Keeping in touch days

I’m officially off maternity leave now (as of yesterday)…so getting paid again (yippee!) as I’m now on annual leave until I start back in January.

I’ve been doing a few keeping in touch days which are a great idea – a chance to catch up, find out what’s been happening over the time I’ve been off, and also get involved in any planning days ready for when I’m back at work.  It’s given me chance to meet some of the new people, catch up on the gossip and just generally get used to being back at work (if only for once a month or so).  I’m using 4 of my allowed 10 days.  It’s also handy as I get paid, which is definitely good during the unpaid maternity leave time.

Today was day 3 and a full off site annual division meeting.  Lots of updates on this year, planning for next year and a bit of fun.  And nice to be welcomed back in (plus N got his photo up as part of my department ‘who’s who’ team pic – he got lots of compliments on how cute he looked).

The biggest hassle about being back at work for random days is sorting out babysitters as he’s not started as nursery yet, and it’s too early for him to be doing his settling in periods.  Luckily we’ve got lots of family nearby, and because he sees lots of them, it means he’s not concerned about his travel cot, car seat, toys, the kitchen sink and him being taken over and left at someone else’s house.  Today he was looked after by my mother-in-law for the morning (he slept through most of it, having an unheard of for a while, 2 hour nap), and my sister-in-law in the afternoon.  The latter meant he could play with his 3 year old cousin which they both like (as long as N doesn’t destroy any toys), and he even got to go on the school run to pick up the older cousin.  Bet he loved flirting with all the mums at the school gate.

I love the way he astonishes everyone by what he eats (anything and everything…first taste of sprouts today = 2 eaten), and of course it’s so sweet when I walk in at the end of the day, and he looks up, sees me, smiles and comes scrambling over for a cuddle.

Hopefully these keeping in touch days help not only me, but get him into being away for the whole day, plus the OH as it means our usual relaxed routine will need to be a lot more organised.

Have you taken up your chance for keeping in touch days?