The Most Baby Friendly Office, Ever.

Note: Two posts in one day! Am I feeling okay? Yes. I had this post started aaaaages ago, and just finished it. So, yes two posts published in the same day, but not written in the same day.

Since my Mom left us to go back to China, Mia and I are back to our old routine of what I've affectionately dubbed as Parenting from Work. It was a difficult transition, from Mia being taken care of at home full time for three months, to going back to the office three to five times a week. She went from getting attention 100% of the time to being expected to entertain herself for as many hours in the day as possible.

Now that we've been back at it for about a month, Mia and I have developed quite a groove. She's happy to come to the office in the mornings, and give all her co-workers an enthusiastic gummy grin. They pass her around for the first twenty minutes, and I get a chance to get my email and set my days to-do list before she gets dropped back off from doing her morning rounds.

Luckily, now that Mia is at nine months, she's very mobile. At first, when I started this whole Parent from Work thing, I envisioned her increasing mobility as a problem. When we first started this whole thing, she'd just be happy in her bouncy chair, or being held on my lap or on the desk with a pacifier. Now, my office is like a baby war-zone. At first, I imagined that she would just stay in her bouncy chair or in her pack n play. But, I've now moved on to just letting her roam around my office. All the wires are picked up and tucked back to where she cannot get to them. She has found (and I've thrown away) every stray paperclip, staple and tiny piece of paper, so the office floor is clean. We've got a blanket set up on the floor, and a bunch of toys strewn about. The shoes two pairs of shoes that I used to keep tucked in the corner are now to be found on opposite sides of the room. During her morning "rounds" she collects things and brings them back. At the moment, we've got a bright blue plastic cup and an empty two liter bottle of 7up. Apprently, my baby prefers to play with garbage over bonafide baby toys.

I brought in a slew of baby items. We bought a second bouncy center, where I can put her if I need to leave the room and need her to stay contained. I have a pack 'n play set up in the corner, where she has finally learned to nap, and I use the bumbo chair with the tray as a high chair in the lunch room. Thankfully, I have an extremely supportive office and everyone is willing to give me a hand. There is always someone willing to usher her out of the room if I have to make an important phone call, or sit in on a meeting.

Things have only gotten better in terms of being able to do this. Now that I don't constantly have to have her in my arms, or strapped into the moby wrap to keep her happy, I am able to get a lot more actual work done during the day. I have not yet had to bring anything back home with me since we've gone back to this Parenting from Work schedule. I know that eventually, she's going to eventually need to go to daycare. Mia will start to need to socialize, and will benefit from structured play and learning. But for now, she gets plenty of attention, and I get to be with her all day long. Hopefully, we can pull this Parent from Work thing off for at least a few more months.