This is my last week of maternity leave. I don’t plan on having any more kids, so heading back to work on Monday marks the end of the newborn season of my life. I had anticipated having children for a long time, and after I had my son, I’d looked forward to experiencing a second pregnancy and birth, and to welcoming a daughter. I have my ideal family now, but it’s a little bittersweet to think that I won’t be doing it all again.

As hard as it will be to leave my baby on Monday, I’m eager for something of a return to normalcy. I’m not sure what normalcy even means in 2020, but maternity leave can feel like a pause in life, and I think I’m ready to hit play again.

I’m not kidding myself, though: going back to work is where the rubber meets the road as a working mother of two. It will be tough at times. So far, managing two kids hasn’t been all that hard. My son has continued to attend preschool while I’m on leave, and if I’m up during the night with the baby, I can take a mid-day nap while she sleeps. I know it will be challenging to get back on a regular schedule and to stay on top of all the household chores when I only have a few hours a day with my family. Plenty of people have shared the sentiment that having two kids is about five times harder than having one.

I’m taking a few steps that I hope will make my life a little easier. I’ve gone through all my work clothes and organized them into pre-planned outfits so that I don’t have to think about what to wear each day. I discovered a local business that makes and delivers family-size frozen meals, and I ordered a couple for next week. I usually don’t arrive home until after 6:00 p.m. and my husband doesn’t cook much, so it will be very helpful if he can stick a pan of lasagna or enchiladas in the oven and have dinner waiting for me when I return from work and daycare pickup.

I also stocked my freezer with Veestro (referral link) meals so that I can easily grab a healthy lunch (and sometimes breakfast) on my way out the door in the morning. These plant-based meals are free of preservatives and made mostly with organic, whole-foods ingredients. For snacks, I try to keep a variety of fresh fruits and grab-and-go veggies like baby carrots. This way, I won’t have to devote much time or energy to preparing food or packing lunch, and I’ll be less likely to fall into the fast food trap. Online grocery ordering and curbside pickup has made shopping so much quicker, too — I can easily stop by the store on my way from the office to the day care and get everything we need for the week without ever exiting my car.

This summer, I hired a landscaper on several occasions to do some weeding and garden maintenance for me when pregnancy and the heat made it a little too uncomfortable to do it myself. Going into the winter months, the landscaping shouldn’t require a lot of upkeep, and I do enjoy working in the flower beds from time to time. Still, it’s nice to know that if life starts to get a bit too busy and stressful, I have someone I can call for help with that task. I also have someone clean my house once a month. My husband and I do day-to-day cleaning between her visits, but the monthly professional cleanings ensure that the state of our house never gets too bad, even when life is chaotic.

As for the laundry, well, you know what they say about that.

(Seriously, though, how do people do it?)

Working parents and busy readers, what tips do you have for streamlining your life? I’d love to hear your advice as I transition into this next chapter.

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