's what the home daycare is for me...it's that sense of relief and freedom that most of my friends have the luxury of enjoying anytime grandma or grandpa is able to watch their little ones for an afternoon or a date night.  Luckily, I do have several friends who have volunteered to babysit anytime we need a break...and I would probably take them up on their offer a little more readily if Morgan wasn't such a high maintenance baby... 

Anywho....onto my Top Ten List.  Below are the Top Ten Things I have Learned in the Last Six Weeks (this list is obviously not all inclusive....it's why it's a Top Ten list!):

1.  I can take a full, complete shower (minus shaving the legs) in two minutes.
2.  My daughter is excellent in the car for me...until the car stops moving...and notice I said for me...when Chris is driving...she normally screams for about 80% of the trip.
3.  I truly have a "high maintenance" baby.  Praise the Lord she's not colicky though....at least she is soothable...either by holding her and bouncing, rocking, walking, or swaying.  And a swing or bouncy chair does not cut it.  She knows it's not a person holding her...and she will not have it.  From what I read...she's supposed to grow out of this by about 3 to 4 months....and I am counting down.
4.  Chris gives in to crying faster than I do...he has such a soft heart for her!
5.  6 weeks can feel incredibly long and at the same time seem to have flown by...
6.  I have become someone who gets excited when her baby "makes mommy a poopie!"  I never thought that would happen!
7.  You don't realize how simple life was before baby...my biggest lesson...I can't just hop in the car and run to the store now...it's normally a 40 minute process in prep to do that including feeding, changing, loading into a car seat...etc.
8.  Every morning is a new start and I always get an incredible renewal of patience to handle the challenges of the day.
9.  I really, really, really miss living near ANY family....
10.  Nothing warms my heart more than seeing Morgan smile...