I thought a whole year off work would seem like a really long time when I walked out of the office at the end of June last year. In reality it has flown by. To begin with it felt like a holiday, the UK was experiencing a heatwave with temperatures reaching 36 degrees, and I spent the last few weeks of pregnancy sun-bathing in the garden, reading books, and cooking. I got nearly 6 weeks by myself as little one was over two weeks late. When I look back at the past 10 months, the time has gone so fast, but when you’re in the trenches of the 4 month sleep regression and hour long feeds the days can seem so long. I have 2 months left of my maternity leave before I return to work full-time (4 days in the office, and 1 day working from home) and now it is starting to dawn on me that I really should make the most of these last two months. I have loved being able to have a year off work to spend with my daughter, it has had its highs and lows and I thought I would capture what I will and won’t miss about maternity leave. What I will miss: My daughter! I will miss her every minute of everyday when she’s in nursery. I’m already dreading the moment I have to hand her over for her first day in nursery on the 28th June. Seeing all the new things my daughter does everyday, she is currently going through rapid change at the moment, every day she does something new and I’m worried that I will miss these little things. Long walks around the local park, doing 2 or 3 laps just to get her to sleep. I worked out that I have probably done about 700 laps since the start of maternity leave, and over 1000 miles of pushing the Bugaboo. Endless coffee and cakes with the NCT ladies throughout the week, sometimes we meet up as much as 3 times a week. It will be a shock not seeing these ladies as often, and only being able to meet up at the weekends. Pub lunches in the week, who would say no to a glass of wine or pint. All the baby classes we go to – Baby Sensory and Baby Bounce. I feel that these have been fundamental in my daughters development, and they have created a routine for our week. I would recommended Baby Sensory to any new mum with a new born baby, we have been going since our little one was 5 week’s old. Feeling like I can just about manage everything from looking after our daughter, keeping on top of the housework and washing, and cooking meals for us all (and blogging too). My daughter…..did I already say that. What I won’t miss: Struggling to get my daughter down for her lunchtime and afternoon nap, sometimes this can take up to an hour to do. I hope the staff at her nursery will have some magic ways to get her to sleep. Nappy changing, these are getting more and more interesting as her appetite grows. Finding a half drunk cup of tea in a random place in our house, or forgetting that I had drunk my tea. Doing everything at home from then washing, cooking, cleaning etc….Tasks will have to be shared, and a cleaner employed. Feeling like I keep playing with the same toys over and over again with my daughter, or reading the same books. Once she is at nursery she will have a raft of toys to play with/books to read. Constantly thinking about what I going to cook for my daughter, and making sure that she has enough variety in her diet. Although I will still need to think about to think her food, it won’t be everyday. How did you spend the last few weeks/months of your maternity leave, is there anything that I should definitely be doing to make the most of the time we have left before I go back to work, and she goes to nursery? Thank you so much for reading. Claire x