The second half of my maternity leave was far less challenging than the first. Claire began smiling socially (be still my heart!) and was more of an overall joy as she began waking up to the world.
In an exciting lifestyle update, we bought a car. It's the first car I've owned in my life. The car I drove in high school and college was technically my dad's car. I'd saved up for a car working summer jobs and he ended up giving me his and upgrading to a new car. I loved that black 1995 Nissan Maxima with gray cloth interior and a v6 engine. I even upgraded the speaker system when I'd saved up enough my senior year of high school. Of course, after college when I left home and moved to NYC, I also left my beloved car behind. That was in 2008. 12 years ago! Our 2020 gray Subaru Forester with black leather interior feels like a real family car. We pay a ridiculous amount to park it in our building's garage, although, it's not nearly as ridiculous as the normal price to park it there given the exodus out of Manhattan during the coronavirus pandemic. It feels good to have some freedom! Our little lady sleeps in the car and loves to go on adventures with us.
And speaking of sleep, Claire still sleeps in our room in a cute bassinet. She sleeps in 7-10 hour stretches at night and in 1-2 hour stretches during daytime naps. It's made for such an improved quality of life!
She has about 4 ounces of formula every 2-4 hours and doesn't spit up very much anymore. She also has become a pro at burping and holding her head up.
In a very surprising early discovery, she absolutely adores tummy time. She even cries for it. She can roll from her belly to her back on her left and right sides (she's been rolling over since 2 months but is much more self-assured at 3 months). She can hold herself up on her forearms and turn her head confidently.
The day Claire started daycare nearly broke my heart. But then I met her lead caregivers and felt worlds better. Claire has been thriving there - she smiles so big when she sees her caregivers. They are taking serious precautions around COVID-19 and their facility is cleaner than our house ever will be. A huge bonus of the exodus from NYC is that for the first 2 weeks of daycare, Claire was the only kid in her room with 3 caregivers watching over her. AND there are only 2 other kids signed up to be in her room when they start attending. AND both of those kids are over 6 months old so Claire will be kept separate with her own caregiver until she hits the 6 month mark (NYC daycare laws, who knew?). Overall, I felt like we were getting the benefits of a nanny in a decked out safe facility for the price of daycare, which in NYC, is pretty darn sweet!
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