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This image of Emma doesn’t have anything to do with this post but isn’t she cute? 😉

If you were to ask me last year about taking time off work for the baby, I would tell you I was only going to take a couple weeks off and then I’d get so bored I’d end up going back to work early. Boy was I wrong. We’re now two and a half months into this “maternity leave” thing and I’m wondering where the time has gone! And I say maternity leave in quotes because I work for myself so technically it’s really just a long break, not like I’m getting paid time off or like I have an office or employees to go back to.

This break has been so nice for me to really slow down and reenergize. 2016 was my busiest and best year as a business owner. I loved every client I got to work with and I remember being sad thinking that I would come back from maternity leave to crickets in my inbox or that I wouldn’t have any work and I’d have to start from square one. It’s hard to not stress over that stuff when you’ve got a baby on the way and a mortgage to pay but I think this break was much needed. It’s really allowed me to take a step back and reprioritize parts of my business and life. I’ve reworked my pricing and packages so I’m able to focus on 1 to 2 clients at a time versus 5 or 6 like I was doing last year. This will allow me to work while still being able to raise Emma at home which is a relief because I am so not ready to hire a nanny or send her off to daycare. This break has also made me think about the type of design I want to continue doing as well as the types of clients I want to work with. After last year I was really able to pinpoint which types of projects were the most fun for me and the other types that I didn’t enjoy as much. Being able to identify the types of projects I know I’ll enjoy working on will make it easy for me to see the value in taking time away from Emma so I can do work that will fuel my creativity and happiness.

With that being said, as much as I’ve enjoyed taking it easy these past couple months I am so ready to start working again in May. I have some anxiety about working with the baby at home but she seems to be napping pretty frequently(for now) so I’m just hoping I’ll be able to work in between naps and when Aaron gets home from work. For now I’m going to be soaking up these last couple weeks of work-free time with the baby. If anyone has any tips about working from home with a baby send them my way!