Settling Back In

Getting back into the swing of things here in Riyadh was easier than one might think. Our home was clean and in order, and all of our house plants were still alive and well. It was as if we never left. We made a big trip to the grocery store to replenish our supplies and then we filled our other day with setting up the rest of the nursery. I have to say I’m thrilled with how the nursery turned out. And if handling a newborn comes as naturally to us as decorating the nursery, then Justin and I are set! (I’m kidding of course).

We had a nice week back to work and it was nice to see everyone returned from vacation looking happy and relaxed. We even had an entire work day to set up our classrooms so that we are feeling much more organized at the start of this year.

We had a checkup with the doctor and next weekend will take a tour of the maternity ward. I’ve been getting a lot of love and support from a lot of the women here so that I am feeling calm and happy and relaxed. I’ve also been making a concerted effort these last two weeks to stay active, practice meditation and stretching, and keep my thoughts positive and centered in gratitude. As a result, I am not experiencing any of the stress that comes with starting a new school year, nor am feeling particularly worried about having this baby. Life is good and I am good and everything’s good, baby!

It seems serendipitous that our school theme for this year is wellness and there have been many opportunities to practice mindfulness and wellbeing at work and look to ways to bring it to our students in the classroom. There are even some opportunities for me to offer some guided meditation and relaxation sessions to teachers this year which I very much look forward to doing.

We are now near the tail end of Eid holiday and will have one more day of planning and prep on Sunday before the students return on Monday. Both Justin and I are feeling very confident and prepared for this school year and are looking forward to the year ahead and the Baby Mink coming soon!