First week back at work after paternity leave - I miss my daughter so much
Took 2 weeks off when our daughter was born in March. Got back to the office yesterday after finishing my parental leave and man... the office feels so empty and pointless now. I kept checking my phone to see updates/photos from my wife. She sent me a video of Ellie (that's our daughter, 8 weeks old) smiling and I just sat at my desk for like 10 minutes.
Don't get me wrong, I'm glad to be back with adults and doing actual work again, but the mental shift is weird. Anyone else feel this? My coworkers keep asking how fatherhood is and I don't even know what to say. How do you all balance this feeling?
Dude that feeling is real. The first week back was the hardest for me. Two things that helped: (1) I set a rule that I'd check a photo of my daughter once at lunch and once mid-afternoon - gave me something to look forward to instead of just constant phone checking, and (2) my wife and I started doing a 6pm pickup/cuddle routine where I literally just held her for 15 minutes before dinner. Made the in-between hours feel less pointless.