Midway through Eden's 3rd month, she had her first major life change - Mommy went back to work! I returned to work on the Tuesday after Memorial Day and the first few days Grandma Simon came down to watch the girls, as well as Grandma G and John for a day too. The following week her new normal began with Daddy being a stay-at-home dad. The transition was easy on Eden, the biggest change of course being going from breast to expressed milk in a bottle. She didn't eat much the first day, perhaps wondering what the heck was going on, but the next day and from then on she has taken from the bottle just fine."Night Time is Mommy Time!"
Nighttime is certainly Mommy-time. Eden greets me with a huge smile when I return home from work and immediately nurses. Then around 8pm when we start getting Addison ready for bed, Eden wants nothing but Mommy. She cluster feeds and dozes off to sleep on me on and off the entire evening. Tim is able to entertain her for a little bit if needed, but as soon as she begins to cry the only cure is Mommy. While this can be stressful and it's a lot of pressure if I want/need to get other things done around the house, at the end of the day it's nice to have this strong bonding time with Eden. I think it's a great balance too with Tim being at home during the day, but when I come home, I can provide her the one thing he can't - so it keeps our relationship special.
In the first few weeks of Tim being the SAHD, I did notice Eden's increased bonding with Tim. She likes me to hold her while she watches Tim. It's the best of her both worlds!
What's In a Name?
Tim and I had a much harder time choosing names, both boy and girl, for Baby Punkin. Not to say choosing Addison was a breeze, but since we were so happy and continue to LOVE the name Addison, the pressure was on to find another name that we'd love just as much. We dug deep to come up with a good list - pulling from everywhere. We came up with our initial list, then took a break for a several weeks, then added some more. And it was in that second round that Eden was added, along with a few others, to round out the list. It didn't click with either of us right away, but gradually the name Eden kept popping off the list to me, just like Addison did.
Where the name came from was back when I worked at Drum Corps International - my first job out of college, one of my coworkers had a sister named Eden. I never met this sister, but recall thinking that name was cool - sorta like a "hippie" name, very cute and innocent sounding. But that was in 2004, and the name never crossed my mind again - even when we were name searching for Addison.
What I liked about the name Eden, aside from the above mentioned traits, is that it would sound cute with Addison. Addison and Eden - Addie & Edie. Albeit confusing sometimes, we get tongue-tied saying Addison or Eden, I still like how they go together.
Eden officially means: "Paradise". Its origin is Hebrew and in 2011 was #198 on the baby names list.
Of course, it also references the Garden of Eden, so I loved the Biblical tie to this name. Another side reference to the name Eden is Phantom Regiment's 2011 production entitled "Juliet" (a Romeo & Juliet theme) featured a selection "East of Eden."
And the cherry on top - just recently we went to Milwaukee for a weekend visit with friends and had a picnic at Alcott Park, which is around the corner from where I grew up on Morgan Ave in Milwaukee. As we rounded the corner from my old house to where Alcott Park is located, I see a street sign saying "Eden Place"!! So, not only was this street behind my childhood home (where I lived until I was 8) but also the street my pre-school and kindergarten was on along with many other fond childhood memories from Alcott Park - but this was also the street where family friends of ours, the Yonts' lived in their time in Milwaukee when all of us were kids.
So, just like how Tim grew up off of Addison St. in Chicago, which was a "cherry on top" when picking that name, now we know that I grew up around the corner from Eden Place in Milwaukee!
