Transitioning

Tonight was the first night Z and I had an actual conversation since moving.  Within the past 11 days I've started going to class and working part-time from home in the mornings, Zach has started getting up in the morning and tending to 'Rad while I'm "in the office," and 'Rad has started transitioning to a new daycare provider and dealing with a shitload of stuff.  Oh, and I got a haircut.  We've all been keeping busy, but Connor wins for dealing with the transition the most gracefully (he gets a lot of leeway since he's a baby).  He's still getting acquainted with our new daycare provider, Jean, but he's already made strides since first spending time with her on Tuesday.  One thing I love about Jean's place is that I can walk over to her place to pick up my little dude.

One facet of transitioning to a smaller town is that everything takes less time than I allot.  I thought I would run to the store, pick up a pack of diapers, and 15 minutes later be at Jean's to pick up 'Rad.  Wrongarino.  That errand literally took me five minutes.  Walking to Jean's from our place takes five minutes.  Walking to my parents' house from our place takes less than five minutes.  Biking to Z's mom's place takes maybe 15 minutes.  Do all of that traveling in a car, well, you get the idea.  I've spent a lot of time in a parked car trying to figure out what to do with myself for the ensuing 10 or 15 minutes.  It's not a bad thing.  It's freaking awesome that we didn't have to gas up the car until today - more than a week after we last filled it up.

I'm having a hard time getting used to my new routine, especially since it involves spending less time with Connor.  The other side of that coin is that Zach spends more time with him, which is wonderful, and which also makes me a little jealous.  Guilt guilt guilt.  Blah blah blah.  When it comes down to it, they get to bond more, and my little dude is becoming more independent.

Transitioning back to school has been hard, too.  I haven't been in a classroom in over five years, which adds to the anxiety I have over pursuing a completely new career path and being a working, school-attending mama.  Like Stella I'll find my groove, I just need to give myself time to work back into it and gain some confidence in this new chapter of my life.

In the midst of all that's been happening, did I mention that we celebrated 'Rad's 1st birthday last Sunday?  It was a pool-party-cake-eating-pinata-hitting blast!  After we celebrated his first 12 months on earth, it's like a switch was flipped and he changed from a baby to a toddler.  He now stacks blocks, can practically run, and seems to understand so much more than I'd previously given him credit for.  He can't stand to be tied down in a highchair for long, but he has yet to master or even show interest in a sippy or straw cup.  Check out the flickr badge to the right for pictures of the party in no particular order.  Here's a little taste:

 This is fun

 This is so good!

This is over?!