Work-life balance
First, many thanks to those of you who made such sweet comments about my most recent blog post. My younger self really did want to be an English teacher/editor/writer. In college, I realized that while I might be good at many of those things, my passion lied elsewhere... but that doesn't mean I don't enjoy writing on the side. I've started delving into grant writing at work, but admittedly, it's a little formulaic and methodical for my taste (still story-telling, but of a different nature. It's certainly less personal). That said, I'm thankful for blogging as an outlet--I'm happy to share my thoughts with all of you and I am so glad you enjoy them!
I don't know about all of you, but last month, nearly every magazine that showed up in my mailbox was focused on the New Year (pretty typical). And a topic that came up a whole, whole lot was balance. Particularly work-life balance. This was pretty darn timely for me. Since little Lyla took up residence in my uterus nearly 6 months ago (gah! it's happening so fast!), this has often been on my mind. I don't know that I've ever given this much thought to work-life balance. When Jake and I started seriously dating again, I did kick my habit of checking work emails after hours and over the weekend, but since then, it hasn't been much of an issue.
I have known for a very long time that I would be a working mom. I don't know exactly when I knew this. Maybe as early as 8th grade, when I was voted 'Most Likely to Succeed' by my peers. Maybe I realized it in college. I most certainly knew it when I committed to spending two years of my time and energy (and a whole lot of cash) investing in my Master's degree. Like a growing number of women in this country, I am our family's main income earner. My reality is that I will be a working wife and mama.
That doesn't mean that our reality is going to be easy. Or that I really love it. It just is. I like my job. I'd like to think that I'm good at my job. And I really love the people I work with. But I am going to relish all 12 of those weeks off with our baby girl. When I do go back to work, the plan for now is for Jake and I to both reduce our hours a bit--whether that means we each go down to 36 or 32 hours, we don't know yet. Ideally, we'll both scale back to 4 day work weeks and anchor them at each end of the week. Best case scenario, I'll work Monday-Thursday and Jake can cover Tuesday-Friday, so that Lyla will only be in child care 3 days a week, and we'll each get our own day to spend with her, plus have weekends together as a family. All things considered, I'm pretty thankful that our workplaces are flexible and accommodating and that we can both work nearly full-time without having to put Lyla in childcare full-time. If any of you working moms out there have any nuggets of advice, I'd sure appreciate it! I'm anticipating that it's going to be a pretty big adjustment for all of us.
Also, childcare is a competitive and expensive business, folks (at least in our town). Good night. The quality centers in town have long waiting lists. The one located here on campus is TWO YEARS long. Someone actually told me they were on their list before they even conceived. Yikes. I am very much a planner and am typically really on top of things, but I am a little behind the curve on this one. I started calling places in January for the end of August, and they said the sooner I can get in for tours and paperwork, the better. I'm getting my booty in gear, people!
Lastly, I've not been so great about including belly bump photos in recent posts (sorry!). Here are a couple shots of the bump in recent weeks (I'm 23 weeks + 2 days now):
I don't know about all of you, but last month, nearly every magazine that showed up in my mailbox was focused on the New Year (pretty typical). And a topic that came up a whole, whole lot was balance. Particularly work-life balance. This was pretty darn timely for me. Since little Lyla took up residence in my uterus nearly 6 months ago (gah! it's happening so fast!), this has often been on my mind. I don't know that I've ever given this much thought to work-life balance. When Jake and I started seriously dating again, I did kick my habit of checking work emails after hours and over the weekend, but since then, it hasn't been much of an issue.
I have known for a very long time that I would be a working mom. I don't know exactly when I knew this. Maybe as early as 8th grade, when I was voted 'Most Likely to Succeed' by my peers. Maybe I realized it in college. I most certainly knew it when I committed to spending two years of my time and energy (and a whole lot of cash) investing in my Master's degree. Like a growing number of women in this country, I am our family's main income earner. My reality is that I will be a working wife and mama.
That doesn't mean that our reality is going to be easy. Or that I really love it. It just is. I like my job. I'd like to think that I'm good at my job. And I really love the people I work with. But I am going to relish all 12 of those weeks off with our baby girl. When I do go back to work, the plan for now is for Jake and I to both reduce our hours a bit--whether that means we each go down to 36 or 32 hours, we don't know yet. Ideally, we'll both scale back to 4 day work weeks and anchor them at each end of the week. Best case scenario, I'll work Monday-Thursday and Jake can cover Tuesday-Friday, so that Lyla will only be in child care 3 days a week, and we'll each get our own day to spend with her, plus have weekends together as a family. All things considered, I'm pretty thankful that our workplaces are flexible and accommodating and that we can both work nearly full-time without having to put Lyla in childcare full-time. If any of you working moms out there have any nuggets of advice, I'd sure appreciate it! I'm anticipating that it's going to be a pretty big adjustment for all of us.
Also, childcare is a competitive and expensive business, folks (at least in our town). Good night. The quality centers in town have long waiting lists. The one located here on campus is TWO YEARS long. Someone actually told me they were on their list before they even conceived. Yikes. I am very much a planner and am typically really on top of things, but I am a little behind the curve on this one. I started calling places in January for the end of August, and they said the sooner I can get in for tours and paperwork, the better. I'm getting my booty in gear, people!
Lastly, I've not been so great about including belly bump photos in recent posts (sorry!). Here are a couple shots of the bump in recent weeks (I'm 23 weeks + 2 days now):
 |
| 20 weeks |
 |
| 22 weeks |
Comments
Post a Comment