Office Visit

I took Claire into my office today to visit everybody and drop off some papers with HR. Everybody was so excited to see the sweet baby, all nestled in her sling. I processed some of the mail and email I'd gotten while I've been out these last five weeks, and got copies of the latest Circuit Rider ready to send out to the issue's contributors.

It was nice to see everybody and catch up on both business and personal news with people, (and of course it's fun to have people gush over my precious baby, four weeks old today) but what pleased me most was that it felt good to be there, that I didn't think "thank goodness I'm just here for a couple hours!" Rather, I thought about the day nearly six weeks from now when I'll return without my sweetie in tow, and I thought, "it's going to be okay."

As I did with Kate, I've already started feeling a little sad about the limited nature of maternity leave, though knowing I want to work and that being a SAHM would definitely not be the same as a happy-go-lucky maternity leave. I feel down when the days pass so quickly, these precious days of cuddling my newborn—and getting things done that are hard to squeeze in when I'm working. It's such a special time, and I cherish these days. It will be hard putting Claire in day care at two months old. But it's going to be okay.

Still, I couldn't help but think how easy it was to do work while holding Claire in the sling, and even breastfeed discreetly while continuing to work—and think "couldn't she just come with me for a month or two?" :0)