Birthday Parties

I love birthday parties. This is a weekend of not one, but two, birthday parties to attend!  I think that everyone is entitled to one special day per year.  A day of being fussed over.  A day to feel special.

Monday was my baby girl's first birthday.  It was an emotional day for me.  I no longer have an infant, and more than likely never will again.  It was mostly happy, though.  We have a happy and healthy baby girl (I am choosing to subscribe to the viewpoint that a child is not a toddler until they are 18 months old).  My husband and I have discovered that she loves it when we sing happy birthday... over and over.  It's sweet.

Friday Night

It is Friday night and I am in.  Am I sad about it?  No, I'm not.  You see, my husband and I tried for more than five years to have a baby before our daughter arrived.  I miscarried three times.  I had to have surgery.  I had to undergo fertility treatments.  During those five years, I had non-stop freedom, could come and go as I pleased, was able to be out and about at all hours - and I was miserable about it.  I wanted to be the mama at home putting munchkins to bed.  In our 10th anniversary photo, taken on a Mediterranean cruise no less, I remember what I was thinking.  I was positively pining for a child.  I wondered if any other anniversaries would come and go without children to love.  (Spoiler alert: none did.  Our little girl was 6 weeks old when she accompanied us on our 11th anniversary dinner out.)

I just nursed my daughter and put her to bed, and I am pretty delighted about it.   :)

A Meeting for a Reason

Sometimes things happen for a reason.

I ran into my former boss today while grocery shopping.  I related the joy of my experience in staying home with my daughter and how I would like to take a longer Leave of Absence.  She stated that if I was still working for her that she would encourage it, as my daughter is only going to be little once.  She also stated that Human Resources usually grants Parental LOAs, which as good to hear.

Now for the bad news.  The unfortunate part of the meeting was that she knows the collective agreement inside and out and stated that the longest LOA I can be granted is 2 years in total.  That means that at most, I can be off one more year.  This differs from the 4 years that some other similar employees can be granted.  One more year with my little just doesn't seem long enough.

I meet next week with my new boss to discuss my options.  That leaves a major question mark in my life until then...

Budgeting

As May was my last month on maternity leave, I downloaded software to begin to track the family spending on May 1 - and didn't do it.  I am feeling a bit of remorse now.  The up side is that 90% of our spending is on our credit card, so at the end of the month, it should be easy enough to scrutinize our credit card bill.

It is now officially my job to save money.  That's a big job.  Meals are my starting point.  A friend of mine gave the advice that I need to study grocery flyers and plan meals for the whole week in advance.  This should be interesting...

Intro

Hello!  I am Nursed Mama.  The pronunciation I am seeking is Nurse-ed Mama.  I am a Registered Nurse and I am also an educator/trained teacher.  The other rationale behind the name selection is that I am pro-nursing, aka breastfeeding, and my daughter, now one year and one day old, has been exclusively breastfed.

As of yesterday, when my maternity leave ended, I am officially a stay-at-home mom.  I never thought I would be here, in this position, as I used to be all about my career.  I am delighted and frightened all at the same time, and that is kind of the whole reason behind the blog in the first place.  Stay tuned.  :)