First week back

5 hours, 15 minutes and 23, 22, 21, seconds remaining until it is the weekend for me. I'm sure lots of people have started similar countdowns today. It's Friday. It's a long weekend. It's the weekend of the 4th of July, so everyone wants to get out of the office, start the grills, grab a cold beer, and relax. Though, for me the weekend isn't just about the holiday or the traveling to visit friends or the fireworks. For me, the weekend means I get to spend lots of time with Baby Em again. You see this is my first week back to work after 12 wonderful weeks of maternity leave with Baby Em.

Yes, I am one of those mothers that made the tough decision to go back to work after having a baby. Reasons for doing so you ask? Well, part of it was for the extra income, part of it was because I needed to be able to do something everyday, part of it was because I wanted to have adult interactions again, and part of it, well, there are a million different parts to my reason for choosing to go back. But on the flip side there were also a million different parts for wanting to stay home with Baby Em all day too. Parts like Baby Em is the most adorable baby there is (not biased or anything), Baby Em is just starting to coo and talk, Baby Em has the cutest smile, who likes work anyways, we can make things work on one salary (maybe) and the list goes on and on. However, in the end, work won out (for now).

So how was the first week? It mostly went as expected. I was a little overwhelmed during the first few days of the week. When you're gone for 12 weeks there is a lot of catching up to do. There are emails and phone calls to return, you need to learn all about the company changes (if there any), you need to answer a million questions about your baby (these are questions I don't mind answering), and in general just get into that work routine again, which is extremely different than the Mommy routine. I also had the added stress of having to reorganize my office. My department moved suites while I was on leave so I returned to find everything of mine packed away in boxes. It's very hard to answer emails when you don't know where files and notes are located anymore.

Do I miss Baby Em? Do I feel guilty for leaving her? The answer to both of those questions is yes, everyday!! But I came armed with framed pictures and I saved videos onto my work computer so I can "see" Baby Em everyday. And I tell myself not too be to hard on myself. I'm back working so that Baby Em and I and Daddy can do lots of fun things when we have long weekends like the one coming up. We know that we will just have to make the most of these weekends that I'm working for.

And look at that, only 4 hours and 45 minutes to go until the weekend.