I started my parental leave from Automattic back in February. I was nervous, excited, anxious… lots of emotions. I didn’t know if I would keep busy enough, I was worried I wouldn’t have enough interactions with people above the age of 2 and I wasn’t sure how to “best” use my time. It didn’t take me long thankfully to realize that there wasn’t a “best use”. I am a work in progress as are all of us and one of the areas where I have made leaps and bounds is needing less and less of a plan. I am good at seeing big picture, but it is okay if that picture changes over and over again along the way.
I wanted to take a moment to reflect on the last 6 months and where I am today. I absolutely loved all of my time with Ezra. Was it all perfect? Of course not, I mean we are raising a toddler lol. But it was amazing to get this time with him, to help him grow, develop an even stronger bond than we already had and just be there for so many awesome moments. I can’t thank Automattic enough for this time. We really do work for an amazing company!
Ezra has kept me active. We walked daily while the kids were in school, enjoying lots of trails, water, sticks and rocks. I used his nap times to get into a better routine for myself and I joined BeachBody which has been one of the best decisions I have made in years. I want to be around for a very long time and having a young child with this older body, well, it really smartened me up and I am happy to be on a great path.
I have been listening to Audiobooks again which has been really nice. I started with 4000 Weeks. I am so grateful for this book and the perspective it gave me on many things, this leave being just one of them. After that book I read “I Dared to Call Him Father”. I really enjoyed this book, after of which I read an Andy Stanley book called Irresistible and was hooked on his books. I have also listened to Better Decisions, Fewer Regrets, Not in It to Win It and now I am listening to Enemies of the Heart. I appreciate so much his literature. He really puts emphasis on the Old Testament being an old covenant and focusing very much on love. Love for everyone, giving, selflessness, etc. I plan to write a post on all I have been learning and working to change in my own heart, but in the meantime, I also plan to start his Leadership Podcast series when I return to work this week. I can’t recommend him enough!
Originally I had all kinds of plans for our house, yard, decks, etc. Both with Ezra’s help and during his naps, etc. I did accomplish some of those things… Ella and I painted a bunch of trim in our house, Caile’s bedroom and our kitchen / dining room. I re-mulched all the gardens and have them looking nice overall. But as for the rest of it, I am not disappointed at all that I didn’t have time. I am happy that instead of staying home and working on these projects that don’t “need” to be done, we instead spent time as a family and with our friends. I choose joy instead of my list and I am thankful for it! 🙂
As a family we had lots of adventures… took in dance & basketball in the Spring as well as Caile’s prom and graduation. In the summer we had lots of day trips, even left the province for the first time since Covid and enjoyed lots of summer bucket list items. We even had our first child broken bone, which of course wasn’t desired, but we are trying to take some positive from this experience as well.
I return to my team Monday and I am looking forward to catching up with them. I was lucky enough for them to visit NS during their meetup in June and I was able to spend the day with them. I am thankful that I work from home, so although I will be going back to work, I still get to see my family lots. Sandy will be continuing his leave for a few more months, which will be nice for the kids. It was great to have some overlapped time together. And as for my Lead role, I am excited to go back refreshed and with a slightly different mindset. Let’s see what the rest of the year brings. 🙂
I Dream of Summer 
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