Well, Jose is back at work today.
Booo!
It was awesome to have him at home with me for almost a month of my maternity leave. He was only able to take 2 weeks off work when Emma was born, so 3.5 weeks this time — combined with Charlotte’s generally contented disposition — felt downright luxurious. And while we were more active over the past week or so, for the most part we took it easy. Read books. Took a couple walks. Watched a lot of TV. Ate a lot of snacks.
I’ve got another 9 weeks before I head back to the office myself, and since I won’t have any adult company on weekdays, I can’t help but think about how to spend that time. Charlotte has been so easy-going thus far that I can’t help but get a little optimistic, and while I promised myself that I wouldn’t suffer from too much self-induced pressure to “get stuff done”…it’s also hard to ignore the fact that I will likely never have this long of a stretch of time off work ever again.
Soooo like an idiot, I started making a maternity leave wish list of sorts — emphasis on the WISH. I’m not going to post the whole thing here, but it’s got everything from craft projects (finish Elizabeth’s quilt, start on a Christmas stocking for Charlotte) to home decor (finish Charlotte’s room, organize our new living room bookshelves) to home improvement (add a light to the pantry, upgrade a few cabinets with roll-out drawers).
But don’t worry, because there are plenty of fun activities on the list too. Walks around the neighborhood with Charlotte, of course, now that the weather is getting nicer. Visiting the library with Emma — we’ve never been! Meeting friends for lunch when they’re free. I’d like to go to the Bayou City Art Festival next month and the Armand Bayou fall festival in November as a family, and join Emma on her first field trip to the Fall Festival at Froberg’s Farm in a few weeks. And Halloween!
In any case, I know the next 9 weeks will fly by no matter how much or little I do, and I hereby do solemnly swear to NOT beat myself up over this list. Whatever I accomplish is good enough!
Are you planning to cross stitch her stocking? Where do you get your patterns? I want to make one for Elizabeth but Joann’s didn’t have any in store. I was going to look online but thought I’d ask you.
Yes, I’m doing another cross stitch one — my intention is to have it done by Christmas 2016, not this year, since they take a while. I got both Emma’s and Charlotte’s from Amazon!