Falling into a rhythm

With only 3 weeks left of maternity leave, we are finally falling into a rhythm. Monday, Wednesday and Friday I am home with Benster without big brother...Monday I tend to get a lot of work done around the house, the other two days are kind of hit or miss depending on how I am feeling. Tuesdays Nate has a drop-in class at the Nature Center in the morning and then I let him choose what activity he would like to do for the rest of the day (favorites have included the zoo and Children's Museum which we have memberships for...) I definitely encourage him to get out and play and run around on these days, which has gotten easier as the weather improves. Thursday and Saturday involve swim lessons for Nate. He has also enjoyed his gymnastics class on Saturday and has even tried his hand at skiing and tubing on the weekends while the snow is still present.

But just as we have finally found our footing again, it is going to be upended by the conclusion of my maternity leave. While I was much more ambivalent earlier on about staying home vs. going back to work, I could definitely see myself more as a stay at home mom now... Ben smiles and giggles and is more predictable with his routines. He wakes up early (6-7 am), has a snack then falls asleep for a short nap, then wakes up to feed in earnest and has a longer period of alertness where he is fairly entertaining. I can tell when he is done playing and is tired at which point I either wrap him up and rock him or stick him in the Moby wrap where he settles in for a nap. I enjoy listening to him breathing steadily against my chest, the smell of his sweaty hair as he snoozes, being able to just look down and kiss him on top of his little head. He has a "witching hour" which starts at about 6 pm and lasts until he falls asleep where he is just really fussy. So basically, when I go back to work, I will only get that brief period in the morning where he is happy and then the fussy baby at night. I am not looking forward to that. But I really miss adult interaction, feeling like I am part of a larger group that can have conversations beyond diapers, reflux and baby gear. It is a fine balance to be sure.