I have 16 days of leave left for the year and after deducting the 5 days which I can carry forward to 2014, I will need to clear 11 days of annual leave. I also have another 2 days of childcare leave left to be consumed by year end. That means I will need to take at least 3 days of leave every month from now till December.

I hardly take leave unless it's for holidays or for baby K's scheduled immunisation at the polyclinic. And other than the 3 days of leave that Ivy requested from me when her sis was in town, she never asked to take any leave just to rest. Her rest days are really just on Saturdays and probably 3/4 of Sundays as we send baby K to their home by 7pm usually. But then again we have church on Sundays and Ivy teaches the children Sunday school so technically she is only 'well-rested' on Saturdays.

Not wanting to take advantage of Ivy's kindness and knowing fully well that taking care of an active toddler is very energy zapping, I have decided to take 2 days of leave every month from now till December. Having a generous leave policy helps too of course.

Sometimes the husband makes unfair comments when he sees baby K with insect bites or rashes on her body after picking her up from Jeremy's and last night on our way home after spending time with baby K, I reminded him that Ivy is still the best choice for baby K. Not once has she asked for any leave days other than the time her sis flew back for a holiday. Although we are looking forward to January when we will have baby K home with us, we also have to give up our couple time and the luxury of meeting up after work to watch a movie or go window shopping.

And I'm sure Jeremy, Ivy, Tim & Bev will miss baby K very much the moment we stop the current arrangement. :(