Back to Work

Deep breath. The time has come. Tomorrow reality hits again as second semester begins and I head back to teaching. Originally my maternity leave was only supposed to be six weeks, maybe a bit longer if I used some sick days. There were a lot of reasons it didn't seem to make sense to go back at the end of November for the rest of the semester. I knew I would never be able to get this time back with Kylie and that was most important to Ryan and me. It wasn't an easy sell to the school administrators, but eventually we came to an agreement that I would be allowed to take an extended leave through the end of the semester. Tack on a two-week Christmas break, and you get fourteen wonderful weeks I got to spend with my baby girl!

I wouldn't trade this time for anything. I have loved our lazy mornings when I could watch my sleepy girl wake up, slow stretch, and smile at her mama. I could just sit and watch her nap, snuggle every afternoon, and welcome daddy home from work together. I will certainly miss these everyday moments.

While I do worry how Kylie will adjust to daycare, it will probably be easier on her than me! To say I am anxious about going back to work would be an understatement. I have always had a heavy teaching load which has required me to spend a lot of hours after school planning, grading, and taking care of anything else that comes up. We are blessed to have a daycare provider who will pick Kylie up from Lincoln Lutheran in the morning and drop her off at the end of the day. However that also means that I will have little to no extra time at the end of the day. Plus, with Ryan heading into his busy tax season he will often be gone in the evenings, leaving my school work to be done after Kylie has gone to bed. Not to mention keeping up the house. Whew...I am trying to remember to just take it one day at a time, work with Ryan to get into a new routine, and enjoy the moments I do get with Kylie. I have been relying on two of my favorite Bible verses for strength and peace regarding the situation, "I can do all things through him who gives me strength." (Phil. 4:13) and "Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you." (1 Peter 5:7)

So while we adjust to this change in our lives I hope to still be able to fill you in on what is happening via our blog, but the posts will most likely be fewer and further in between. A great reminder of why I am doing this can be found in the video below. I ran across this song a couple months ago, and have been meaning to share it. Word of warning though, it's a tear-jearker (at least in my emotional state)!