First Week Back At Work - New Routines

On Wednesday, January 18^th I returned to work after being out on maternity leave for 12 weeks.  First, let me point out that it really, really sucks to go back to work and leave me sweet little baby in the care of someone else!  On the upside, I really like the location I choose to watch and teach my children. I hope this will alleviate some of my stress.

Second, my morning routine is going to be a balancing act.  I have to get myself up and ready, get Logan up and ready, and then get Madelyn up and ready. I have to make sure everyone is fed, school and work bags packed, drive half-way across town to drop the kids off at daycare and pre-K, then get myself to work by 9 am.  I have to leave my house by 8 am to get to work on time.  Of course I want to maximize my sleep because I am still getting up in the middle of the night to feed a baby so the earliest I can tolerate dragging out of bed is 6 am.  So far I think this schedule will work for us, however I definitely need to utilize some preplanning the night before to make sure it all goes smoothly.

Third, my job can be extremely stressful at times and at other times, very boring.  Both instances send me searching for food! I could easily sit at my desk and consume a day’s worth of calories in just a few hours, make that a few minutes!  To end this vicious cycle of eating (and to save money) I am packing my own lunch and snacks. 

Lastly, our evening routine will hopefully be the easiest part of the day.  We do not get home until 6 pm and everyone is starving by then so the challenge will be making sure that I am prepared to make quick and healthy meals for us.  It is so easy to just stop and get fast food on the way home, but my huge butt and empty check account can attest that this is not the best idea!

The next challenge will be working some real exercise into this schedule.

So far the first three days back at work have gone pretty smoothly and the routine seems to be working.  Hopefully it will get easier as time goes by.

Now that I am almost caught up on getting this blog going, I hope to post at least once a day.