The end of Maternity Leave has Come

Its official, the end of my maternity leave has come and I didn’t think I anticipated being emotional over it, but today (Tuesday, November 12th) I was a complete wreck. I think up until now it felt surreal to be going back, like a day that would never truly come. Until today I spoke to my boss and am all set up to be returning and to put it bluntly SHIT GOT REAL! I cried to my husband, my bestfriend, my mom, basically to anyone who would listen, and then Pearce came up to me and hugged me and he said Mommy I love you, it will be okay. It felt so great to see that together my husband and I have raised such a great compassionate little boy who recognized my sadness and wanted to make me feel better.

The past year has been absolutely amazing, due to some complications at the end of my pregnancy with Brooks, I went off work 1 month before he was born so I have been out of the office for 13 months, and 13 days when I go back on Monday. I feel so blessed to have gotten to spend so much time with my boys, made so many great memories, as I know some countries some women never receive this time, or this amount of time. I think what is hard for me is that I won’t have Pearce wake me up by asking me to make him breakfast, and asking what our plan is for the day. That we won’t get our daily snuggles in the morning with my coffee and his cartoons. Yes I know I get these on the weekend, But I am a hockey mom now so on the weekends its out the door early to Hockey.

There will be less play dates with friends, less time to get things done, less time for slow mornings and busy afternoons. But for as long as I can remember I have been an ambitious woman who loves to work. I strive to succeed at something outside of the home, and to be perfectly honest when I went back to work after Pearce – I was a better a mom. The time away helped me to make our time more quality, we cherished our time together more and we made it work.

I don’t worry about the kids, we have an amazing daycare provider who was my provider when I was a child – My children love her. I worry about how the house will stay clean, how the lunches will get made, how dinner will be on the table in time, and how I will make time for my workouts which help me to be a better person mentally. It seems every parent just wants more hours in a day, more energy to get things done and a few more cuddles from their babies.

At the end of the day I know that we will do what works for our family. That it will take adjusting to see how everything will work and that I have 3 big supporters behind me everyday (My Helm Clan) Not to mention all our friends and family who support us. I spent last night going through pictures of the last year and CRYING a lot! But it was such happy tears, I truly had the best year off work!

So Back in August I wrote a blog post about “10 things I want to do before Mat Leave is Over” and I thought it would be fun to share how much of it actually got done in the last 2 months!

1. Science World: Never went – I sat down and thought this might be more fun when we can go as a family in a year or two and Brooks can enjoy it just a little bit more!
2. H.R. Macmillan Space Center – Never went! – We are still planning on taking my son as he is SUPER into space, he talks to us all the time about the planets, the solar
   system and the moon! He will definitely be getting some space stuff for Christmas!
3.  The World Of Kidtropolis – Never Went! – I might try to go this weekend before I go back on Monday but who knows if we will make it! Definitely need to check this out soon though!
4. The Vancouver Aquarium – WE WENT! – This one we definitely got done, my girlfriend Crystal is a Marine Biologist who grows Jelly Fish, so Pearce got to feed the jelly fish, and go behind the tanks and he really enjoyed it! It was a lot of fun!
5.  Cultus Lake Adventure Park – WE WENT! – We spent the last day of Summer (Labor Day) at Cultus Lake Adventure Park it was so much fun, I loved how stroller friendly it was, and how much Pearce could actually go on for being 4! It was super family friendly with lots of bathrooms, kid friendly meals, and lots of benches around to take seat on, my only complaint – Parking was a bit hard to find, but again we went on the last day of Summer when everyone was trying to squeeze in the last bit of fun!
6. White Rock Beach – Never Went – I am really sad about this one, because when I was on Mat leave with Pearce I went a few times, and really enjoyed it. However living in Mission we are so lucky to be surrounded by beautiful lakes, that it just made more sense to stick close to home and enjoy some of our favorite beaches a short drive from home.
7. Enjoy all our favorite Farms – We Went to 3/6! I am pretty bummed I didn’t make it to Laity Pumpkin Patch or Krause Berry Farms as those are two of my favorite places to go and I haven’t been to the Chilliwack corn maze since I was a kid! However we did go to Taves Farm and had an awesome time with a bunch of our friends, we even lost a few in the corn maze. I enjoyed ALOT of Birchwood Dairy Icecream, even at home sometimes! But of Course we went to Maan Farms a lot, this is by farm Pearce’s Favorite Farm, we go to them for their amazing Easter Egg hunt every year, their pumpkin patch and for the first time this year I attended the Sunflower Festival which was absolutely stunning!! I Can’t wait to make a lot of memories at all these farms for years to come!
8.  The Drive In – Never Went! – Aiming to do this in August was wishful thinking. I think our kids might be a little too young for this still yet, but I definitely wanna take the kids, put an air mattress in the back of hubbys truck and just enjoy the family and the movies outside!
9.  Mill Lake in Abbotsford – We Went! – So last month we had beautiful weather and my kids were driving me up a wall, and I thought how can I get Pearce to burn some serious energy? Lets make him ride his bike all around Mill Lake in Abby. Well lets just say he did not enjoy himself, he now calls it the really long lake, and it has made his feeling about Abbotsford a little bit sour. I told him he should be proud for riding his bike all the way around and hes only 4!! I made some cool videos of it too!
10.  Stanley Park – Never Went – I really should have taken advantage of Stanley Park while at the Aquarium but to be honest my kids were being giant jerks that day, I know not nice to say Jerks but they were! So I just headed home. But Stanley Park holds a lot of really good family memories for me so I know my husband and I will take the kids, and that its not going anywhere!

 

I love making lists for the future and taking time to review how I actually did on it. I have to say 4/10 is a pretty bad score, and I should probably try to slam a few of these in before the end of the year! Anyways, wish me luck on the journey of going back to work with two little babies, because this is a whole new world I don’t know if I am ready to enter!

xOx Chelsea