I highly recommend taking a twelve week vacation from work, if you can. Even if you have to give birth to a baby to do it, it's worth it. I have, over the past three months, completely forgotten about work and it has been wonderful. I can't even remember what number to dial to check my work voice mail. I just hope my brain still works when I flip the switch from "mommy" to "employee" on Wednesday morning.
Some things we've done over the past few weeks, as my leave draws to an end.....
(1) Minh and Tai and I went to our first "Pampered Chef" party. For those of you who don't know, it's like a high-end tupperware party. It was "hosted" in the home of one of our childbirth class friends, so babies were welcome. Here's how it worked: some woman cooked a meal in front of us, all the while raving about each "Pampered Chef" bowl, knife, chopper, platter, etc that she used. Those of us with babies were mostly in the next room, not really paying attention. But we had no problem eating the food she cooked. Then, guilt set in, and we felt obligated to order something from the Pampered Chef catalog. Minh and I will soon be the proud owners a $9 pizza cutter and a $16 pair of kitchen shears (plus tax and shipping!)
(2) Tai has started daycare. Last week he did an hour one day and three hours the next day. It wasn't so much that he needed to practice being away from us, but that Minh and I needed to slowly get used to this new arrangement. I also needed to practice getting up at the crack of dawn to walk the dog and get myself showered and ready to go out the door by 7:15 -- no small feat. Today Tai went to daycare for six whole hours, which means I got to go to the mall and buy some new clothes for work (ahhh...pants that actually fit, that feels nice!)
(3) We've hired a dog-walker. She came by and "auditioned" tonight. She and Buttons hit it off right away. After about a half hour of chatting with her, we all went around the block together, so she could "test drive" Buttons. It went well. Even when Gus, the 100lb black lab with far more energy than any creature should have, came bounding down his driveway to slobber all over Buttons and jump on our dog-walker, she remained calm and handled the situation as well as anyone could expect. We hired her on the spot.
So, back to work I go. On a part-time basis, anyway. I'll try not to worry about Tai while he's at daycare. It's hard not to, though, when I think about that fact that we are paying someone $8/hr to walk the dog, but only paying $4.50/hr for daycare for our son. Somehow that doesn't seem quite right. But, my transition back into the world of work will undoubtedly be made easier by the knowledge that I have high-end kitchen utensils waiting for me at home.
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6 comments:
Good luck tomorrow - keep some kleenex handy. Each day will be easier and it'll all become just your daily routine.
Tomorrow you'll probably break the speed limit driving back home to see your boy! Give him kisses for me.
Let me comment on the pampered chef items...How could you not buy the measuring cup that pushes the peanut butter out so that it doesn't stick to the sides?? Did you see that? The first place I saw one of those was years ago from a friend's sister who sold pampered chef items. I wanted one for literally 10 years, but was never invited to a pampered chef party. Finally saw it at Crate and Barrell. Now I own it!
who MEASURES peanut butter???
The daycare thing does get easier.. and then harder again.. and then easier.. etc. One piece of advise I have for drop off is to let him know you're leaving, let him see you leave, and then hide in the bushes for 5 minutes and peek in again to see if he remembers you left. It usually takes Zach about 90 seconds or 2 mini pancakes to get completely over it. (It occasionally takes me the entire day). But whatever you do, don't let him see you peeking!
Did you ever make peanut butter cookies??
Go Padres!
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