What's gonna work?

Lucky lady that I am, I have the luxury of summers free of my job. Before Neila: sleeping in, watching The View, eating a big breakfast with coffee, and generally doing whatever it was I felt like. Granted, I only had two summers like this and the last one I was sleeping and eating and feeling overall unwell (newly pregnant and all). This summer rolled around and I have to say that it was the best summer I can remember. The advantage of Jordan starting his SAHD career this month is that we have been working together with Neila all month. I got up during the night with her while he slept, he took her in the morning so I could sleep in until 8 (or 9!), I'd play with her poolside while he got in his workouts, he'd take her on walks while I chatted over coffee with my friends, I'd take her to baby story time at the library while he was out wakeboarding... the list goes on and on. Point being, we were a team and you could always count on one person to pick up the slack while the other indulged (which may be too generous a word for sleeping, exercising, and socializing).

Going back to work, for me, means going back to guilt. Guilt that I'm away from our precious little one at such a young age, guilt that I am ENJOYING my job, and guilt that my partner no longer has a partner for 9 to 10 hours a day. I guess the task at hand is to figure out how to turn those guilty feelings into something productive... I'll get back to you on that one :)

work weight... or is it "work, wait"?

I've been ignoring for quite some time the fact that I will be returning to work next week. Once we returned from camping I started getting my mind prepared. Yesterday I put in a solid four hours (during Neila's naps) on the computer prepping lessons and clearing inboxes. Today, however, I realized the true weight of my profession. I heading onto campus to start putting my room together.

Before I started teaching first grade I thought it would be a great position to hold while you raise a family -- summers and holidays off, weekends always free, and hey you're home before the sun goes down. Little did I know that the life of a teacher is seldom that sunny during the school months. I LOVE my job. It is strange to say it, I absolutely LOVE the late nights, bringing work home on the weekends, scouring the internet for new lesson ideas - all of it. There is something so satisfying about nailing a lesson you've created and watching as all twenty little faces looking at you smile with excitement that they got it!

My first year I easily worked 60 hours per week - and a happy 60 hours at that. Now that I'm also a mom, I want to have both: an amazing classroom and an amazing home. How can I figure out a way to balance the weight of both?