our little pumpkin & returning to work

Well the wonderful bliss of my maternity leave has finally come to an end. It was an amazing 14 1/2 weeks at home with my sweet girl. There was one point, around 7 weeks, when I thought I was ready to go back to work...not because I wanted to leave Teagan but because I missed teaching and the interactions with the people that I work with. Then at about week 10 I suddenly started dreading leaving Teagan and wishing I could stay home with her indefinitely. I had full on meltdowns for the next 4 weeks...and no, that isn't an exaggeration. Maybe not every day for the 4 weeks, but I'd say every other day would not be stretching the truth. Patrick was super sweet and supportive through it all. He had the idea that he would take off work for my last day of maternity leave so we could have what he called a "family day of fun." ...and that it was. It was such a perfect day. He gets full credit for that one too...I never even hinted around about it.

We started off our family day of fun with breakfast at Flying Biscuit. what, did you expect someplace else? :) We then headed to the Kinsey Family Farm in Gainesville to take Teagan to her first pumpkin patch, followed by a trip to the outlets, and finished it up with a trip to Pinkberry for some fro-yo.

Family Day of Fun

starting the day off right...Teagan is already exhausted from all the fun

excited about T's first halloween! 

christmas tree farm in the background...we might have to bring Teagan back for a tree :) 

talks with dad 

workin' it for the camera...and no, we did not pose her like this. :)

sweet girl's first hayride! 

she enjoyed the hayride a lot more than taking a picture by the sign 

tired girl offering up some sweet snuggles to her daddy

ending the day right...and don't judge me. i like my toppings. 

 other random fall festive pictures :) 

hangin' with dad

first day back to work

The morning of my first day back I'd say was as I expected...lots of tears. I started crying the second the alarm clock went off that morning. for real. I seriously do love my job and my tears weren't because I had to work but because I had to leave Teagan and hated the thought of missing any sweet moment with her. The rest of the day ended up being a little better than I expected.  I am fortunate to work with so many wonderful people who were very thoughtful and caring when I got there. I was greeted with sweet goodies, tight hugs, and excited smiles from my students...and even a sweet friend who shared some tears. We're also fortunate to have found someone who is super excited about being able to take care of Teagan. She is the mom of one of my students from last year and lives only 3 minutes from the school. Her excitement about Teagan makes leaving her a little easier (still not easy...just easier), knowing that she will still be loved and spoiled. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have ever made it to work that day if I would have had to drop her off at a daycare. I even got a little visitor on Thursday. :) 

Hoping I'll be able to make it through the 5 day workweek coming up.