Phoenix, Arizona

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When I returned to work after three months of maternity leave, I went through the difficult task of convincing myself that having a full-time job and dropping my baby off at a daycare center was the right thing to do (oh, the guilt a mother feels!). On my second day back at the office, my mom called to check how I was doing and she called during my lunch hour, which meant I was in my car, weeping about missing Benny and feeling wrong about not being there to care for him. I had a terrible feeling of homesickness for my 3-month old baby!

But my mom, who worked a full-time job (and still does) throughout our childhood, knocked some sense into me. In a few words, she reminded me that we come from a line of hard-working women that have all gone through the same emotions and survived. She reminded me that a job gives us the ability of providing a better lifestyle for our children and it will be what helps our families survive if something were to ever happen to our husbands.

In retrospect, my job has been a blessing in my life. It was the opportunity I had been waiting for after numerous years of stressful, low-paying, overwhelming news reporter jobs.

Needless to say, after my second week back at work, I was doing a little better and by the end of my first month back, I was fine (LOL)!!

My son Benny has proven to be quite the independent little child. He doesn't seem to miss his mama too much if I'm not around, and adjusts very well to any environment.

That has made work assignments a little easier since I'm occassionally assigned to travel out-of-state.

Take my last trip to Phoenix, Arizona, for example. I was there in mid-July for training and for media interviews, for which I visited several Spanish-language local news stations.

 

Here with Sergio Urquidi, a fine journalist from Univision Arizona

I tried to Facetime with Benny at every opportunity but on my first night, the boy was completely knocked out by the time I got to the hotel (not fair)!

Earlier that afternoon, I visited a restaurant called Aunt Chilada's. I had seen a lot of advertising for it on travel brochures and Phoenix visitor magazines so I checked it out. I had a stuffed Poblano Pepper and one of their signature Margaritas (only because they didn't have any specialty martinis). The Margarita was refreshing but the meal was just ok. I skipped on the beans and rice and focused more on the veggies stuffed inside the pepper.

I had a good conversation about Lance Armstrong with a bike shop owner named Jonas and for the purpose of this blog, had the bartender lady snap a photo of me :)

The next day, I had a full day of training and once I was done, I stopped by a place called Stuffington Bear Factory. It was a local version of a Build-A-Bear Workshop, except this one featured all stuffed animals made in-house, therefore made in the USA. In the past, I would have never stopped at a place like this but I have a son now!!

I ended up getting a tour of the facility, which is very cute with rows of tiny outfits to dress your stuffed, furry friends.

I bought Benny a bear with a basketball outfit to go with it, as a way of supporting the local Phoenician economy and fulfilling my motherly inclination of buying something for my son.

Then I headed out to grab a bite to eat and in the middle of my meal, my sister-in-law (Cristina) who was taking care of Benny, called to see if I was available to FaceTime since my brother-in-law was home and offered his iPhone to do so. I quickly got in my car, headed back to the hotel and got to see my Benny playing and smiling at his mama...a much more engaging conversation with my son than the night before.

When people ask me "how do you do it?" (leave him behind for work travel) I tell them it's not easy and I do get sad, yes, but -- I limit my travel to two nights, max. I use technology to communicate and see my son at every chance (FaceTime using my Mini-iPad and/or my iPhone). Further, I've been blessed with a baby who doesn't cry when I drop him off-- anywhere! And I have amazing people to look after him (my husband, my mother, my sister-in-law or his babysitter).

The best thing about this trip though, was of course, returning home and watching my Benny enjoy his new stuffed bear, which was adequately named "Bearjamin" (Awww).