Maternity Leave and Child Care

Yesterday I finally talked to my boss about my maternity leave. My boss is super cool and we get along really well, but even still its always hard to talk about taking that much time off.

I know he's trying to decide if I'll even come back to work after the baby is born. His own wife didn't, after all.

My thoughts about it at this point are that it's part time, so what's the sacrifice? I don't see any reason not to go back. I really like a lot of the people there and I know I'll enjoy the company every other day. The greatest thing about it being part time is that I don't have to decide one extreme or the other. I don't have to stay home full time or work full time. I get to enjoy that balance. Although this is all still just how I feel about it right now. I obviously haven't done this before, so I reserve the right to change my mind *wink*

So, I plan to take 8 weeks off after he's born and then when I go back to work we'll be using a Mother's Day Out program at the Chapel Hill Methodist Church.

Mike and I toured it a while back and we feel really good about it. MDOs just seem more attractive to me because it's not "daycare" it seems like the caregivers want to be there and I see it as a more loving environment. The drawback is that the hours are a little short and I'll only end up with 16 hours of work per week when I'm supposed to be 20. I'm looking into the early drop off option but I know this won't be an acceptable long term solution. I might have to pick up a Thursday nanny or something... hmmm.

Also, my boss intends for my position to turn full time for 2011. That will be a whole other thing to consider as I weigh the option of full time daycare or staying home full time to raise my own child. Mike and I have talked about this and it might just open up opportunities to a different kind of lifestyle than I ever considered before.

I'm also excited about a new friend that I met! Her name is Kelly and I've talked to her at the CHK Fitness Center pool twice now. She's only a week away from her due date now (I'm 5wks away) so our babies will be very close in age. Her husband works for CHK and does triathlons, too! They just moved here a few weeks ago from Denver. It seems like we have a lot in common already- I'm picturing play dates! Why should we both sit at home while our husbands are out getting in long distance training rides when we could be together? Since they moved here from Denver, I kind of feel like she's "my people". Silly I know- and I'll also go ahead and say that she's originally from Norman, so it's not exactly the same.

I like friends. I consider myself a "collector" if you will. The more the merrier, I always say!