This past week was my first official week back to work. As I had mentioned on here previously, I took 6 weeks of actual maternity leave and then 6 weeks of working from home. Monday I went back to the office, but with a new schedule. Now I will be working in the office on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and I'll be working from home on Tuesday and Thursday.
We have been really fortunate, and up until now, my mom had kept Bailey while Nick and I worked. She even continued watching her after she decided to go back to school to get her nursing degree. She had been working on her general education classes, and was able to take evening and weekend classes. She finished up this spring and was accepted into nursing school, which means she will be in class all day 4 days a week. I am beyond proud of her and excited for her! Of course, with her new schedule it meant we had some decisions to make. We looked into child care briefly and just couldn't swallow the cost, especially with two kiddos. Then I got to thinking that since my bosses were being kind enough to let me work from home for part of my extended maternity leave, that maybe they would allow me to do a couple days a week once my leave was over. After discussing it and figuring out a plan, they were on board! Tuesday and Thursday seemed like the best days because Bailey will be starting half day preschool in the fall on those days, and this way I will be able to take her and pick her up myself. And with her at school for the morning and Peyton (hopefully!) napping, I'll be able to really focus on work.
Nick's mom will be keeping the girls on Wednesdays, but as of right now we don't have anything lined up for Mondays. We thought it was covered, and then realized it wasn't. Right now he is home for summer, so we have a little time to figure things out. I think I could probably work from home that day as well, but Mondays are always such a busy day trying to catch everything up from the weekend, that I think it would be a little hard.
I was nervous about going back on Monday, but I am loving this new set up! Before I always felt guilty about not getting to spend enough quality time with Bailey during the week, and I was really worried about how hard it would be with two girls needing attention. With this schedule I don't feel guilty when leaving for work because I know I have two whole days during the week to spend time with them. And on the days I work I feel more focused because, again, no guilt! And to be completely honest, it has been so nice to go into the office and enjoy some quiet time with my coffee before everything gets going.
I feel so lucky to have this opportunity to spend more time with the girls while still helping provide for my family and feeling like a productive member of the world outside the Maxwell house!
1 comment:
Perfect! I'm so glad you're getting to spend some time at home. Hopefully you'll get more work done at home than my husband does! He's not real focused though, so the distractions aren't good for him.
If you still need something on Mondays, there's a place called Creation Kingdom that will let you go just a few days a week. I'm not sure if they'll let you do just 1 but it might be a thought. Colin goes to one of the ones in Lexington and it's been great since he only goes 3 days a week.
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