Well, the day had to come that mat leave would be over, I'd have to go back to work, and Matty would have to go to daycare. It is amazing how fast that year went by! I'd been excited and anxious about going back to work, and dreading not spending all day with Matthew all at the same time - but all in all we had a great first week :-) I expect the weeks from now on will pretty much be a blurr. Chad and I wake up at 5:40, get Matty up at 6:10 and leave the house by 6:40 so I can catch the Go Train at the brand new location. Chad then takes Matty to daycare and heads to work.
I take the train all the way downtown and then transfer onto the subway which drops me off about 1 min from the office - about 1 hr 15 min door to door. Walking into Union Station in the morning is unreal - there are so many people everywhere, walking in a million different directions.
For those of you who may not have heard, I recently accepted a contract position for one year with the Ministry of Environment in the Environmental Assessment and Approvals Branch. The office is pretty much at the corner of St. Clair and Young, and I am on the 14th floor. Everyone seems really nice and all have been very welcoming. My first week was pretty low key and was mostly orientation, but I expect to get into a couple of files this coming week.
Matthew has been doing terrific at daycare. Very few morning tears and then he settles in to playing. Teddy is a constant companion, but they say he is interacting with the other kids and is a very happy boy. He is sleeping well and his journal says he has an "extremely healthy appetite" - he even sometimes has seconds for lunch! Chad did have to pick him up early on Friday b/c he had a low grade fever, but his temperment was good and there was no fever the next day...just a bit of a runny nose. I guess that is to be expected...
The evenings are short lived...it's close to 6pm by the time I get home - we eat, bath Matthew and put him to bed, pack our lunches and head to bed ourselves. It's quite a change from the past 6 months, but so far we've managed to get into a nice routine :-)
Me and Matty looking exhausted after our first day!
Matty enjoying his first ride in the "pack"! A co-worker of mine gave it to us and we thought we'd try it out this weekend at Hilton Falls Conservation Area. Chad thought it was a nice change from carrying Matthew on the trails and Matty had a blast!
Smith family at the falls...the falls were dry...but it was still a nice hike!
Uncle Paul and Aunt Lauren finally came with us to a park!
Happy to be on board with his Dad! Matthew has been a big time Daddy's boy lately!
Lauren's artistic shot :-) 
There was a raised boardwalk trail that went all around the lake.
Part of the view, plus you can see the climbing ropes anchored on the trees...it's pretty much straight down from there!
Giddy-up! 
Think again! Messiest meal to date :-)
