Who's who?

OK, which one is Simon and which one is Harmon (no cheating)?




The point of the exercise is to stress HOW MUCH THEY LOOK ALIKE!

Back to the grind

I’m headed back to work tomorrow. It will be hard but the good news is that at least the boys will be with my Mom during the day. The bad news, though, is tomorrow is my longest work day of the week – I work 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. I’ll have to make it up to both boys on Friday because, thankfully, I still have Fridays off. Upon returning to work, I’ll have a slightly different schedule. I’m not in love with it but there's not much I can do about it. Kevin and I used to split Mondays – he would work 7 a.m. to noon and I would work 12:30 – 5:30 p.m. Now, we’ll split Tuesdays instead and we’ll work 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on Mondays. I mentioned Wednesdays and Fridays above and the remaining day – Thursday – we’ll work 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. I’m still at 32 hours so there’s not a huge change for me. The big change will be for Harmon as we’ll be switching his school days to Mondays (instead of Tuesdays) and Thursdays. Simon will go to school those days too but he doesn’t know any better! I’m sure we’ll all get used to the grind in due time. I just think it will take a little longer for ME to adjust this time around.

Benefits of returning to work

Here I sit on the eve of my return to work and I'm trying to psyche myself up about the benefits of doing so. Here is what I’ve come up with so far:

1. I will be able to shower daily.
2. I will be able to take a piss without an audience (especially an audience that includes an inquisitive three-year-old).
3. I can take more than five minutes to eat lunch.
4. And speaking of food – Cinnamon Melt Wednesdays!
5. I can bypass dual screaming fits.
6. I’ll no longer be solely responsible for overnight feedings (although, in Simon’s defense, he is sleeping 6-7 hours most nights now).
7. I’ll have uninterrupted computer access for more than five SECONDS.
8. I won’t have to wipe someone’s ass for at least eight hours.

Despite this brief list, the cons of returning to work FAR outweigh the pros but, alas, it is what it is!

Naps in the cave

One of the fun things the boys and I did during my maternity leave was take huge naps in our comfy, dark basement. It’s not like we could go outside, with it being one of the coldest and snowiest winters on record, so we grabbed some good books and headed to the cave. We usually retreated after Harmon’s lunch (and Simon’s bottle), read and then Harmon would pass out at one end of our big leather sectional and Simon and I would settle in at the other end. Sometimes, I would actually get to sleep but, most of the time, I just kept Simon company so he wouldn’t wake up his big brother. On a few occasions, both boys slept until after Kevin came home from work and that made it so much easier to get dinner going. Overall, those naps in the cave were some good times all around.