Thriving is Elegant: Whew! That Wasn't So Bad! (Week 9)

Well, thankfully, I was right. The anticipation of my return to work was far worse than the actual experience. In fact, dare I say it... I'm actually enjoying being back at work which is something I never thought I'd say in a million years. So, now that you know the ending, here's the full story.

Sunday night Jay and I dropped Lily off at Grandma's house for a sleep over. We had decided that this would be the easiest for everyone. It would allow me to get a really good night's sleep and then just get up and go on Monday morning without having to deal with the separation.

Sunday night was very hard!! I cried and cried!! I told Turtle that I loved her over and over. I promised her that I'd be back soon and asked her not to forget me. Jay reminded me that I was just starting back to work during the day and not going off to war or dying! Unsympathetic bastard! ;-) I cried most of the way home and then on and off the rest of the evening. It was nice though. Jay and I were able to have a few minutes to ourselves. We took the dog out together and had a glass of wine on the back deck. We snuggled into bed and turned off the light not having to worry if the baby would sleep through the night or wake us up wanting in our bed.

Monday morning I woke up and had no responsibilities other than getting myself ready to go to work. And surprisingly I didn't even cry since I had gotten the separation over with the night before. I got out of the house on time, stopped for breakfast on the way, and pulled into work. Everyone was so happy to see me and wanted to catch up. I had been on temporary status the whole time I was pregnant so my supervisor, the office manager and I filled out my official permanent paperwork and I was hired as a company employee. My project managers were so happy to see me and ready to hand over work to me almost immediately. It felt so nice to be wanted and appreciated. The only thing anyone was worried about was that I would decide not to come back to work.

I had plenty of work to catch up on and the day just flew by. As the afternoon wore on I found myself anticipating 5 o'clock as if it were Christmas. I didn't resent being back, I didn't feel trapped and tortured, I just felt so excited and thankful for the opportunity to be going home to my Turtle that evening! And believe it or not, it wasn't a fluke.

I think part of the reason why I can actually enjoy my time away is because we have such great childcare. My mom (who raised 4 of her own) is taking care of Lily for us during the day. She's a full time tutor and therefore has a flexible schedule consisting mostly of evenings and weekends so it works out perfectly. We also pay her as well. She is in heaven! I haven't seen her this happy in years and I think that makes it even better. She loves spending time with Lily and is a much better at it than I am. I spent most of my maternity leave trying to convince Turtle to go to sleep so I could do the dishes or laundry or something. My mom spends the day taking her out on the back deck and talking about the squirrels and birds. She reads to Lily and gives her time to play on her changing table. They are just the best of buds and I find myself thankful that I can give my mom this opportunity instead of resentful of the time she spends with Lily.

So the whole week was blissfully uneventful. The weekend was crazy busy though. We had a birthday dinner on Saturday night for our friend Shannon. Her family hadn't gotten to meet Lily yet so there was lots of pass-the-baby played. Then Sunday some good friends stopped off on their way through town. Aimie is our friend Dan's biological sister. (Dan was adopted as an infant.) They found each other a few years ago and have been great friends ever since. Aimie's husband is Navy and they live in the Norfolk, VA area where Jay was stationed (and I lived) the last 9 months of his Navy career. Aimie was one of my only friends when I lived up there and I spent hours and hours with her and her kids while Jay was out to sea. I was so happy for her to get to meet Lily!

Traveling with two adults, three children, and a small dog is never easy though and they were running later than expected. (Well, later than they expected. I knew better. Hehe.) So, Lily and I took a nap on Dan and Shannon's couch while the boys watched YouTube videos.