First of all, we took our first major trip together as a new family when we flew back to Missouri for Christmas/New Year's. Peter's last day of school was the 19th, we flew out on the 20th, spent several days with my family in St. Louis, drove across the state to Kansas City on Christmas Day, spent several days with Peter's family, then drove back to St. Louis on the 29th and stayed there until flying home New Year's morning (at 8:30 am!!!). It was wonderful seeing everyone again (especially my grandparents and a few of my nieces that I'd never met) and getting to introduce Eden to many of her relatives, but it was also quite exhausting, and I'm not sure I'd want to do it again any time soon.
Eden handled the travel and the trip as a whole in a very Eden way: like a champ, but like a champ who would always much rather be in the middle of all the activity than asleep. This was a bit wearying on her mama and papa but we are grateful for our active, inquisitive, and social little girl. Unfortunately, one repercussion of lots of travel and no sleep was that we all got sick - pretty bad colds actually - that started the day we got home. Between the colds, trying to readjust to our home schedule, and new activities (like Peter being away on a 3 day retreat), we had a rough few weeks of it. At one point, Eden went on a sleep strike and would hardly nap at all as well as wake up repeatedly at night. There was actually a 3 night stretch where I got just one hour of sleep each night. To be honest, I didn't even think that was possible! It was truly a terrible experience, and I'm glad it seems to be behind us, especially because just a few days after the sleep strike (and the morning after Peter returned from his retreat), I went back to work!
That's right - I am now officially a working mom. I started up full-time as a Librarian 1 back at my old library on January 20th. There's a lot I could write about my first few days back, all my new responsibilities, and how the whole experience of being away from Eden is going (and I probably will at some future point), but right now it is all still a bit too surreal. I feel like I've felt every emotion under the sun in the last few weeks (I'm in the middle of my third week back now), and I honestly still don't know what I think overall. I enjoy many parts of my job, but I hate others. Leaving Eden is the worst feeling in the world - I miss her so much! - but I get her ready in the morning, see her every day at lunch, and play with her most of the evening until bedtime, and I believe we're both getting some valuable experiences from this time. I've never, NEVER, been so busy in my life. Each day I can only think about that day - I have neither the mental space nor the energy to go one step beyond that. But we seem to be making it - and I think we may even be well on our way to a comfortable (although that word means something totally different now than it used to) routine. I know a lot of people feel very strongly about whether or not moms with small children should work or stay at home, and believe me, we have carefully considered the pros and cons. Right now, we think this is the right choice for us. It might not be the right choice next month or next year, but we are trying to be wise and responsible with what has been given us, and at the moment (independent of my crazy emotions which are never the same from one moment to the next) I'm in a state of guarded peace. Not sure if that even makes sense, but it's the best way I know how to describe it.
I only have a few minutes left, but I wanted to add some quick notes about some big milestones for our little girl. First of all, she has started eating solid foods! We're just at rice cereal and peas for now - we'll be slowly adding in some more options each week. We had to start a few weeks earlier than I wanted to give more feeding options while I was away at work, but she seems to be doing just fine with it all. She actually seems to really enjoy this new way of eating - she was opening her mouth and reaching for the spoon at her very first meal and now has even started trying to drink from a cup. Eden will now also get up on her hands and knees and rock back and forth when you put her on a blanket. She's done little more than inch forward once or twice while rocking, but I'm pretty sure we're going to be chasing her around the house in no time. Yesterday and today she also sat up unassisted. I can't believe how quickly she is growing and learning! She continues to be a happy, engaging, and quite comical little girl with a spunky personality - we really can't get enough of her. She keeps us endlessly entertained.
I'm sure I'm forgetting something major (probably several things), but I have to end this and quickly get ready for work. The posts will probably be pretty infrequent from now on, but hopefully I will still be able to provide at least quick summaries of life in the Hough House on a somewhat regular basis. Maybe I'll just become a much faster thinker/typist...
We took over 700 pictures during our Christmas trip. I don't have time to post a bunch now, but here's one of the Hough family enjoying their first Christmas:
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