maternity leave

Prepping for the end of Mat Leave with a Max

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My second maternity leave it just about to come to an end and I sure am going to miss my little buddy when I go back but there are bills to be paid and the bubble of the more blissful days of mat leave are definitely due to burst.

On my first maternity leave I was returning to the workforce after working for myself for 4 years, to a familiar office {I had worked for this company previously} but to a new job so that was a big adjustment in itself. This time I am returning to my part time role that I had started just before I got pregnant with Max. Max is starting in the same creche as Josh so there is some comfort in that too. It’s not so much the going back to work but the fact that such a special time is ending that is hard. 

I know from last time that the adjustment is not an easy one and life, if that is possible is about to become even busier so here are some of my tips/ideas that I am also going to implement to make it a little bit smoother:

{Batch Cook}-Just like before Max was born I plan on having a freezer full of go to meals/prepared nutritious dinners to make coming home from work but continuing to eat a lot easier.

{Online Shopping}-I do this sporadically now but plan on making this a regular weekly thing, getting it delivered and also ordering all my healthy meat options online too.

{Help around the House}-I am verging on OCD house proud and a clean/tidy house keeps me calm so I’ll be increasing my fornighly cleaner to weekly and that for me gives me a bit of sanity, it’s not for everyone but it’s definitely a treat I can justify. Also sharing the load of the other ‘jobs’ with my other half, which to be fair he is pretty good at and keeping things ticking over will be key to keeping us all calm!

{Planning}-Having the boys clothes ready, shirts and uniform ready on a Sunday makes mornings a little less rushed. Then also having nice plans made for the weekend will make the working week feel worthwhile. 

{Knowing there are going to be bad days}-All the above will help but there will be inevitable sickness {in the throws of it as we speak}, guaranteed tiredness and most certainly crankiness. So just remember the saying when these occur… this to will pass, it will and I’ll probably need to remind myself of that fact several times in early September.

{Enjoy it}-Use your bus journey to listen to a podcast, your lunch break to have a tasty peace filled lunch and any breaks you may have for a chance to get ‘life admin’ done with no interruption and with a hot cup of cofffee. That can’t be a bad thing so enjoy your little things about the changes. 

Oh and most importantly someone send the wine and lots of it… 😉

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This Weird World

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In recent weeks we’ve heard of Tuam.. The 8th Amendment and not forgetting Trump across the water then just yesterday London was targeted. Adding to that is life, the list goes on and you read these tragic, worrying headlines on a daily basis. This is the high line stuff. Sometimes I just think the world has gone mad. Below the line there is the daily grind for people. Working hard, seeing nothing for it. Money by no means brings happiness but unfortunately it does make the world go around and can make things a little easier too… 

I was feeling a bit sorry for myself the last week or so. However after a suitably lovely Paddy’s  weekend I am over my internal strop. I adore the main components in my life but the daily grind was getting me down. My state maternity benefit is about to come to an end which seems all too soon. This will no doubt put extra pressure on our family but it’s a decision we have made for me to extend my leave for a number of reasons so it’s time to tighten the belts even tighter!

We are blessed with what we do have and make the best of it but it gets very frustrating when you are both working, albeit I work part time but my job wouldn’t even cover full time childcare and you can’t secure a family home for your kids while you pay astronomical rent. 

We have made some minor financial bad decisions along the way but we have no family financial support in any regard so we have always had to fend for ourselves in every regard on both sides so have found it hard to save and what we did have has gone due to redundancies, babies etc.

And it’s not just us..amoungst my peer group no matter what their working set up it seems everyone is struggling financially in different ways. 

We, both myself and my husband want simple things for our family but security for the boys comes top of the list so something is going to have to change in the next few years for that to happen.. Right now we are just figuring out what!