When one door closes...or maybe it just stays open

After a relaxing Father's Day weekend, I am well into my last week of maternity leave.  Next week at the this time I will be settling back into the office, probably going through the mountains of email in my inbox.  Honestly it's a bittersweet feeling.  I've really enjoyed my time off and wouldn't mind staying at home, a completely different experience than I had at the end of my maternity leave with Katherine.  Maybe it's the confidence of doing this the second time but I also think it's because I'm more plugged in this time so I don't feel as isolated at home. Unfortunately the budget doesn't allow for this.

When I started back to work after having Katherine it was a BIG MOMENT to me.  End of a chapter, stop the presses, Beth is going back to work.  Funny how this time around when I think about it, it's more of a "Oh yeah, I have to show up at work on Monday."  Kind of like I also have to pick up some diapers this week and Katherine has to go to the dentist at the end of the month.  It's a date on the calendar and life continues before and after it.  My ever running to do list will continue, the baby I feed at 3am this week will be the baby I feed at 3am next week. Placing Teddy in daycare seems slightly less traumatic than with Katherine, probably because he'll be there with his big sister, they know us, we know them and they seem genuinely excited to have him.  And you know what?  It's a wonderful feeling.

It's also nice to know that that I can actually start using my vacation leave as, well, just that.  From the moment I started working, fresh out of graduate school, I started stockpiling my leave, knowing that we would be starting a family at some point.  I am fortunate that I am able to "bank" my vacation and sick leave at this job.  Any leave I had accrued could be using for maternity leave (we won't get into the issue of the current status of paid family leave in this country...at least in this blog post).  So for the past six years, I've been rather stingy about taking any sort of leave.  Vacation leave was used exclusively for family visits.  I had to been REALLY sick before I would even think of staying home for the day (again, topic for another blog post) because well, that time needed to be saved.  The result of this was that all but 25 hours of Katherine's maternity leave was paid and all but about 3 weeks of Teddy's leave was paid.  Not too shabby.  Now, of course, the clock starts back at zero...(another blog post...another blog post).  But at least I know we can actually start thinking about taking some family vacation time.

And while my maternity leave is ending, Katherine's summer is just getting rolling.  Papa and Gram Meagher arrive this week for a couple of days.  And when they leave their taking Miss K with them for a week and a half of fun in Massachusetts.  There will be a side trip to Sesame Place on the way up to there house (which, I checked out the website and boy am I jealous, that place isn't just for the little ones).  They'll return with her some time after the 4th.  We're also hoping to get Katherine back up to Papa and Gram Coberly's house this summer for swimming lessons.  The timing of the lessons in June was not the best for us due to the WV/OH trip and K's upcoming trip.  We're hoping she can catch them in July.  August will bring another trip up to WMass for her birthday and Teddy's Baptism.

So how is Mr. T doing?  Quite well.  I know he's probably still too young to expect him to roll over but boy has he been practicing in the last week.  Lay him down on the floor or in his crib and he will immediately go onto his side.  Ted and I have both commented that it doesn't seem like it will be long before he figures things out:

I'm feeling the need to have the camera ready at all times so we don't miss the big moment.