4 years ago today...

I returned to work for the first time as a mom.  Wow 4 years ago and it blows me away to think how much has changed in not only our lives but in my career as well.

I hated that first day back to work after being off for 11 weeks with Caden and Maggie.  They were still so small but they were in goods hands - no, make that great hands - with Memaw Connie and Papaw Eddie. 

It is weird but I remember exactly what I wore that day, not much fit but I remember that outfit.  I remember crying on the way to work, not quite feeling myself.  I remember getting to work and sitting down with my boss to talk about the transition back into a full time job versus my life of the last 11 weeks of full time mom.  That was one of the longest days of my life but yet the reward at the end of the day when I got home to hold those babies was just amazing and made up for everything. 
Sure, I missed them (and still do everyday), but I made it through that day and so many more after that. 

There are lots of times when I wonder what it would be like had I not gone back to work, but my career is part of who I am, it helps me to be a better mom by focusing my time with them towards exactly that, time with them and it allows me to still be Trina - sales gal, not just the lady who has two sets of twins.  I think the job of a stay at home mom is a wonderful job, one that I just cannot imagine myself doing but that I respect with appreciation for all of those who do it. 
We mom's, we have lots of careers in our lifetime, it is ever changing.  You start as the diaper changer, feeder and cuddler.  You move to the play mate and the one who hands out punishment, then onto the taxi driver and cheerleader and eventually the best friend, or so I hope that my children are as close to Matt and I as we are to our parents. 

So why this post now?  It just hit me as I was walking out here to write about something else that 4 years ago today my life changed, once again, and I proved to myself that I could do more than I ever imagined I could.  I love that I remember that day in detail, I even remember what the kids wore as well.  I love being a mom, I am grateful for my support system I have at ConAgra Foods and I am eternally grateful to my husband for his support and Memaw Connie and Papaw Eddie for making that return to work possible.  Looking back at that day makes me say, "wow, we sure have come a long way"

Caden and Maggie's Valentine's 2008

On the morning when I returned to work