After DD1 I returned to work 5 days per fortnight after 12 months.
DD2 is now 14 months old and I haven't returned.

In an ideal world, I would be able to find CHALLENGING professional part-time work but my experience after DD1 shows that this is very tricky. I was working for a large organisation but was effectively working two levels below my original position and was bored and frustrated even though they had to pay me at my old level.

To avoid that happening again, we rejigged our lives and moved to the country so that we could be mortgage-free and I wouldn't have to do a job I hated. It doesn't help that I wanted to change career anyhow so even if the perfect job with the perfect hours came up, I wouldn't be tempted. However, I DO need to do something other than look after DDs especially as DP often works weekends too, so next year I'm planning to put both DDs in childcare for two days a week, do my Masters with a view to changing career when I get back into the workforce.