People assume that because you are on maternity leave, you have all this free time. Or that you're "off." I'm not sure how many times someone has brushed off my maternity leave as being "off work." Yes, I may not be drawing a paycheque from an employer, but I am not "off."
To be fair, I did have a whole lot more free time when I was on maternity leave with Madi. When she napped, I could do as I please. After she went to bed the night time was all mine. When she was with Drew I could do whatever I wanted. Now, for the most part, if I am Madi-less, then I am Mya-ful. Feeding her, changing her, playing with her, calming her down.***For example, I started this post well over an hour ago!***
Finding time to get the dishes and laundry done, sort and organize bills, get the dishes caught up is almost as hard now as it was when I was working. Luckily I have the energy to do the treadmill these days, but I usually don't get on it until well after 8:30pm at night. I have a stack of books to read but these days pages are snuck in in-between (or during!) feedings and on drives.
All that being said, it's been a very long time since I've been this stress-free. Being busy is awesome when it revolves around playing with a giggly baby and not willing that pile of marking to go away. It's nice to be able to relax and read a book just before going to sleep rather than mentally going over the next day's lessonplan and to-do list and seating arrangement and oh-ya-I-need-to-get-those-assignments-filed.
So my current kind of work is busy, but it's a good, happy busy. Actually, it's an amazing busy. It's not leaving a whole lot of time to slot in my favourite things - reading, making a good effort at a blog, etc - but it's much better than filling in what little time I have with marking or lesson planning :)
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