Back to reality around the corner

It's been over four months since I've been to my office.  I walked out, or rather waddled out, of the office on August 20th filled with anticipation of the pending birth of my daughter.  A little over two weeks later, she was here and I have loved every moment of getting to be with her all day long over the last 3+ months.  However, our continual time together is almost over as I am about to assume a new title - Working Mother - in less than two weeks. 

When I found out I was pregnant last January, I struggled with deciding what I should do for work when the baby was born.  Not only was I exhausted from being in my first trimester, but also from what CPA's know at "busy season" - the stretch of several months where you basically work seven days a week for long hours under stressful, time constrained conditions.  Sounds great, huh?  I don't really know why we torture ourselves, but we do.  Last year was one of my worst busy seasons I've had since I started working in terms of drama, stress and sheer exhaustion.  Needless to say, the idea of staying at home had its appeal back then.  However, never having had a child before, it was hard for me to predict back in the spring if I would really enjoy being out of the workforce to become a stay at home mom after knowing only the work ritual for seven years.

I enjoy being with other adults and I work with a group of really great people, so I knew I would miss the daily interaction too much.  I know about mommy groups and have been able to participate in various play dates with other moms while on my leave.  While those have been great, I have observed that the conversation topics with stay at home moms tend to be approximately 90% about their children.  I'm definitely not saying there is anything wrong with this and, of course, it makes sense.  But for me, I want something else that I can discuss with Geoff at the dinner table beyond how many poopy diapers Olivia had for the day.  So, after much prayer, I became at peace with the decision to continue working after the baby was born.

I also decided to continue to work at PwC instead of searching for another job with more normalized hours for several reasons: 1) PwC maternity leave is really good.  When I return to work, I will have had 4 1/2 months off, fulling paid for;  and 2) PwC offers me the opportunity for a part time, flexible working schedule outside of busy season, which is not something most other jobs out there can offer me.  So my hope is to only be working three days a week by the beginning of May if not sooner.

As for childcare for Olivia, it has been a point of much frustration over the last few months and I will spare you all the gory details.  The main news is that we have hired a sweet lady named Romelia to be our nanny.  I think she will be an excellent caregiver for Olivia.  At the previous family she was employed by, she was the caregiver of a girl from 6 weeks old until she was 3.  From the reports given by both Romelia and the other family, Romelia and the girl became very attached and the little girl was upset when the family had to move overseas and couldn't take Romelia with them.  I hope Olivia is able to form a similar bond with her as well. 

I'll give a blog update in a few weeks regarding the transition.  I know it will be hard and hopefully I won't cry too much! :) 

No wonder she's getting so big!