Hello everyone and welcome back to Mama Bear Tales! With this year inching towards the end again (can you believe it?!), I thought about my plans I had for this year. One of these plans was to write a blog post every month, and apart from taking a short summer hiatus, I adhered to it.

However, when I sat down to write my very delayed November update, I realised that I had forgotten to write one for October. I was completely sure I’d already done that, but then life got in the way. The only consolation is that I wrote two blog posts for September (you can check my post on settling Finn into nursery here and the one about general misconceptions on gentle parenting here).

I started working as a dental hygiene educator in October, and, boy, was I not prepared for the fatigue that would come with working again. It’s a new job, too, so I was in training beforehand and didn’t know exactly how things would work out. I think any parent who was on parental leave for a while (four and a half years for me) understands the whiplash feeling you have when you return back to the work force (and we’re talking three to four mornings, not more).

To add to the strain, while Finn was acclimatising splendidly into nursery, Lily suddenly had massive problems going to kindergarten again, which cost us lots of nerves and energy. It’s really no pleasure to have a battle every morning about going to kindergarten, the guilt you feel – especially as now there simply isn’t an option with me working again. Lily is a very sensitive child and when she’s upset about something happening, it takes quite a while to get her back on track, but we eventually got there. Still, with my new job, Jakob and I have to be much better prepared with meals, who brings the children to their respective institutions, who picks them up, when does he do home office, so I can work that morning, etc. It’s been a journey, for sure.

I apologise for this rambling post, but sometimes this is just life. It’s not neat and organised, but a cornucopia of the good, the bad, and the ugly – but also the beautiful. October was a very hectic month, so I reckon it’s understandable I could simply forget about it. My work includes me driving to different kindergartens and schools every day to teach about dental hygiene, and that was really an organisational as well as mental challenge. We didn’t even do a big thing for Halloween this year. On a whim, Lily and I went trick-or-treating and ended up at a witch party my mother-in-law was throwing, but that was all of it.

One of my main goals this year was to do no parties or bigger events. I love hosting people and would do carnival parties (that’s a thing in Austria), a big birthday bash, a Halloween party, St. Nikolaus get-together (again, an Austrian thing), as well as a Christmas party. But this year I felt myself burning out a little, so I decided to leave it low-key, and I honestly must say, I’ve been loving it. I also feel I actually got to enjoy the seasons and events a lot more without the pressure of having to do something. For Christmas, it’s also just close family and no fuss. Just chill and relaxed.

Speaking of Christmas. There will be various blog posts in December, some on thoughts on parenting, others more Christmas-themed. I hope to see you then, and thank you for reading my little update.

x, Angie