Let's Be Honest...

In light of recent articles regarding pregnant working mothers - Yahoo's New CEO Is Pregnant - I've really been questioning my motives for continuing to work.  If you are a first time mom, this has probably been on your mind for a while.

There's a couple of factors that I think weigh in when you try to decide - What Kind of Mom am I?

• Do I want to stay home?  This is probably one of the hardest things to consider, and depends a lot on how you were raised, what type of job environment you currently work in, and how you value yourself as a person.  For me, I grew up with a stay at home mom of 4, I was the oldest.  My mother was fantastic, the epitomy of all things "stay at home."  She baked, cooked, cleaned, taught (we began homeschooling when I was... 14?) and I still admire her for the strength she had to do so, especially with my dad in the military and deployed often.  So, there is a part of me that wants to provide this type of childhood (and not miss out on it) for my children.  But there is also another part of me that remembers the stress she went through, being around kids all day long (don't get me wrong, some people LOVE kids, but I value my adult interaction time).  Granted, I only have 1.5 children, but I'm just not sure me and my little monster ;) would get along all day every day.  I do still feel the pull to be home, but I love my job and want to keep at it.
• Can I stay home and our family remain financially stable? This is the biggie for a lot of families nowadays - is staying home even an option?  Remember when you are weighing the pros and cons to really dig deep to come up with all costs associated with staying home/working.  Remember you will need someone to take care of your children while you work, depending on where they go - there may be extra costs such as gas.  Often, daycares do not allow sick children (ie., What will you do if your child is sick, take off from work?  How will your employer handle that?).  Does your employer require a certain level of dress (ie., will you be able to shop for suits from discount stores or is Nordstrom the norm?).  Just some things to consider if you said Yes to the first question.

So - the whole reason I even headed in this direction was to talk about cost savings.  Unless you are Mrs. Yahoo CEO (see above article link), you are probably working to stay this much ahead of where you would be if you stayed home.  And in that case, cost savings is always on the mind.  Stay tuned - maybe I'll actually get around to posting about what I do in less than a week!

Approved!

So - after talking with my employers, they've approved my proposal for coming back to work with baby!  Fantastic!  Step one out of the way!  Shower is in 2 weeks, we'll see what we get then and what I need to bring to work with me.  I may be able to get some of the costs shared, since most employers are required by law to provide a place for a woman to breastfeed/pump that isn't the bathroom.  I'm thinking I'll need a nice plush rocker for that:

Nice huh?  We'll see, maybe I can find one on craigslist or ebay for considerably less.  I was also thinking about donating one to our meeting hall.  We have 3 women due in the next 6 months and no breastfeeding amenities!  Boppys, rockers, changing supplies.  I think I'll build a stash there AND here.

On another note - I know not everyone is as fortunate as me in being able to bring baby to work, or even get a decent amount of time off to bond with baby.  In case you've been looking for info, check out the working moms group here: http://community.babycenter.com/groups/a185/working_moms.  There are probably lots of other moms asking the same questions!

PS - If you are interested in more detail as to what/how to present to your employer who may be interested in allowing baby at work, feel free to message me and I'll be happy to share!

Leaving you with another Izzy @ work photo:

Childcare, Childcare, Childcare!

So here we go again - to my constant subject of childcare.  We're really getting down to the wire (I'm due end of August) and we still can't really decide what we want to do.  I'm leaning towards bringing baby in to work with me as I did the first one and keeping Izzy at home.  All preschools in this area are a little cheaper than what we pay my brother, and Izzy doesn't turn 4 until Nov anyway.  Plus, there's the "risk" factors.  Many childcare places will not take your child when they're sick, not past certain hours, etc.  And unfortunately our lives are just too unpredictable.  My husband works 3 hours away so I have no back-up if she should need to be picked up for whatever reason.  My brother said he'd be willing to stay on another year, which is great.  We are going to give her a little more structure and see how things go.
As far as bringing the baby into work, I was thinking of this:

• Four weeks maternity leave
• Come back to work alone 2, 3, 4, 5 days per week to extend over first month back
• Start bringing baby in for 5 days a week, 1st month
• 4 days a week 2nd month
• 3 days a week 3rd month
• 2 days a week 4th month
• 1 day a week 5th month

By this time baby will be 6 months old and I think I'd be ok leaving her with her sister and uncle at that point. I will be breastfeeding the whole time, so I'll probably voluntarily extend my hours to cover the extra time spent with baby.  Also hoping that my brother will have his own vehicle by then, giving me a little freedom if she needs to be picked up.  With this in mind, I now need to get together my proposal for employers.  They were so wonderful last time I really want to just lay out everything this time to show I am committed to my new duties and what to expect from me with the baby.  We have a few empty offices here, so I am going to ask to turn one into a nursery (and then I just freaked out because we don't even have a nursery ready at home yet!).  So I need to think of the things I will need to have here:

• Diaper Pail
• Diapers
• Wipes
• Breastpump
• Swing
• Extra Clothes
• Crib/Pack N Play
• Bouncer Seat
• Toys

I think I need to add some things to my registry!  I do think we have some stuff still in basement from Izzy, maybe those things will do for office items.   Oh dear!  I better spend the next 10 min or so looking over what I've got.  Meanwhile - here is a great pic of Izzy at the office when she was little, and yes, she is sitting in a file cabinet (it's work-themed Anne Geddes style):

I'm blaming work for this one.....

I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes last Thursday. Guess the glucose test brought out a weakness. But, I realized that I've found another challenge of being a working mom. Balance! I know we all try to balance everything, but how often do you get the time to make sure YOU'RE eating healthy? I've always made sure my daughter gets what nutrition she needs, and I really just try to get my husband to add a little variety (although I am very proud of how far he's come in 6 years, he still has a ways to go). But me? I try and try with diets and workouts and it never works. Something always comes up. I'm always too busy, never have time. With this pregnancy I thought I was doing much better food wise, but after truthfully admitting how often I grab a bag of chips, eat cake, cookies, etc, I can see its improved but isn't that great. And I've decided to blame it on work! :). Obviously we all know that working in an office environment can be detrimental to your health. You're supposed to get up, stretch, eat healthy snacks, drink lots of water, yada yada yada. I let myself get sucked into my work so much that I skip breaks, take lunch in front of my computer, and often forget to drink the amount of water I should. BUT! I've realized that I have been overlooking what could be just what I need! At work, although I am busy, during my breaks, I have little interruptions. My 1/2 hour lunch is a perfect amount of time for a short walk or a quick round of prenatal strength training in an empty office. No toddler whining at my feet, no dinner to make, no house to clean. Could I ask for a better environment to get in the exercise I need? And diet-wise? Well, I'm still at a disadvantage there. All the guys I work with are junk food snackers. So there's a kitchen filled with chips, cookies, sodas and candy. Not so good for the diabetes. BUT THERE'S ANOTHER BUT! With all these junk food snackers, I can open a bag of chips or cookies, eat a very small amount to satisfy a craving - and then GIVE IT TO THEM! How awesome is that? Eat what I can have and the opened package isn't sitting on my desk staring at me or making me cringe when I throw away the rest! Win-win! Of course, I also need to be more proactive at home, setting aside the time I need to prepare healthy snacks and meals to bring with me to work. Speaking of which.....I should probably get going. Need to boil some eggs!

I know, I'm a horrible blogger....

But you know what? I have a full time job, family, house and I try to keep a little time to myself, sooooo I don't feel THAT bad. Besides, today is payback, I'm sitting at the doctors office taking my glucose test. Yuck! I guess if you like orange fanta it might not be so bad but I really can't stand the stuff. Update on baby? She's doing well, quite the kicker already. Izzy is really starting to understand and last night she even had her own mini toddler panic attack about the baby. We recently brought her old crib into Izzys room and were going to set it up but we forgot. So last night Izzy grabs me and says, "mommy, what are we going to do? The baby's going to come and her bed is not set up!". I assure her we have plenty of time to set up the bed :) Today's topic? Where is the prenatal support in Harrisburg!? I'm really slacking on my workouts and wanted to sign up for some classes. Lo and behold - there is one place that offers prenatal yoga and it's in Camp Hill! When we tried to get a 3d ultrasound? Closest place was Lemoyne! I believe there is a mommy group, I'll have to do a little more research in that area. Maybe I should start my own pregnancy support center? For the time being I suppose I will have to just keep trucking along at home. Squeezing in what I can. Anyone out there know something I don't? Oops - got to get going. Time to see the doctor!

Back from the desert....

Well - I'm back from my vacation in the desert - enjoy the random photo from the pool and the gorgeous pic of the mountains on my walk to the restaurant for dinner.  Yes, I'm back.  And I am exhausted.  Did I mention it was my bright idea to bring my 3 year old to San Diego to stay with close friends while I skipped over to Palm Desert?  Although the trip over was a breeze - the trip back was full of cranky toddler behavior begetting cranky mommy attitude.  Along with her and I being on west coast time and not sleeping until past midnight, this return to work on Wednesday is really dragging me down!

I always feel more accomplished after resting for a bit - a renewed sense of vigor pushes me to do more than I usually manage to get done.  But alas, I was welcomed home to 2 full days of emails, a dirty house, and nearly-dead plants (which I've been trying so hard to keep alive!).  So here I go into cleaning, planning and overload mode where I try to get as much done in the next few days until my husband gets home on Friday,  so that my daughter and I can spend quality time for the 2-3 short days he is home.  After work - it is straight home to clean house, car, room, etc.

Ever since my daughter was born I have struggled with this balancing act.  Work at first was a part of every minute of my day (see previous post), but now consists mostly of my 8am-4:30pm day, with 10-15 minutes on each side for travel to and from.  I try to leave work behind when I get home and focus on whatever is needed there - first is usually dinner since I am soooo hungry.   My brother is pretty good about having dinner ready by 5, so after eating it is my choice - relax or clean.  Tonight is going to = clean.  Kitchen needs to be cleaned up, old food taken out of fridge, stock taken of what food we have so we can make a menu and grocery list for the next week.  That means tomorrow evening will be taken up with couponing as I try to find the best deals in my area (unfortunately my local grocery stores are not covered by all the do-it-for-you couponing sites).  The last few weeks I've found some great deals and have stocked up on bathroom essentials enough that I can wait until prices are down to 80% off before buying more!  Yay!  Anyway - looks like my break is up.  Will let you know how my plan worked tomorrow!

Long Needed Vacation

Well, I'm already slacking on my blogging. I intended to get to this at least 3 times a week, and I'm already behind! Such is the life! A lot has happened personally in the last week, giving me the urge to take my "baby moon" early and with my mom. Sitting at the pool in Palm Desert for the time being. Going on 6 hrs, and it feels good. Having some means for a nice few days out here has given me much needed R&R. I think this is a widely overlooked aspect of any mom hood profession. Take a break! And don't feel guilty about it! I work my butt off for my company and I do my best to keep my household happy and running smoothly. Turn it into a vacation for the kids - Funtime at grandma's or aunt's house where they can be spoiled. If your spouse is available, go together! If not, go with a friend! Just take a breather, have some good food, a good time, and come back to the everyday grind with a fresh and clear mentality.