The three month mark has passed. I haven’t gone insane (in a while), my hair hasn’t fallen out (too much) and I haven’t gotten sick of staying home all day with the Koala (that’s true).
I’m pretty sure somewhere out there people are taking bets. Shame. I’m not aching to go back to work and I’m not bouncing off the walls of my apartment. I’ve made lists to be productive, read books I’ve wanted to read. Part of it is also the commitment I made to go out to Jerusalem at least once a week since family visitors left, and ta da, I have managed that beautifully. Everything in moderation.
That said, I am going back to work in two weeks… not that my Koala knows that and not that he’ll really mind much. I’m working from home for a few months until I feel more confident and prepared to make that next leap into modern motherhood.
In the meantime, I like this life. The breastfeeding is going well, though once in a while I wonder if Koala is growing enough. How did that thought – that somehow they aren’t growing enough – get so wrapped around our mommy-minds?
Sleep-wise, we get some. Koala’s naps are more stable and his nights have fallen into routine. I’m tired, yes, waking up in the middle of the night, yes, but I am well-aware I should thank the gods of baby sleep habits that he’s been so chill and laid-back about the sleeping thing.
The most fun at this age (or maybe any age) is watching him discover what he is capable of. It’s become easier to occupy his attention with toys because he’s actually learning from them. Then again, sometimes he doesn’t need the toys, especially when learning how far he can extend his arms, how he can clasp both his hands together, how his fist fits nicely inside his mouth.
When toys don’t do it, my foot rocking the rocker while I type (as I’m doing right now) is a great occupier and a part of my working-from-home toolbox. There is also wrapping him to my chest, where he’ll sleep and I’ll work in peace; a win-win, like they say in my ex-graduate program.
This has all been on my mind for the past week or so as the countdown ticks towards the end of my 14-week maternity leave.
But it seems as if the folks over at Materna have been keeping count, too.
I don’t know if it was being surprised more than impressed yesterday when I opened my mailbox and found a little gift from the marketing department of Materna, a leading formula company in Israel.
Of course. At some point in my dazed and hallucinogenic state at Hadassah hospital post-childbirth, I put my name on something and someone received my mailing information and son’s birth date. They auto-release samples and guide booklets to new moms two weeks before they go back to work.
Naturally we’ll all stop pumping and switch to formula… because it’s easier.
Because motherhood can be so easy.
I have learned to respect formula – it really is a wonder-product for many reasons. But I can’t respect the companies behind it (as much as the marketing professional in me does respect their marketing departments’ ingenuity).
And you know what kinda hurts? The little paper photo frame they sent with everything else. To keep on your desk at work, with the Materna logo hovering in the corner. “We’re babysitting your kid because you can’t be there.”
Or, as the Materna slogan puts it: “הכי קרוב לאמא”
Whadya got: