Back to Work . . . Again

September 6 marked the end of my maternity leave.  I love my job and I work for an incredible organization, but it has always been my hope to be a stay-at-home mom (period) not a stay-at-home/work-from-home mom. I was blessed with a very supportive supervisor and they were willing to let me try working from home after William was born. This was by far the hardest thing I had ever done. So, when we found out we were expecting again, I had my hopes on not having to go back to work at all.

We analyzed every aspect of our budget to see how we could make that happen or how to make my return to work easier. We had several plans that fell through or change and finally during the last week in August we figured it out. I would need to go back to work part-time and we found a preschool for William to attend each morning for 4 hours. It still meant I had to juggle a newborn and work but at least I wasn't wrangling a toddler all day too. I could share more of the struggles and emotions that came with this process, but that may need to be another post.

So on September 6, Chris drove William to preschool (in his new carseat that fit in the pickup!) and I went to work with a sixteen-week old baby. I did spend the first few days in the office to get acclimated to the work and my very new supervisor. And then for the most part, I've been at home behind my computer every moment that my baby was not in my arms. It is incredible that it still takes me literally all day to finish a part-time job. It's been a hard transition but it helps that William loves his preschool and my co-workers love me!

I really enjoyed my maternity leave. I took 16 weeks off, which was longer than I had meant to take, but that's what we needed to get our schedule figured out. I loved having my days with my boys and not having to plan anything I didn't have energy for. I loved being able to nap while they napped (which happened nearly every day). We stayed home a lot but made it to a few play dates and parks and even the story time at the library.  I still found myself juggling my attention between the two children and that was hard sometimes, but I was thankful I didn't have to juggle work at same time.

I'm grateful for my job. I'm so lucky to be able to do what I do from home. With children in the background . . . sometimes in the foreground! But if I'm honest with myself (and you) this is not how I wanted life to be at this stage. But I know that what I'm doing right now, although hard and not ideal is the very best thing for our family at this time.

September 6 marked the end of my maternity leave.  I love my job and I work for an incredible organization, but it has always been my hope to be a stay-at-home mom (period) not a stay-at-home/work-from-home mom. I was blessed with a very supportive supervisor and they were willing to let me try working from home after William was born. This was by far the hardest thing I had ever done. So, when we found out we were expecting again, I had my hopes on not having to go back to work at all.

We analyzed every aspect of our budget to see how we could make that happen or how to make my return to work easier. We had several plans that fell through or change and finally during the last week in August we figured it out. I would need to go back to work part-time and we found a preschool for William to attend each morning for 4 hours. It still meant I had to juggle a newborn and work but at least I wasn't wrangling a toddler all day too. I could share more of the struggles and emotions that came with this process, but that may need to be another post.

So on September 6, Chris drove William to preschool (in his new carseat that fit in the pickup!) and I went to work with a sixteen-week old baby. I did spend the first few days in the office to get acclimated to the work and my very new supervisor. And then for the most part, I've been at home behind my computer every moment that my baby was not in my arms. It is incredible that it still takes me literally all day to finish a part-time job. It's been a hard transition but it helps that William loves his preschool and my co-workers love me!

I really enjoyed my maternity leave. I took 16 weeks off, which was longer than I had meant to take, but that's what we needed to get our schedule figured out. I loved having my days with my boys and not having to plan anything I didn't have energy for. I loved being able to nap while they napped (which happened nearly every day). We stayed home a lot but made it to a few play dates and parks and even the story time at the library.  I still found myself juggling my attention between the two children and that was hard sometimes, but I was thankful I didn't have to juggle work at same time.

I'm grateful for my job. I'm so lucky to be able to do what I do from home. With children in the background . . . sometimes in the foreground! But if I'm honest with myself (and you) this is not how I wanted life to be at this stage. But I know that what I'm doing right now, although hard and not ideal is the very best thing for our family at this time.