Katrina Carefoot, Mabel BlogHer correspondent, from Fickle Feline, is guest blogging for the next two weeks while Julie recovers from the birth of her 6th baby - welcome Finian Aloysius!

Me at the beginning of my 1st week back at work.

I survived my first week back at work.  I’m not going to lie, the mornings came early, the days were long, and most nights I fell into bed not long after my kids.  But I made it, and I learned some important lessons along the way.

Ten Things I Learned My First Week Back At Work:

1. Coffee tastes better when you don’t have someone pulling on your pantleg.  So does lunch.

2. A 5:30am wakeup call always feels like the middle of the night, no matter how early you go to bed.

3. My kids will be okay if someone else takes them to doctor appointments and therapy sessions,  but it still kills me that I can’t be there for everything.

4. My baby sleeps better when she spends the day at daycare - in fact, she sleeps through the night!

5. I like getting dressed up every morning (with a regular bra rather than a nursing bra) and putting on makeup.

6. It’s not such a bad thing to get a chance to miss your kids, it makes you appreciate your time with them.

7. Sometimes it seems like a good idea to just go to bed and not lay out clothes, prepare lunches, and set up coffee for the morning…but what takes five minutes at night seems to take a half hour in the morning. 

8.  Morning traffic isn’t so bad, except when you have a 9am meeting.  Who schedules 9am meetings?? People without kids!  

9.  Most mornings, somebody’s going to poop right when you’re trying to get out the door. Note: It’s never me, and it may not be one of my children.

10. Blackberrys are highly addictive.  I am not sure why I waited so long to get one.

Me at the end of my 1st week back at work.

As I prepare to head into week two of going back to work, I will admit that a) I’m already looking forward to my first statutory holiday and b) I’ve already scheduled some vacation time.  I do like my job, I really like my boss, and I think I’m going to be okay.  But check back in with me in a few weeks and make sure I’m still standing!