Hi ho, hi ho, it's back to work I go...

Yesterday marked my first day back at work (sigh). So we decided to warm ourselves up to our new daycare the past two days. As expected it is going to be a big adjustment for all of us, though Annabel won't remember the trauma as we will!

We really like our childcare provider, Valerie. She's warm and affectionate with the babies and provides a very loving environment for them. The first day we went to check the place out she immediately asked if she could pick up Annabel and soothe her (because, surprisingly, she was crying!) which we didn't hear at any other daycare during our search.

Valerie runs a daycare designed for infants only (< 2 years old) and she has 4 babies. Only two of them, including Annabel, are full time so three days a week there are only two or three babies there. And, when she has more three or more babies she often has a helper to assist. We are also thrilled that one of the other children is the daughter of a friend of Lisa's from high school (she gave us the recommendation!) When Matt dropped Annabel off yesterday morning this little girl came up to her and gave her a big kiss!

Valerie also sends us home with a daily "report card". She's writes us notes and gives us little positive comments to help us through the transition. As you can see on her report card from Wednesday Valerie has noted that Annabel has some seperation anxiety issues already - but is looking forward to bonding with her to ease that pain. Wednesday brought a lot of tears, but when Matt dropped her off on Thursday Annabel calmly sat on Valerie's lap while she read her a book so we're already seeing how she can adapt!