Maternity leave on the horizon

Maternity leave is looming. I have 5 weeks left at work before I can once again join the ranks of mums at home. And, frankly, I can't wait!

It's beginning to feel like a slog being at work, despite having a sedentary job.  It's becoming difficult (and increasingly more undignified) to slide from the 30 degree gap of my open car door in the tightly-spaced staff car park without squashing my sizeable bump or denting other vehicles.  Sitting all day at a desk with a little baby bottom wedged underneath my ribs is becoming a tad tiresome.  And the 45 minute each way commute is something I could do without too.

So, as I approach this second spell of maternity leave, are my plans for spending my work-free and pre-delivery time different to those of the first time, three years ago?  Well, yes and no.  This time, I have the First Boy to look after, although he will be starting pre-school and continuing to go to his childminder for part of the week.  I will have 2.5 days with him and 2.5 days to myself.  So while I do still have plenty of time to take it easy and lie on the sofa eating chocolate and watching TV, as I indulgently did when awaiting the arrival of my firstborn, I know it won't be nearly as decadent this time round.

This time round, although I will lovingly wash The Second Boy's tiny newborn clothes in non-biological washing powder and sensitive fabric conditioner (don't you just love the scent of that?), there will be no ironing of sleepsuits, bodysuits and suchlike.  There will be no attempt to knit tiny cardigans for him, having discovered during my first pregnancy that knitting is definitely not a craft that I was made to master.  There will be no planning of convoluted spreadsheets dictating a regime of batch cooking and meal planning ready for those fuzzy newborn days.  After all, there's a M&S within spitting distance.

But I'm a planner - I like a project. So, instead, I went to Hobbycraft and bought a cross-stitch sampler as a nice little project for the nursery, having failed to realise until I opened the kit at home, that the work involved is enormous, especially for a cross-stitch virgin like me.  At this rate, it'll be ready to frame and hang just as The Second Boy starts high school.  I tell myself it's therapeutic.