SIX MONTHS BACK AT WORK

I can't quite believe both how quick and slow that time has gone, I can still remember the evening before my first day back like it was yesterday yet maternity leave feels an absolute age ago. So much has changed in such a short space of time, my baby is a baby no more and Noah is in his final year at nursery before he begins school next year. I remember my first six months back to work after having Noah, feeling so nervous and it taking some time to find my feet - this time around life feels to have gone a lot smoother in the work place, I'm content, tired but content and actually looking forward to what the next six months will bring.

Balancing work and family life isn't always an easy task, we've had a few issues since my return, most of them being Patricks health. I hate missing work as I think you always feel as though you're letting everyone down, and while I know the ladies are work with are so supportive, I'm glad we've just about got to the bottom of P's woes and hopefully that means no more calls to collect him thanks to sickness or the other end. I would be a complete liar if I said I wasn't tired, life has to go on when you have children and you can't think 'Oh I don't feel like cooking tonight' or 'I'll leave that ironing till the weekend' because hungry mouths have to be fed and the washing pile certainly doesn't get any smaller. Time is precious and when your time is divided between home and work, you realise it all that little bit more. I love coming home to my boys, even if we've had a horrible night of multiple wake up's, a tantrum about which coloured cup they have for breakfast, or how one of them HAS to take their favourite toy to nursery, all is forgotten by the time I jump in the car that evening and that's exactly how life should be, quibbles paling in significance because you've missed them far too much.

Of course as life works in the best ways to kick you in the dick, Patricks sleep took a serious downward spiral from around May, resulting in me surviving my days with roughly four hours broken sleep. It was tough but when it's your second I think you just go into auto-pilot and make it through, it does mean however now he's back to his usual self that suddenly my sleeping time has doubled and I feel seriously rested in the mornings - hooray. I'm so glad we made the decision for me to only work four days, it just makes family life that little bit easier for us all, I get my time with the boys and the mum guilt doesn't weigh half as heavy when I'm working. I know my time away from them is far less than the time we get to spend together. It fast approaching my favourite time at work, if you didn't already know I am a Nursery Nurse and Christmas time is so magical for children, with nativity performances and the Santa excitement I just can't wait to get stuck into the next few months. When I think back to this time last year, and how nervous I was when I thought about returning to work so much so I even contemplated staying at home and becoming a 'work at home Mum', I wouldn't have imagined how well everything has gone. The boys are thriving and we're all super happy which is most important.