Austin's First Day

We have been so blessed to have been able to keep Austin at home with one of us for his first year of life.  Seriously, it has been the BEST!  I stayed home for 11 weeks after he was born and Tayt was taking night classes last Spring semester so we both spent all day with him as a newborn.  Then I went back to work for the last 8 weeks of the school year and Tayt became a stay-at-home dad during the day.  I got to spend the summer at home while Tayt worked and then all fall Tayt was on daddy duty while I taught and again he took classes at night and on the weekend.  I know Tayt never thought in a million years he would be spending his days at home with an infant while his wife worked but God's timing in our life couldn't have been more perfect.  1)We were able to bond with our first-born and spend quality time watching him grow and develop.  2)We both saw every stage and every change he made in the first 12 months.  3)We did not have to pay for childcare!  So, overall it was a true gift for both of us and I know we will always look back on this first year and have very fond memories.

However, all things must come to an end and we knew right about the time Austin turned 1 we would be looking for childcare.  It is definitely something I agonized over for months.  This fall I finally started to look around.  We discussed our options and ultimately decided that in-home care would be the best for our son at this time.  We were fortunate enough to find an amazing sitter.  She is a parent at my school and I already had a great relationship with her.  She lives just around the corner from my school.  Everything just seemed to fall into place.

Monday was his first day.  Like most mothers I cried some on Sunday just thinking about it and then lost it Sunday evening when I wrote my baby boy's name in his lunchbox for the first time.  We took a picture of him before we left that morning and off we went.

I dropped him off at 7:15am.  There were no tears.  He was happy and smiling and eating breakfast when I left.  The sitter sent us a text around mid morning and said he had eaten well, he was happy and very sweet.  She even sent us a picture of him playing with all the new toys.  He took an hour and a half nap and ate a great lunch when he woke up!  I called on my lunch break and could hear him talking and laughing in the background which made me smile ear to ear!  Tayt picked him up around 1:30pm and we got a great report from his first day.

{Note:  Austin pooped through his diaper during his nap.  I guess he was trying to break her in and see if she could handle his "dirty side".  In his defense, this is rare but he has been taking antibiotics to get over his sinus infection.  I thought it was kid of funny though.  Haha, oops!}

I was overjoyed to know my boy was happy and had had a good day.  I pray that his sitter will grow to love him like we do and he will always enjoy his time at her house.