I'm about to enter my last week of maternity leave and I can't help but be sad about it. Can't I just sit and watch Oscar all day until he's like 10 months old and getting into everything? My sister, Michelle, and I were were agreeing how babies are so fun from about 3 - 10 mos. They pretty much can't do anything wrong!
I quietly laughed to myself this week as I had to submit 5 vacation days for my maternity leave (common practice). Maternity leave is so far from a vacation, it's not even funny. Unless you like vacationing and not sleeping. But, given this was my second go at this "leave" from work, I knew I needed to take advantage of some added flexibility. Here are the FUN things that come with maternity leave:
1. Impromptu pedicures - what to do when your BFF calls at 1:00 in the afternoon and says she's on the way to the nail salon with her newborn? Uh, drop everything and join her, of course!
2. TV catch up - I'm a DVR hoarder. I admit it. I have great intentions to watch all these TV shows that everyone talks about, but usually what happens is I record them, never find time to watch them, then get overwhelmed when I see 10 episodes of one show (not to mention several shows) piling up on the DVR. Well, thank you, breast feeding! 30-minute breaks six times a day/night makes for a great way to get through that pesky DVR. I'm all caught up on so many shows... to the point that Chris went to Poker Night in the neighborhood a couple weeks ago and I wondered what I was going to watch b/c I had nothing left on the DVR!
3. Lunch with friends (and wine) - Ok, of course I can go have lunch while I'm working. But, for some reason it's so leisurely when I'm not working. And of course there is the occasional glass of wine, which is always a treat.
4. No make-up and workout attire - I raved about this during my first maternity leave. I have zero shame when it comes to wearing no make up. I do not even care one bit. It's to the point that Chris notices when I have some on :) And let's not mistake wearing workout clothes for actually working out. Yup, I'm that mom.
While I'm going to miss these little perks tremendously, I'm truly going to miss all the QT I've been able to spend with Oscar. I know he's going to thrive at his school but I hate "missing" stuff. I think I question every single day that I'm doing the right thing, whether that's how many times Oscar has slept that day to these bigger decisions like me working full time. I have to remind myself that there is no perfect formula and a happy mommy = happy baby. Walt seems to have turned out ok so far :)
