Instant Messenger Saves my Sanity

It has been one full month since I returned to work after my all-to-brief maternity leave. My first day back was hard. I left the house, came back, left again, and came back one more time before I could finally say goodbye and head to work. They say it gets easier, and while I'm no longer finding excuses to run back in for one more goodbye, it is still hard to leave a little baby who is wide awake, smiling and so excited to see you.

My husband has come to the rescue on this by making my long work hours a little more acceptable. He uses the Yahoo Instant Messenger program in conjunction with his web camera so I can watch our son on the computer during the day. Instant Messenger is a free download, and a moderate quality web camera is inexpensive, so this setup is pretty attainable by anyone who has some freedom at work to utilize a chat/webcam setup. As I type this blog, Jack is lying on his gym mat batting happily at his plastic rings and cooing. It isn't nearly as rewarding as cooing back at him or snuggling his precious little baby neck, but it is a lot better than spending hour after hour wondering what my little boy is doing.

And I promise that once Jack is a little older I'll stop having this need to peek in on his life at all hours. But right now while he's still small a little bit of nosy mom love won't hurt anyone.