My birthday and back to Work

I had a very nice birthday recently.  Nothing too special, but my sister wrote a very sweet blog for me.  We had roast beef for dinner, which I enjoyed very much (beef is usually my favorite meat, but ground beef is always my default because it is easy to fix).  My mom was visiting and we took Sean out shopping.  Sean was great; he slept the entire time.  I had wanted to go to a few different stores and maybe even stop in to get my hair cut, but I got tired by the time we were done at the first store.  I seem to enjoy shopping less and less as I get older and have more things to do, and I simply wanted to be at home where I could relax. 

The most special thing about my birthday was that it was the last day completely free from work at home with my family.  The next day I took Sean with me into work for a couple hours.  I went around and let people hold Sean, and after he fell asleep, I went to my office and sifted through the pile of mail that had waited patiently for me.  I didn't actually spend much time working, which was good, I just had a peak into what I was getting back into.

Then last week I went into work Tuesday and Thursday and left Sean.  I think I was more anxious about leaving him the week before I left him than when I actually left him.  I set up with my boss and HR to return from my maternity leave working part-time for 4 weeks.  That way Sean and I have some time to get used to being apart and establish a good schedule.   So last week I set up my part-time schedule to include 5 hours of work time with a long lunch in the middle.  So I went to work late, took my lunch to go nurse and visit Sean, and then returned in the afternoon for a couple hours and left early.  That way, I was only away from Sean for 2 1/2 or 3 hours at a time.  It made it much easier to leave him when I said, "I'll see you in less than 3 hours."  And when I was at work I spent probably spent more time than I should have talking to people about him.

Then there was a meeting Friday that I thought I should attend.  With easily attained approval from my boss, I brought Sean in with me for the meeting Friday.  It was the third day at work that week, but it was the best, because Sean was with me.  While leaving him wasn't as bad as I had thought it would be, sometimes I wish I was still pregnant so that he would always be with me.  :)