The Reason behind all this.

Well I guess I should get to the good stuff, the main reason that I have anything to say about maternity leave, nap times, and diapers. My son.

When I was 18 years old, I told a friend that my 10 year plan was to graduate high school, college and work, get married and have children. That friend said you can`t plan your life and you can`t have everything.

Marriage

We got married October 4th 2008 and I knew that I wanted to have a baby in 2010 so summer of 2009 was the time to start trying. Because of my large extended family and all the birthdays I didn`t want my due date to be any where close to December. We have 8 birthdays in December and I wasn`t going to add another! May was a month with only one birthday on my side of the family and one on Chad`s side of the family. So May it was. I figured out that August was the month to get pregnant to have a May baby and so, without details, we got to it. August 31st I found out I was pregnant.

Pregnancy

This was what I planned for, and what I thought was going on since I got an infection and just knew being pregnant caused it. A psychic told me I would have no troubles getting pregnant and here it happened after one month of trying. Chad, on the other hand, was surprised it was so easy for us. He thought it would take longer. I told him the night before his birthday by giving him a little shirt that said

 We kept the baby a secret, except a few close friends, until our first wedding anniversary in October. At that time I was about 11 weeks along, almost out of the first trimester. We invited our family over for dinner and then showed a picture slide show of our first year being married. At the end of it there was pictures of the tests and it said we were pregnant! Everyone was surprised!

My due date was May 6th 2010. I assumed that the baby would be overdue, since a lot of first babies are, so I was happy that I got my May date like I planned for. My pregnancy was very easy, no morning sickness. I had some pain in my hips and pelvis around 30 weeks that I took some time off work for but other then that everything was going great.

Then April 20th 2010 came along. I was 37 weeks, 5 days and my water broke.

Disclaimer: I am thankful that it was so easy for us to conceive. We are blessed :)

Work is calling....

Growing up, I wanted to be like my mother. She was a stay at home mom, raising four children. I like the idea of being home and being able to do all the things that my children want to do and need done for them. We never went to daycare, we had friends over after school, and had after school activities like figure skating. Even now I would consider staying home full time. But I am curious to see what my life would be like while working, if it would be more fulfilling or just too much stress.

The final call came in and I'm for sure going back to work next week. I always said I was going back but wasn't sure about when. Since I work with children and this is my career, the one that I'm going to school for, I would have gone back at some point. But was up in the air about going back when my year of maternity leave was over.

My husband suggested that I don't go back to work because to have quality childcare it is over $900.00 per month.  I could also pay less money for daycare but I want to know that the people taking care of my son are doing a good job, that they are taking care of him because they like children and not just 'easy' money and that he is going to have the chance to grow and learn and crawl all over and under toys, furniture and people. That he is going to have as many chances to grow as a whole child and not just put in front of a TV (not that I have a issue with TV, he watches Treehouse here at home). Anyway back on topic, after talking about it and seeing that it would cost us money not to go back to work (my work/union pays my MSP, benefits, vacation etc) so here I am, going back.

I go back on the 8th, four hours to ease into it. Then the following week I jump right in, working 6-6.5 hours a day which isn't bad because I will get off work early enough to still have a couple hours to play before bedtime. So I think I'm ok with it. In my mind, if I go back and don't like it and want to be back at home then I can quit. And then I will know that I don't want to work, instead of always wondering.

Disclaimer: I reserve the right to change my mind :)

Day Two: The motivation is still here!

How many random thoughts go through your head each day? Well I've been awake for an hour now and I've already been everywhere in my mine. As I thought about posting here again, my 11 month old was giving me doe-eyes from the other side of the couch because he had seen me eating breakfast and wanted me to share. Funny how he's got those eyes down already.


I thought about how to start, where in my life story to start but I guess the point is to start and maybe just let things muddle together and make some kind of sense over time. But I think the most important info to be included in this post is basic info.

• I am a wife and mother. I've been married for 2.5 years and a mother to a little boy. And yes, I'm 24 years old.
• I am doing distance education courses for my Early Childhood Education diploma.
• I procrastinate.
• I live in the same small town I was born in. And I can't see myself moving away.

I also have two brothers and two sisters along with so many family members it's hard to keep track and the closest one lives two minutes away on foot. I love reality TV, shoes, and Facebook.

Disclaimer: No small boys were starved during this post. I shared my cereal with him once he found out how to get around the couch.

Here goes nothing!

Every once in awhile I got the thought in my mind about blogging, then changing my mind, thinking I didn't have much to say or even if I did it wouldn't be very interesting. Kind of like when I decided to start a journal after reading my great grandfather's journal from 1935. I started, got about four pages and then stopped and lost motivation, lost the book, got busy, had a baby. But after having written a couple of business letters, school essays and being told I have a knack at writing I'll try again.

Disclaimer: I do not promise to always have correct spelling, to be funny, inspiring or in anyway interesting. I also do not promise to always write. Cheers.