Today is the day I officially return to work. It’s cold and rainy out, so I’m extra grateful that returning back to work consists of me turning on my work laptop in my office as opposed to the personal laptop I’ve been working off the last 4 months.
Sometimes I think I manifested this type of work environment because in my 20s I never saw myself working the traditional corporate life after I had kids. In fact, when I was pregnant with our first child, Daniel and I both left the workforce because we both wanted to spend more time with our baby, not stuck in hour-long commutes each way or being forced to make small talk with colleagues. Back in 2019, neither of us were in tech and remote work was not an option (though perhaps we should’ve/could’ve looked harder to make it happen), so in our minds, our only option was to quit and figure it out later.
Even though we absolutely relished the break we got to take, and the ultimate gift of time and freedom we had in the first year and half (me) to two and a half years (Daniel) of Olivia’s life, it wouldn’t be practical to do it every time we have a baby since it would derail our plans to provide a secure financial future for the entire family. I feel very fortunate that with Chloe, I’ve had four months of paid leave plus two additional PTO weeks. Even though I still believe maternity leave should be a year long like in Canada, I know what I have is considered very good for the States. While I definitely would not have been ready to start commuting to an office again, I don’t mind the few steps I have to take to reach my office and sign into a computer.
Chloe just turned 4 months, so we are still working on getting her on a nap schedule. She has a slight cold from her sister’s daycare germs, so that’s a bummer but it is very manageable with the combination of my mom being here to help and both Daniel and I working from home. So before I get back to work I just want to take a moment to mentally relive the last four months and truly appreciate the time to focus on baby Chloe. It’s been tiring but so much fun. I love my girls so much!!