Twelve weeks and one day

Today, instead of returning to work after 12 weeks, I:

-Took River to an introductory gymnastics class and enjoyed seeing him smile and learn skills in a fun atmosphere.
-Ate whatever I wanted for the last day before I begin counting calories
-Walked 3.25 miles
-Worked on taxes
-Found grass-fed milk on sale for half price and made yogurt with it
-Pumped and filled one more bag of breastmilk
-Held a warm, soft, heavy baby in my arms, looked into her eyes, smiled at her, and received the most beautiful coos in return.
-Watched a couple of short films and Secret Millionaire
-Read River his bedtime stories and tucked him in
-Supplied Willow with the milk she needed for another day of growth and development
-Bought a pie for pi day

I did nothing intellectual, nothing particularly challenging. But I managed to have some quality moments with both children, to make some progress on tasks and to get a bit of exercise. This feels like a halfway normal life just emerging again (if you can ignore having to get up no fewer than two times per night).

I’m grateful to be able to hold on to this normalcy a little longer, to gain more skill and confidence in all of these areas, before adding on another major responsibility into the mix.