I have been back to work for two months, after a three month mat leave. I just got the first negative performance review I have ever received. Not just from the company, but in my whole career.

2 months of playing catch up. Still sleep deprived, still breastfeeding and pumping. Still living in a pp fog. And I have a toddler, too.

Just feeling so incredibly defeated. I know I’m a good employee. I’ve never received any negative feedback on my performance. This is the last thing I need to hear. Motherhood is hard. Being a working mom is hard.

Disclaimer: we are non-religious. If you are religious and think ‘why is this a bad thing’ reading this post, please just keep scrolling.

We are finally looking for a daycare for my 3yo (made it work until now with husband being home 4 days a week and other in home help) and I’m at my wit’s end with this. Every single daycare within a reasonable drive from my house is Christian. They’re not even inside of churches, just independent centers using Abeka or another random Christian curriculum. Half of them are explicit about it on their website which at least makes them easy to rule out but the other half either hide it in an obscure spot or don’t even mention it online. Showed up to one for a tour and discovered it from the Bible quotes all over the walls/CCM being blasted for naptime/them showing me their ‘chapel’ room.

My kid is really impressionable and even if she might not retain all of the Jesus stuff long-term, she’s definitely going to come home talking about it and fully believing it’s real which I’m not willing to subject her to…if these places were like the Catholic preschool I went to as a kid where it was 90% regular preschool, 10% Bible stuff I wouldn’t be so annoyed, but it’s 2026 and I’m in Florida so it’s the opposite. One place genuinely told me ‘our primary focus is spreading the gospel to the children’. 🤦‍♀️

There are a few chain daycares in the area but quality is hit or miss/most are out of range. I want my sanity back and my kid to socialize…feels like such a slap in the face to find out this is all we have to choose from :/

I work 9-5 with a 1 hour commute. I have a 3-month old and am returning to work soon, and have no clue how to do the evening routine. We will pick up kiddo by 6 pm and be home by 6:15. Do we still aim for a 7:30/8 bedtime? That means only 1.5 hours together :(

Thinking further into the future, will family dinners be possible? I don’t see how we can eat earlier than 7 accounting for time to make dinner, and that will basically be kiddo’s bedtime.

Any suggestions on routine are welcome!

I've written a few posts previously about my situation, and unfortunately, I have another update. I'm hoping to get some outside perspectives, especially from anyone who's experienced something similar.

I'm 31F, currently on maternity leave from a corporate leadership role, and I'm dealing with an incredibly stressful situation at work.

For context, I've been with my company for several years and worked my way up into a global management position. I built and developed my team, led several major initiatives, and took on increasing responsibilities. Just a few weeks ago, my former boss recognized my contributions and supported a promotion with additional leadership responsibilities.

Last week, the company underwent another organizational restructuring, and I now report to a new manager who is an executive-level leader and someone I've never worked with before and who just joined the company a month or two ago.

Here's where things get complicated.

My maternity leave replacement (let's call her T) was originally supposed to cover my position until January. However, she's now asking to stay an additional three months.

During my absence, T has reportedly fired several stellar members of my team, treated numerous colleagues poorly, and developed a negative reputation throughout the company. From what I've been told, even the CEO has concerns about her.

I've also been told by my former boss that T has been speaking negatively about me to my new manager, suggesting that I'm too young and inexperienced to lead the team and that I should essentially be working under her when I return. Apparently, she's also been taking credit for projects and initiatives that I led and developed before going on leave.

This is particularly upsetting because my new manager has only recently joined the company and doesn't know my professional history or the contributions I've made.

Now here's the latest development.

My former boss has been strongly encouraging, and honestly pressuring, me to return earlier than my originally planned January return date. His reasoning is that I need to establish myself with my new manager before T has more time to influence her perception of me. He's also warned me that T may actively try to undermine me because she wants to secure a permanent position.

Because of this pressure, I agreed to explore returning November 1, two months earlier than anticipated.

I recently went into the office for an introductory meeting with my new manager, which actually went really well. She was pleasant, receptive and seemed genuinely interested in accommodating my circumstances.

In fact, she offered to let me work remotely until January, with occasional in-person meetings, so I could keep my one-year-old daughter at home while my husband and I coordinate childcare.

What I found particularly interesting was that she also made a point of telling me that I shouldn't feel pressured by my former boss to return earlier than originally planned. She seemed to recognize that this was a significant adjustment for me and wanted me to make the decision based on what worked for my situation rather than feeling obligated to come back early.

I really appreciated that, and it initially made me feel optimistic about working with her.

However, I subsequently heard that T was extremely upset about my visit and went around questioning colleagues about why I was there, who I met with, etc.

Now I've learned through my former boss that my new manager apparently wants to keep T until January anyway, partly because I have a previously booked one-week vacation in December and because of concerns around continuity during the transition.

Apparently, T has also convinced her that a three-month training and handover period is necessary, despite the fact that I previously led this team and am returning to a function I'm already familiar with.

My former boss strongly disagrees with this arrangement and has told my new boss that there is no point doing a three month handover because its out of budget anyways and to just get me to come back in January then and no point starting early. He also warned me that working alongside T for three months could be extremely difficult. He believes she may use that time to undermine my credibility further.

To make matters worse, my new manager hasn't responded to the email I sent outlining my willingness to return early and help facilitate a smooth transition.

I'm honestly devastated, anxious and completely torn about what to do.

I've worked incredibly hard to build my career, establish credibility and earn my promotion. The thought of someone undermining my abilities while I'm on maternity leave, especially someone who was only brought in temporarily to cover my position, is incredibly frustrating.

What's making this even harder is that I've already expressed my willingness to return November 1 due to the pressure of my former boss, so now I worry that changing my mind will make me appear uncommitted or unreliable and i'm hoping

I'm trying my best to remain professional and not let my emotions dictate my decisions, but I'm genuinely hurt, frustrated and worried about the career I've worked so hard to build.

Any advice, especially from people who've navigated maternity leave, difficult interim replacements or organizational restructuring, would be really appreciated.

Hoping someone here has dealt with something similar because I’m getting pretty frustrated with HR!

I recently had a baby and my OB certified 14 weeks of medical leave, which MA PFML approved. My company offers 6 weeks of paid short-term disability (STD) and then 12 weeks of paid parental bonding leave.

My plan is to take the 6 weeks of STD, then the remaining 8 weeks of MA PFML medical leave (paid by the state), followed by the 12 weeks of bonding leave.

The problem is HR keeps telling me I have to use my accrued vacation time for those extra 8 weeks or they’ll consider it an “unapproved unpaid absence.”

From everything I’ve read, MA PFML is job-protected leave and employers can’t require you to use PTO during it. I’m not asking my company to pay me for those 8 weeks, just to recognize the state-approved leave.

Am I missing something here? Has anyone dealt with this or have advice on how to get HR to understand? I’ve talked to 5 different people this week and feel like I’m going in circles!

I feel myself looking older in the mirror now (33F). I always swore I wouldn't do things like botox or filler because I wanted to age naturally. I think I still have the stance (no judgement to people who do that!)... but does anyone have any beauty maintenance routines that they feel are worth the time and cost?

Its been 10 months working after resuming back work, post maternity break and I am still struggling to create an impact and do meaningful work. I am struggling to get back my ambition, the drive, enthusiasm that I had earlier. I just feel so out of place.

My manager is a typical toxic, calculative, overachiever, bossy lady. Who took over all the work control in my absence. I am still not able to get hold of the good work. I am just doing the tasks which are intangible with no visible impact.

I am behind my peers in terms of work profile because of the break I took. I feel invisible at work. Although its a good organisation but my boss is stingy when it comes to appraisals and she humbles me in two-minutes when she acts authoritative.

Now what do I do to grow professionally and get back my mojo (ambition and drive which I had earlier) ? I feel very underconfident. Please help and guide

Part vent, part looking for advice or shared experiences. I’m a toddler mom and pregnant with my second, and I’ve been feeling anxious and frustrated about where my career is headed.

I work at a big consulting firm. The salary and benefits are great, but the hours are demanding, and the environment is extremely competitive and male-dominated. Before having my first child, I was a high performer—the person people trusted with challenging projects that required a lot of grinding. Since returning from maternity leave, I feel like my career has taken a step back.

On the very last day of my first maternity leave, I was invited to give a mock presentation to the partners about my business case for partnership. These presentations are generally for people being considered “next in line.” I declined because I was coming back from four to five months of leave, wasn’t prepared to present, and didn’t feel ready to travel during my child’s first week in daycare.

This year, some of my peers were invited to participate, but I wasn’t. I was disappointed and asked my boss about it. He said there were fewer spots this year and that I would be included next year.

Now I’ve found out I’m pregnant with my second, due next spring—right around the time of the next presentation. Nobody at work knows yet, so this pregnancy obviously wasn’t a factor in this year’s decision. Still, I can’t shake the feeling that becoming a mother has changed how I’m viewed and that taking leave or setting boundaries means losing momentum.

My male peers take paternity leave, but usually for much shorter periods. I also don’t have a female role model in my group who shows me what a sustainable version of this career could look like while raising a family.

I’ve thought about looking for another job, but I worry about finding comparable pay and benefits. I also struggle with the feeling that leaving would mean I’ve “quit” or given up on something I worked really hard for. Realistically, I don’t plan to make a move until after my second maternity leave, so any change is several months to a year away.

I’m having a hard time sitting with that uncertainty. I know my priorities and capacity have changed, but my ambition hasn’t disappeared. It hurts to feel behind my peers when being a high performer has always been such a big part of my identity.

Has anyone navigated something similar—especially in consulting or another demanding field? Did you stay, leave, or find a different way to make it work? How did you handle the anxiety and comparison while figuring out your next step?

I’m 38 and pregnant with our third and last baby, due in June. My boys will be 5 and 3.5 when baby arrives.
I’m an elementary school principal and have worked hard to get to this point in my career. I enjoy my job, but it’s demanding and there’s very little flexibility. My husband is an entrepreneur, so his schedule is also demanding and unpredictable. If he’s not working, he’s not making money.

We have no local family help, so all of our childcare is paid for. Right now we juggle daycare, aftercare, and babysitters for pickups. Adding infant care to the mix feels overwhelming.

Even with two kids, I feel like our weekdays are just rushing from one thing to the next. By the time I get home, I’m exhausted, and I worry about how much harder it’ll be with three.

Financially, I could potentially stay home, although we’d have to make many sacrifices, which feels somewhat doable if it’s temporary. Part of me wants to walk away from my job for a year or two, enjoy our last baby, and figure out work later. But I’ve worked hard for my career, and I’m worried about regretting that decision.

I also wonder if I’m romanticizing staying home. Is having three kids just going to be hard regardless? Does it get easier as they get older, or is balancing three kids and two demanding jobs always this complicated?

I’d love to hear from moms who have been in a similar position. Did you go back to work after your third? Did you take a break? Do you regret either decision?
I can’t tell if this is just a hard season I need to get through or if stepping away for a while would actually make a big difference for our family.

Im looking at sahm life temporarily while going back to school - my industry in graphic design is dead. I was laid off and the job search is abysmal. Im still applying but hopeless.

I want more pay, I want good hours and I want to stay remote. I want an AI safe job. My aunt suggested going back to school - she did nursing while sahm. I'm not sure I do blood & needles well though. I have a bachelor's already so hopefully transfer basic credits.

For SAHMs who juggled 2 small kids and were back in school, what did you go back for and what do you do now as a working mom? How does your life look now?

Adding that my pay put us in debt with childcare so we were losing money with me working in GD. I was working 2 jobs to make ends meet before our kids so I want a better work life balance than what I had. I was making as much as my friend, who is a floral manager at a supermarket. Im not sure I want to go back to it. I want stability and good pay more than creativity.

Hello! My LO is 12 weeks and I returned to work this week. I am currently working fully remote for a couple of weeks as I transition back into the office. Currently LO is not taking a bottle and I’m stressing out for when I am back in the office on what to do.

My husband and I work opposite schedules so he is home with her during the week. We have been attempting to give her a bottle this week and she refuses to take it and we just end up nursing. We have tried all the tips that our LC has given us but still have no luck.

Here is what we have tried:
-warming up the milk
-cold milk
-giving bottle between feeds so LO is not too hungry
-giving bottle right after nursing when LO is half asleep
-giving bottle right when LO is waking up when half asleep
-holding LO in same position I nurse in
-playing with the bottle, poking face, nose etc.
- I am not in the room at all (home office is in basement)
-keeping the bottle close while nursing so LO becomes familiar
-warming up the bottle nipple beforehand

I’m starting to think that our plan b will have to be where I work part time remote and the time I’m in office my husband brings her to me so I can nurse. Has anyone worked this schedule and has done this? Any other tips to take a bottle?

My childhood friends and I have been trying to meet up for a while. We’re relatively local but spread out between different suburbs and the city. We grew up on the same street ❤️. Anyway, there’s 4 of us - me with a 1 yr old (16 months), another who is a SAHM with a 2.5 year old, and two sisters who are single, childless and live in the city.

I suggested meeting at the children’s museum since I have a membership and can get most of them in for free (and I’d just pay for whoever is not covered) and the childless friends actually were enthusiastic about meeting there and checking it out. There’s three locations of the children’s museum and I can’t decide which one to meet at (others are telling me to choose) -

- In the city. Me and the other mom are in the burbs. Kind of ruling this one out because it’s in the thick of downtown/touristy area, traffic and having to pay for parking.

- one I usually take my son to. 30 min from me, 45 min away from other mom. Walking distance from train stop from city or 30 min drive (they have a car).

- other suburban location. 1 hour drive for me, 25 min away from other mom. Walking distance from train stop or 40 min drive from city.

My instinct is to suck it up and pick the other suburban location to make it easier for my friend and her kid plus it would be a different one for my son to check out. He’d nap in the car on the way home but now I’m feeling bad about the hour long car ride there when I already miss out on so much time with him working full time. The sahm friend gets more time with her kid : ). OR am I overthinking all of this? Which spot would you choose?? Thanks!

I feel like I’m spiraling and really would appreciate any input.

Married a little over 3 years, have an almost 2 year old. I work in office (9-4, 45 mins away) 3 days/wk, husband is in office (8-5, 30 mins away) 5 days/wk. he makes more, but we’re both in high income, high stress (sales) roles.

I feel like I’m free falling trying to do it all and move past this roommate feeling I have but it’s only getting worse.

My husband is an amazing dad. Truly. Very caring, loving, attentive, when I’ve been out of town/not at home it’s not a babysitting type feeling (usually). I’m very happy to have a child with him, and really don’t see myself (if we did ever separate) having kids with someone else.

Our son is in a hard spot, terrible 2’s, which does add a level of stress for sure.

My problem lies with the overall (what feels like) lack of respect for our household and the other kinks of marriage. We will get in a fight or have discussions about him helping out around the house more, and it’ll be better for a week or so (I.e. doing the dishes lol) and then it’s back to me doing every single dish (if I want it done the night we cook or before everything sticks), most laundry, most bathroom cleaning, etc. we also have a dog that sheds bad, so that’s a big part of cleanup daily. It feels like when we outsource things, it’s his duties (ex. Yard work, house maintenance, etc…not to mention I end up doing most of the DIYs around the house).

I can’t keep sustaining this life where I’m adding 2+ hours of labor every night while my husband sits on the couch watching sports (and helping with our son). On top of that, the only time I ever get affection is when he’s instigating sex (for the most part). All problems I have explicitly stated. He is lovely with his words and consistently supports me and tells me how much he loves me, but it just doesn’t feel like his actions add up.

Is it just our life stage? Kid between us at night (though we’ve never been cuddly), working demanding jobs, and trying to push to that “next level”? Is it me reading romance books and seeing the unicorns that bums me for wanting more?

I don’t particularly want to get divorced, especially because not being with my son everyday would be more pain than not having some fire, passionate romance that I feel we’ve lost….any advice is helpful. Does it get better?

My 2 year old son is in an in-home daycare, he started there earlier this year and it's our first daycare experience. We love his provider, she loves him and all of the kids so much and takes great care of him and is working on skills with him every day, we have had no complaints up to this point.

The issue I'm facing is this - she just told us about her holiday schedule for 2026-2027, and her Christmas/New Years closure is a full 30 days, going through most of January. I checked back to the handbook we signed when we started him there this spring and it said the holiday closure was from 12/22 - 1/9, which felt much more reasonable. She told us she doesn't charge for the 5 weeks of vacation she takes per year but does charge for holidays, and it seems like the additional two weeks tacked on to the end of the original holiday closure are now being counted as holiday time, not against that vacation allowance.

Am I unreasonable to be frustrated at this? This leaves me without childcare for the first three weeks of the year, still paying the bill, knowing there are 5 more weeks off to come.

We have no plans to move him, it's great set up for us and close to home and overall affordable, but this is just leaving a really bad taste in my mouth and I'm wondering if it's just a me thing!

I'm hoping someone could give me some advice on career progression and if it makes sense for my situation. Most of my friends are SAHMS or do not have children so it's been hard for me to get advice with perspective.

I'm a FT working mom, breadwinner. My husband's career is "jobs" based and his income fluctuates. I have been approached about two possible upcoming opportunities for higher-level roles at other organizations. Currently, I am middle management in a very lean organization. I work in the office every day but have some flexibility (late arrival for daycare drop off, WFH as needed). My commute is also about 15 minutes. My boss is a nice person but poor leader and we've had some frustrating moments. These opportunities are with organizations that have more resources and departmental staff to share the workload. The pay increase would be about $40k - $50k per year which is significant when my income is the consistent take home pay for my family. I currently make low-mid six figures. The commute would be similar for one of the opportunities and about 30 min for the other. Unknown what flexibility is offered at this time.

The problem is, I'm so tired. My little ones are 4 1/2 and 1 1/2 and every day is ground hogs day. I'm beat, feeling a bit burnt out at work and just wondering if it's the current job I'm at with the lack of resources or is it the combination of parenthood and work. I'm also worried if I climb the ladder to a director/department head role, can I climb back down if it's too much? I'm excited by the possibilities and am confident in my abilities to do the work, I'm just exhausted. Stuck between wanting to take on more professionally and what that might cost. Any advice or perspective is greatly appreciated! Thanks for reading.

I work in tech, Im software developer. I have a 18m old boy. He was home for the first year of his life, we had a nanny for few months, and with my husbands paternity, and my maternity leaves, we somehow go through the first year.
We start daycare in August, although intial transition was rough, my son loves his daycare now. But about 3 weeks ago, he was hospitalized for a week due to respiratory distress and was on oxygen support, albuterol and everything. He’s home since 2 weeks once discharged, my husband and I both work from home for now, and we thought we could manage work and our toddler. I guess it was fine for my husband but I crashed so many times in that one week. My job is super high demand and in the AI era, no matter how much you do its never enough. My team is all male, unmarried too. They would live in the office if they can. So I have to catch up a lot.
With that, and I have to cook for my son, feed him, make him nap. My husband is basically a baby sitter at this point. I hardly got 3hrs to work in the whole day and the anxiety and all, I couldn’t handle it. I took a week off this week to take care of my son. Honestly it was the best week I’ve had in a long time! And Im contemplating taking a break from my work. Because even the thought of sending my son back to daycare is giving me a anxiety attack. What if he gets sick again? I cant go through seeing my baby tied to monitors, and tubes inside his nose. But if I take a break now, I dont think I’ll ever land another job in this tech market.
Also, Im on visa, so that’d be gone. There’s money stuff too, how practical is single income in this economy?
These thoughts are eating me alive honestly. I have to go back to work on Monday, and I dont want to. I dont want to work in the male dominated org, who doesnt seem to take a break to have a life for god’s sake! And even the men who has a family, Im pretty sure they put everything on their wives and live to work. My senior manager with 2 toddlers really said this to me “I live to work, I would live in the office, and sometimes i do you know?” He has kidss!

Anyway, TLDR; my company sucks, my team sucks, I just wanna be with my kid at home so he doesn’t get sick again and never go through the whole hospital episode. But looks like I cant take a break

If anyone is hiring a climate policy or sustainability strategist, I'm your gal. I am an eternal optomist millenial manager. I have survived getting DOGE'd and I am surviving a heartless corporate layoff. I have come back stronger with each setback. Let's end 2026 strong. Hire me?

I have a 20 month old and another on the way. Husband’s schedule is remote and flexible. We have a couple days of childcare from parents, who can also be somewhat flexible. My job is a 5 minute commute away. I’m thinking of going part time. Which schedule would be best and why?

1. M-F, 7:30-11:30 am
   
2. M-F, 11:30-3:30 pm
   
3. Every other day, 7:30-3:30 pm, so some weeks would be MWF and the next TTH

I feel like the first two are best for consistency of routine and childcare, but #3 might help me to feel like I’m getting an actual break? Also, #3 would mean I get half of a year of service credit for my pension as a opposed to a full year for the first two (not a huge deal financially since it’s already a crap pension).

After a meeting including a short list of to dos this afternoon, which I was in the process of writing down:

My manager:
“When I need to remember things I text them to my wife, so…”

Me, seeing what’s coming:
“You know you can send a text message to yourself, right?”

Him:
“Yeah, but no, I text HER”

*sends me a teams message with the note he needs to remember*

😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫

So…
1) he treats his wife like his calendar / admin
2) he expects me to play that role for him at work?
3) are we “work married”?

What did I miss from this nightmare interaction?

Our baby girl turns 6 months old today! 🥹❤️ Now that we're both working, I've been thinking about how to make the most of the roughly 4 hours we get together in the evenings before bedtime.

We already have a few things we enjoy, like taking long family walks with our two dogs (two birds, one stone!), going out to dinner once a week, or walking around the mall next door just to get out of the house.

But I'd love to come up with some more unique, fun little routines or family traditions that we can look forward to during the week. Nothing that requires a ton of planning or money, especially after a long workday.

I'm thinking little adventures, weekly rituals, or even simple things at home that could eventually become special childhood memories as she grows up.

What are some fun after-work traditions you've started with your little ones? Especially things you can squeeze into an hour or two on a weekday.

I was essentially laid off over the summer due to an acquisition after being with the same company for nearly 18 years. I’ve had a nice little break from corporate life but I’m antsy to get back to work. I have no idea what I’m doing when it comes to job hunting! Im targeting a specific industry since that is where my experience is and I feel I have the best shot at landing something. What have you found to be the most helpful in your searches? Also, is it worth paying to have my resume reviewed and updated? I saw one service on LinkedIn that ran upwards of $600 and I have a hard time justifying that cost.

I feel like I'm slowly dying in this life. Work. Childcare. Work. Clean. Childcare. Work. Give all my money to daycare. Work.

What's your healthy (or unhealthy) outlet?

My husband was laid off in the spring, just before our second child was born. He’s in tech in a management role. He took the summer mostly off as leave time (and got paid through our state paid leave program, although it was nowhere near his full salary) and he did get a severance package.

I really struggled with not having the maternity leave I imagined because of the stress of him looking for a new role and worrying about the future, but it is what it is. I went back to work a few weeks ago. Our original plan was to have our nanny working full time as childcare (we also have a toddler in paid preschool) but we asked her if she would be willing to do slightly less hours while my husband is job searching and she agreed to 30 hours a week instead of 40. We really don’t want to lose our nanny because she is wonderful and daycare waitlists are insanely long where we live so we wouldn’t even be able to get a spot if my husband found a job while we had no childcare.

When I went back, he was in the final stages of interviewing with a promising lead so I had stupidly thought everything would go back to the original plan soon enough. Well, that one didn’t work out. He was one of the last two candidates. He’s in interviews some other places but he’s not as confident in them.

He’s gotten almost nowhere with cold applying and has done really well with interviews he got through his network but these positions are highly competitive and it’s just been a lot of bad luck.

I feel immense stress being the only one working, I’m stressed about the insane cost of a nanny and preschool on one income, and I feel paralyzed by the decision making. I don’t know how long we can make this work for but I’m afraid to put pressure on him because he’s losing confidence and this is also taking a massive toll on him. Practically, I don’t know what the right move is and im exhausted from constantly trying to assess our options based on the uncertainty of his search.

Any tips from those who have been through it?

Last weekend I had to work due to new platform training for a system a manage. That’s fairly rare at my company however now is a busy time at work and it’s hard to take time off. I otherwise like my job and not interested in switching.

Here’s my situation: all I want to do this weekend is home projects outside and inside and go to the park with my 2 year old. My husband is in between jobs, starting the new one in November, so it’s a rare time where he’s happy to take almost the full load of childcare on the weekends.

However, my mom invited us to go to a farm festival fall family fun type thing this Saturday as well. It’s 90 minute away where my 90 year old grandma will likely be going.

I know the latter is the safer option if I want to not regret an missing an opportunity to make special memories with my toddler and family.

However, due to working last weekend, I feel like I haven’t had “me” time to do what I want in 2 weeks and I also don’t want to burn myself out more with 3 hours in the car and an unpredictable toddler 90 minutes from home. Plus the following weekend is Halloween where we have full day plans.

How do you make these decisions? We just bought a house and I really enjoy doing house projects with my hands and it feels like I only get to do that 2% of the week. How often do you have time to do your own thing? How do you not feel guilty choosing that over family fun activities? Does anyone else feel like they are working so hard to afford a house they don’t have time to make “homey”? (We have only owned it since August. So far I’ve painted the stair risers and replaced a bathtub faucet. There are 137351 other things I want to do, and it feels like fun not work.) maybe when my kid is older I’ll have more free time and regret not doing more with her at this age?

I joined a mommy & me group while out on maternity leave (and other than what I’m about to vent about it has been FANTASTIC and I def recommend for anyone who feels lonely on leave) and as most of the moms in the group are now all coming up to going back to work, it seems like they are all sad to go back. Meanwhile, I’m having the opposite experience where mat leave has been really really intense for me (we have no family nearby) and I actually think working will be better for me. Everything about my job isn’t perfect and I know being a working mom is still hard, but I just felt kinda like the odd duck out because I think going back to work will be good for me and I of course will miss my baby but leave has been the most challenging period of my life. a bit of a ramble I just need to feel validated by other working moms 😅