Crazy-Awesome!

You know how I wrote a post yesterday all about how I had to come back to work for two weeks to get the most out of my retirement account? You know how I said it was really hard to be away from Bennett and I wished I didn't have to be in the office, but I was toughing it out?

Well, this morning my awesome boss (and friend) went to the partners in charge of our team and asked them for a favor. And they said yes.

What was the favor, you ask? She asked them if they would let me just not come in to work for the rest of the time I'm supposed to be here, but let everyone else (including HR) think that I'm here and working. That's right--starting after lunch today, I'm going to be a stay-at-home mom. I'd be thrilled about it even if I was getting the time off without pay. But for the next week, my paycheck and benefits and everything will still be coming to me. They're paying me to stay home and play with Bennett next week! I still can't even believe that this is for real! You know all those rotten things people say about lawyers? Well, they're mostly true. But I work with a few exceptions. Audra (she's a paralegal) didn't even tell me that she was going to ask them to do this for me, she just called me to her office this morning and told me that she had some news she thought I was going to like. She rocks more than any boss has ever rocked before. I can't even believe she managed to arrange this surprise! I never expected anything like this in a million years. She said that she saw me cuddling Bennett at lunchtime and saw how much I wanted to be with him and decided to see if the partners would go for it. She's a working mom (three kids) herself, so she knows how hard it is, and she didn't want me to sit in the office and suffer when I've already finished all the work that was waiting for me. She knows what it's like to wish she could be home with her munchkins, and she was happy to have the opportunity to give me back to Bennett a week early. She's the best!

I'm still kind of stunned. I'm having a hard time realizing that I'm done. I'm planning on coming downtown for lunch at least a few times next week, that way people will see me in the office and hopefully no one will wonder where I am. (It's important that the real arrangements don't become common knowledge, just in case HR has a hissy and decides to screw me out of my full vesting amount.) Audra's going to tell people that I'm working at home if anyone asks. Technically, that will be true, because I'll be doing laundry and tidying up the kitchen--that's work, right? I suppose I should also spend some of this "found" time writing thank you cards and downloading pictures!

I hope this isn't completely incoherrent--my brain is all a-jumble right now! I just wanted to share the news of this unexpected blessing with you guys. YAY!

Back at Work (Temporarily)

I came back to work on Monday. I only have to be here for two weeks, but I hate to be away from Bennett even for such a short time. (I also hate having to get up early in the morning and put on makeup every day. But that's not my point.) Still, it was the responsible thing to do, and I'm glad I'll have the chance to wrap up a few things and train one of my coworkers to index documents. They aren't going to have time to get a replacement before I leave (they're just starting to interview), so training my coworker is just a stopgap. It may be a "blind leading the blind" situation for someone who's just been trained to try to train a new person, but it's better than having no one even try to train you--I should know, since I'm still waiting to be trained!

It was so tempting to just say screw it and not come back--if Bennett had been born a week late instead of a week early, I would have. But since he came early, my maternity leave ended two weeks before the third anniversary of my employment. In the world of vested-payout retirement accounts, that means that in order to get 60% of my employer's portion of my 401k account (instead of just 40%), I had to come back for a couple of weeks. I suppose it would be stupid to pass on the chance to get what amounts to 5 weeks worth of pay for 2 weeks of work. Also, coming back and giving 2 weeks notice means the difference between a "yes, she's eligible for rehire" and "no, she's not eligible for rehire" if anyone ever calls here for a reference. Not that I EVER want to rejoin the workforce if I can avoid it, but it's smart to refrain from unnecessary bridge burning.

Being back at work is weird. In some ways it feels like I was never gone, in other ways it feels like I'm starting from scratch. My brain is completely Swiss-cheesed. I can't remember where anything is stored on the network, and I can't remember the simplest processes.

My timing for coming back to the office was REALLY good, though. Yesterday was Administrative Professionals Day (also known as Secretaries Day). The firm hosted a Cheesecake Factory cheesecake feast in our honor, and also gave each of us a lovely, crisp $100 bill...and a water bottle! That definitely makes being at work a little easier!

Another thing that makes being back at work a little easier is the fact that Ty is the most awesome, thoughtful, dedicated, loving, helpful, patient brother and uncle in the world. He is taking such good care of Bennett while I'm working. Not only do I have no earthly reason to worry about my baby while I'm away from him, I also get to see him every day during my lunch break because Uncle Ty rocks. Being away from my munchkin for 3-4 hours at a time is a lot easier than being away from him for 8-9 hours at a time. Plus, the lunch visits give me a chance to show off my handsome boy to my coworkers, which every proud mama can understand and appreciate. (There's something nice about seeing other people fall in love with your baby.)

I realize that this is probably the lamest, most boring post I've ever blogged. No one here cares about my job. Heck, even I don't care about my job! I should probably just delete it. But I haven't blogged for over a month and a half, so I figured I better post something, even if it is likely to cause narcolepsy in my readership. I promise to try to get the pictures downloaded from our camera to our computer (and to my flickr account) soon. Maybe a bunch of adorable baby pictures will make up for this tedious chore of a post...