Well today is officially my last day of maternity leave - tomorrow it's back to the reality of full time work. Although I'm not really complaining. I do find my career pretty rewarding and I take a lot of pride in how hard I've worked to get to here. My career will always my little pocket of my life that is all and only mine. That said I will miss my babe while I am away from him during the day. Everyone says that it gets easier after a few days - let's hope that's true for me. It's been great to be home with him for the last 3 months. I feel so closely bonded to him and he has become the other love of my life.
Now for the soap box part... This morning on Good Morning America there was a story about a blog written by other mothers that has been taking pot shots at the parenting of John and Elizabeth Edwards. Basically it was criticizing them for taking their children out of school for a while, getting them private tutors and taking them on the campaign trail with them. I am in no way a fan of John Edwards - but this story really ticked me off. This is just another classic case of women being their own worst enemies. Parenting, as I am quickly learning, is basically the most emotionally difficult job one will ever do. I know so many moms (AND DADS!)who make difficult and sometimes heart wrenching decisions every day in the pursuit of doing the best they can to be the best parents they can be. This can mean SO MANY DIFFERENT THINGS! IF there's one thing I've learned it's that you have to do what works for you and your family. If we all raised our kids the same way what a boring world this would be!!! I for one know so many fantastic moms, my own, my mother-in-law, my friends, and my co-workers. I respect every single one of them for the decisions they have made to have happy children, family, and self. I think it's high time we stop criticizing and judging eachother. I hope to continue to have an open mind and pull thoughts and ideas from others and eventually form my own parenting philosophy that works for my family (though I"m pretty sure that process never ends...)
So that's enough soap boxing for now. How about a few pics of Ben??
