It's Working Project

"Your ability to think on your feet and make things work is what makes the working mother the most powerful person in the workforce."

What is one piece of advice you wish you could offer your former expectant self?

You can’t do everything… But what you are doing you need to love. I love my job, I love working. It provides me with joy. AND it’s that joy that transcends into all I do– it makes me a better wife, mother, best girlfriend and better employee.

How easy was it to put a childcare arrangement together and did it work for your family?

Child care is never easy for anyone. As a couple we try to cover it all through school activities, one of us leaving early for work on some days, tele-working and in a pinch calling in babysitters. We have made the patch-work coverage work; when it stops working, we will come up with another plan.

When did the “new normal” set in for you?

I have found that working now that my Beauties are well established in school has been an seamless transition. We spent almost 6 months talking with our children ages 10 and almost 13 about mom working. We were very open about what sacrifices we all were going to have to understand in order to make my job–work for our family. I find that as women, we sometimes want to take it all on. That may be the greatest gift of my illness, I can’t on a good day. I have had to learn to let go of the perfection and embrace good enough. I also have the most phenomenal partner in every sense of the word. My husband Jeffrey, has a busy job that requires travel. We have a shared google calendar with all our schedules color coded. Thank goodness my engineer husband has the patience to input all our dates. I sometimes text message him appointments just so I know he will mark it in the calendar. We also have realistic expectation of what our life looks like. Family is first, so we choose dinner at home over going out. Nothing makes me happier than Friday pizza with movie night. I almost always fall asleep half way through. I also will never miss Saturday morning watching my 10 year old at her tennis lesson.

Who was your biggest source of support in returning to work? What was your biggest pregnancy indulgence?

My husband was my mentor. He continues to tell me that I can do anything and to go “leave it on the field…” My other close girlfriends have also gone back to work. We are all doing the same type of child care and making it work. Just to be able to call my girlfriends and share helps me.

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