Back To School

It has been a while since my last post and there is a good reason why...I went back to school work!  My six months of maternity leave ended on August 13th and it was bitter sweet.  I LOVED being able to stay at home with Parker for six months but honestly missed work.  I feel blessed to have a job that I honestly love and still enjoy.  Yes there are days I get frustrated with my job and days where I wish I was at home with little man.  But overall, I feel my passion is teaching and enjoy being in the classroom.  Teaching is a rewarding job and I cannot imagine doing anything else with my life.  Getting up, going to work, loving on my "school" babies, and feeling accomplished is something that makes me happy.  My Kindergarten students need my love and I need their love.  So for now being a Stay at Home Mom is not in my job description.  YES I LOVE being a mother and love spending whole days with Parker.  Right now though I still want to teach.  So that is my choice and I respect women who are Stay at Home Mommies.  I know some people will not understand that and that is okay.

I will say my choice to be a Working Mom was helped by the fact that my mommy, Parker's G, keeps him during the day.  I truly think that if I had to put him in childcare, I would have a harder time going back to work.  For that I know I am GREATLY BLESSED to have an amazing mother who will keep my son Monday-Friday 7:00-3:30.  I will be dedicate a whole post to her one day, she deserves it.  I could not do it without my mom.

So overall the transition has been extremely smooth.  Parker typically wakes up around 5:00am (although lately it is a little earlier!)  I feed him and then he goes back to sleep while I get ready.  I get ready and then we leave around 6:20am.  The great thing about the mornings is I do not have to get Parker ready in the mornings.  All I have to do is pick him up out of the bed and put him in the car, PJ's and all!  This helps greatly.  We then head to my parent's house and I drop him off with his G.  I try and leave work by 3:15 so that I can see his sweet face by 3:25.

Each week I pack a bag of his clothes that will last the whole week and leave them at with my mom.  That way I do not have to worry about outfits everyday.  My mom has bottles, formula, and baby food at her house.  So I do not have to worry about that either!  It really is great and once again I know that I am blessed for this situation.  I thank God all the time for allowing this to happen.

Another great aspect about having Grandmother Daycare is that I get pictures of Parker all day long!  We even Facetime each other during my breaks.  So I get to talk to him and see what he is up too.

Parker goes to Mother's Day Out three days a week for four hours.  This allows my mom to have a little bit of a break :)  It also allows him to socialize with other children, which I feel is important.  Overall, he seems to be adjusting to his new life great.

The only negative is me and time.  I am so used to be able to stay at school and get work done as long as I wanted.  I also would go up there many weekends and do some work.  Of course all of that is out of the question now because I want to spend time with Parker.  So I have been trying to be as productive during the day as possible.  I have been managing just fine with this but it is difficult some days.  I have a wonderful parent that helps me out every week with copies, so that helps greatly.

So overall going back to work has been great!  I think it allows me to really treasure all the moments I have with Parker.  I am counting down the days that he is ready for Kindergarten and can go to work with me and then I will get to see him all day long!

A HUGE thank you to my Mommy and Parker's G for offering to keep him.  You have no idea how much it means to me and him.  One day there will be a post dedicated just to you!  I love you mommy :)