Maternity Leave

I’ve been on maternity leave for two weeks now and still have a week and a half until Fidget’s due date. I thought I would go stir crazy, but it so far it’s not been too bad.

Maternity leave is still such an alien thing to me as well as not going back to work. I’m used to having 3-4 days off from work in a row so it’s not the time off I’m not used to, it’s the fact I’m not going back at all for at least a year!

I’m also so used to cramming jobs in on my rest days that I’m finding it difficult to now spread the load so that I don’t a) over do it early on and b) have nothing to do by Week 4!

So far, the last two weeks have consisted of…

Cleaning

(Of course it would consist of cleaning – you all must know me well enough by now…)

Apart from days when I need to hoover, which is sometimes an all day task if I do the whole house as well as the dusting/polishing in between, I’m making myself spread out certain yearly tasks (like clearing out the cupboards and cleaning them, cleaning the extractor fan above the oven, etc) to throughout the whole week so I give myself just the one thing to do in a day.

Writing

Out of nowhere I’ve found things to write about as well as the time to do it.

Reading

Again, because I now don’t have to cram housework into my rest days, I have time to read. At the moment, I’m reading the second Game of Thrones book and A Casual Vacancy.

Cooking

To keep my brain active, I’ve been regularly raiding our cookbooks to find new meals to serve the wife for when she gets home from work. So far, I’ve cooked a range of soups, pies, as well as played/improved old recipes.

Packing

I think I’ve probably packed, unpacked, and re-packed my maternity bag a few times and to be honest, I still don’t know if I have everything. I also have a bag for Fidget, as well as a third bag that contains snacks, books, iPad, iPod, and stuff for S.

Catchup TV

When I’m not doing the above, I’m simply trying to catch up on box sets that I’ve never got round to watching and should do. So far, I’ve watched Season 1 of The Wire (the remaining seasons were then deleted when our Sky box got upgraded – ARGH! – and now I can’t get them back because Sky have deleted them from On Demand – ARGH!!), Seasons 1-2 of Sherlock (still waiting for Season 3), Season 9 of How I Met Your Mother, and I’m currently watching Hannibal. Any recommendations would be great. I’m quite keen to start Downton Abbey and Broadchurch.

Over the next few weeks, so I don’t go stir crazy, I also hope to also pop out and see some friends and family.

After all this, I should have then finally passed my due date. With this, I will no doubt want remain inside… just in case. Maybe I’ll re-pack my maternity bag again.

K