The Start of Something New

Today was my first day back to the studio (in 4.5 months!) without le bébé.  My mom is going to take care of Robert every Tuesday so that I can sneak in some studio time.  I've had a big undersea piece in my head for a while.  It will be interesting to see how the image unfolds, since there will be big, week-long chunks of time between each working session.  One thing's for sure: I have never had a more focused work day in my life.  

When I first walked into the studio and saw a little rattle lying in the otherwise empty Pack 'N Play, I confess, I got a little choked up.  I haven't been away from Robert very much since we brought him home from the hospital.  But I recovered quickly, and after about a nanosecond of basking in my glorious aloneness I was all, "Baby?  What baby?"  

I tried bringing R.J. to the studio with me a few weeks ago.  Including our time in transit, it ended up taking me 4 hours to stretch one piece of watercolor paper.  

My most astonishing feat on that particular day was getting R.J. to nap in the studio:

The nap only lasted 20 minutes, and I spent its entirety trying to quietly cut a piece of watercolor paper from a giant roll.  I've never noticed how loud paper can be......And once I'd managed to cut my piece without waking him up, I realized that I was stuck and would have to wait for him to wake up anyway before I could start rocking the staple gun.

I've been taking these great new mom and baby classes at Isis Parenting.  A few weeks ago one of the other ladies in class said, "I just want to take a shower without someone sitting and crying in a vibrating chair outside the door."  Even though my literal shower this morning did, in fact, include someone sitting and crying in a vibrating chair outside the door, my metaphorical shower was very peaceful and productive;)