A little over two weeks....

In a little over two weeks not only will I get to finally hold Zoe, but I will finally (FINALLY) have a long term absense from work. I haven't had break over 5 days since our wedding 3 years ago. While I can not wait to get my hands on our little girl, today I'm actually more excited about the break from the job. I love my job, I really do. I really enjoy working with and helping the kids and their families. The administrators I work with are top notch, and the teachers are pretty great too (being that I met Eric at one of my schools years ago :) ). However, when I decided to get my Ph.D. in an area of psychology I was drawn to the education field for the same reason as most folks....say it with me......summers off, snow days, spring break! In Northern Virginia it is very difficult to find a 10 month job so here I am schelping away in a 12 month administrative contract (has to do with the federal law IDEA which goes by actual calander rather than school calander year). No summers off, no snow days, 2 days for spring break. It starts to get draining working every day with kids where something has gone wrong. Obviously as a school psychologist I don't get asked to consult on the happy, straight A children. We've had a lot of crises that have required responding to in the past month, and it's starting to be very draining. I really need a break.

Since Eric and I both work for the same district we get 12 weeks of shared leave between us for FMLA. Our 2 weeks in China counts as 4 weeks of FMLA leave. Luckily our trip falls at the end of the school year so Eric won't have to cut too much into my leave time, but it's important for him to be home with us when we get back for the bonding. I've also been saving leave for years now knowing about our situation. Once I'm off FMLA I can take annual/sick leave since I have been accurring the days. This way I will be able to be home with Zoe until after Labor Day. Otherwise I would have had to have gone back at the beginning of August...and I would have been very grumpy. But it all worked out and now I can't wait to go!!