Going Back to Work

So, I’m back to work. 12 weeks of maternity leave + 2 week of PTO flew by. The sleepless nights seemed long, but the days were short. Anybody who’s talked to me in the past two weeks knows that I’m extremely unhappy with this situation. I’m commuting 3 hrs a day and barely seeing Tripp from Tuesday-Friday. Joe is having to do a lot more of the housework and childcare and I’m sleeping even less than I was before. This all stresses me out and my usual stress outlet, the gym, is now something that I don’t have time for during the week. Sounds like I’m doing a lot of complaining, huh? I hate that. I don’t want to complain…I know I should be thankful to have a good job and I am thankful, but I’m still not happy with this situation. I also know that there are lots of moms who have to work outside of the home five days a week and plenty of military parents who don’t see their kids for months. Still, it’s hard. I knew going back to work would be hard, but it’s 100 times harder than I imagined. I’m always so unemotional and with every other situation in life that I can think of I’ve talked myself out of being upset. Being away from Tripp is the one thing that has me really worked up.

The bright spot in all this is that Tripp gets to spend time with wonderful people. His grandma and grandpa watch him once a week and Inga watches him twice a week. No, Inga is not our Scandinavian nanny with blond hair and braids. Inga is our awesome friend who has a little bit of baby fever and some free time on her hands. Thinking about her trekking around Ann Arbor with Tripp in the stroller or baby carrier keeps me amused while I’m at work.