Maternity leave

I (Rebecca) am really lucky that I get to stay home with Maya for three months and basically hang out with her.   I’m using all of my vacation and sick time to do it, and taking some time off unpaid, but I’m not at all worried about losing ground at work or being fired for having a kid.  I love working for the government (and specifically the court).  I also get to work from home the majority of the time when I resume my lawyerly duties in May, so I will probably get to see Maya do all of her firsts.  

Right now, hanging out with Maya is a routine of eating, burping and changing diapers.  But in between, her waking hours are quirky and cool.  She likes to hang out on my chest, looking up at me and bobbing her head, or sit next to me on the sofa in her Boppy pillow.  I just watched her fight sleep for 5 minutes or so, blinking until her eyes finally stayed shut.  Sometimes I will look at her after a few minutes of distraction and realize she’s been awake, staring at me silently with a little grin.  I think she secretly likes the West Wing marathon I’ve been running in the background this week.

I guess every time I start to feel a little suburban cabin fever (not infrequent) or jealous that Mustafa gets to interact with adults and talk about non-baby things every single day (!) and go out to lunch (!!), I remember I get to watch the Maya show all day, and it is a limited run.