Monday was Tim’s first day of paternity leave.

He gets 10 weeks off.

TEN WEEKS!

I don’t even know what I’m going to do with myself for that amount of time.

Oh wait, yes I do! I’m going to go on playdates and leave Isabelle at home. I’m going to use Clara’s naptime to do things I want to do instead of bouncing Isabelle. I’m going to leave the house. I’m going to workout. I’m going to (try to) remember to eat. I’m going to spend more time with Tim. I’m going to think of some new hikes to try and adventures to go on…

I can’t wait! 

Tim took two weeks of his paternity leave right after Isabelle was born, but we intentionally held off on the rest of it until Isabelle was this age (almost 5 months) because I knew at this point we’d want to try to get Isabelle sleeping in her own bed and on some sort of sleep schedule. Clara was a really great sleeping newborn but life got hard after the four month sleep regression, so we were anticipating the same for Isabelle. However, our girls seem to be nothing alike and Isabelle has never slept well sooooo maybe she won’t get worse?! Fingers crossed.

I don’t want to rush into any of that ‘sleep training’ stuff yet, though – I just want to enjoy having an extra set of hands around the house during the day.

On Monday I did a bunch of stuff during Clara’s naptime and it was glorious. On Tuesday I went on a playdate to a park and left Isabelle at home with Tim. Now that I’ve been experiencing life with two kids – only taking one kid somewhere seems like a mini-vacation! I love it!

Sidenote: I really, really think it’s ridiculous that most companies don’t give their employees adequate (or any!) paid maternity/paternity leave, so I consider us very blessed that we get to have this time together.

(Although, let’s be honest, after 10 weeks I may be more-than-ready to send Tim back to work!)

Did you and/or your partner take any maternity or paternity leave?