it's official, I'm a working mom

Yesterday was the day I may have dreaded since the day Everly was born.  My life has been dedicated to nothing but teaching since I was 21, and I continue to work towards my masters to help me become even better at my craft.  Even so, I really battled with the idea of being a working mom, because let's face it, since she was born, she has been my world.  I was lucky enough to have my mom at home with me growing up, and I knew that having a stay at home parent was a priority when I had my own family.  As I got into teaching I really did not think that I had the desire to stay at home.  I worried I would become stir crazy, be bored, and feel the need to be back in the classroom.  Well, I cannot say that this ended up being the situation.  Turns out, stay at home mama fit me pretty well.  And as I worked ever so hard to stay at home as long as possible, the date was finally set that I would return to my classroom exactly five months after leaving it.

Now first off, I am thankful that I was home with Everly for the first four and a half months of her life.  Many moms do not get more than six weeks off, and that would have put me back in the classroom before Christmas break!  Seriously, you must be kidding me!!!

So I have now been a working mom for two whole days.  And I can proudly say that I have gotten through each work day without crying, something I was pretty sure wasn't going to be possible.  However, I'm spoiled.  A few things have caused me to get to have my Everly come and visit me twice while I'm at work: once during my prep in the morning, and once during my lunch.  Thankfully we just moved about four minutes from where I work, which makes this crazy schedule possible, not to mention, Everly is already a very petite eater, and refuses the bottle.  If I did what the dr. suggested of "she will eat when she is starving", my daughter would just not eat.  She barely nurses as is, so take away the one source of food she loves, well, let's just say I think she would be below the 10th percentile at her next checkup!  Not to mention, I cherish these times when she comes to see me, and it has been an amazing way to get my Everly fix, while still teaching.

As an extra bonus, my kids were very ready for me to be back.  I have never left my students with another teacher for longer than a few days, so coming back after five months was a little scary.  Had this teacher won them over with all sorts of awesomeness?  I knew that I wasn't on my "A game" at the beginning of the year after having to move schools again, especially at 6 months pregnant, so how would they receive me?  Well, it continues to be true, start a class, and they are forever yours.  Come in mid-year, and be prepared to work your butt off and never really get anywhere.

I can now add one more thing to my badge of accomplishments, working mom.  Going back to work didn't mean that the world was ending [but if you talked to me last week you would have thought differently].  I still see Everly a lot, and she is really getting to bond with her daddy now that I am out of the picture for more than a few minutes at a time!  So now it is all about being creative with time.  For example, I may have finished my lesson plan for my 7th graders yesterday while typing in the bathroom, sitting on a folding chair, while Everly was in her Bumbo being entertained by the mirror.  I'm going to call that a working mom success.