Yes, my job is flexible...to a point. Yes, working from home is FANTASTIC. Yes, I spend more time with Ellie than the typical working mom does (and I am so thankful for that). However, there are times when my job is not so flexible and I have to travel 2 hours away for one appointment. Other times counselors may call last minute and ask me to speak at their evening parent program. This is where it gets tricky!
A "typical" day in our house is far from the normal 9-5 work day that most experience. Each day is busy and hectic and no two days are ever the same. After the past few weeks we have had, I decided I needed to document the craziness so that one day I could look back, be very proud of myself, and ask "how in the world did we do that"?
I chose to go with yesterday because it was one of our busier days.
5:15 am: Don's alarm goes off for the FIRST of at least 3-4 times. That boy likes to sleep:)
6:10 am: Don leaves for work
7:00 am: Ellie is up, so I am up! (Yes, she's still my alarm on mornings when I work later. I just can't get up before her unless I absolutely have to).
7:15: I change her diaper, fix her morning milk, turn on Barney, and get her breakfast together. This morning she had a cereal bar, yogurt and some strawberries.
7:30: While Ellie eats, I get ready. On mornings when I am working from home, you can pretty much guarantee that I am in jeans and a t-shirt. On work days, I get ready before school.
8:00: I check email, check my calendar and work phone, and gather up my work materials for my work day.
8:30: I get Ellie dressed for MDO. Today I squeezed her into a size 12 month romper she wore last winter. I am just dying to get one last wear out of all of these clothes! The pants were a little short but she still looked cute in my opinion:)
9:10: I get home and get back to my computer. I correspond with a teacher and a counselor about a meeting next week and a problem they were having on our website. I also chat with Aunt Jenny over the phone while I email:)
9:50: I get dressed for work,
10:15: I heat up leftovers for Don's lunch. I am working at his school today so I told him I'd drop off his lunch on my way to the counselors office:)
10:30-12:30: I work in the computer lab with 3 school counselors.
12:40: As I am getting ready to leave the school, the counselor mentions parent/teacher conferences that night (which I already knew about, Don had to be there!) and asks if I could set up a table to speak with parents from 3-6:30 or however long I could be there. Of course I said sure, but in my head I am thinking about the logistics of picking Ellie up from MDO and finding someone to watch her while I am back at work.
12:45: I get on the phone. First, I call DeDe. She is my voice of reason and logistics guru:) She can't meet me because she volunteers in the church office which is TOTALLY fine. I don't expect her to always be available. She suggests I call Brittney, our babysitter that watches Ellie in the mornings when I work early. She sits with Ellie, feeds and dresses her, and drops her off at school a few times a month. She has been a huge help!
1:00: I call Brittney. She is available! She will meet us at home at 2:50.
in between this time, I eat lunch and breathe for a couple minutes before I leave to pick E up.
2:20: I leave to pick Ellie up from school. She had a great day! Took a 2 hour nap and ate all of her lunch. After chatting with the teachers and office ladies, we don't get home until 2:40ish
2:40: We get home and Brittney is there waiting! Lifesaver. We chat about getting Ellie a snack and I go through my calendar with her about a couple days next week I will need her help.
2:55 I leave to head back to work.
5:00 I am home! Brittney has night class so I left work in time for her to get to school.
5-7:30: I fix Ellie's dinner (mac-n-cheese, applesauce and grapes), our dinner (Italian Casserole) and then we play, take a bath and read books.
7:30: Don is home after parent/teacher conferences. He eats dinner and plays with Ellie.
8:30: Ellie is in BED and we are not far behind her! I do try to catch up on the DVR and watch Big Brother and Project Runway and Don watches a little bit of football.
Whew, I am tired again just reading through that. I am sure most of you have days like that every day or some that are even busier. I just found this day to be the best example of the juggling act I find myself constantly doing.
The cheesy term "it takes a village" is SO true when it comes to raising children. We get a lot of help from family (that don't even live in the same town) and we couldn't do it without them! Needless to say, we are ready for the weekend!
No comments:
Post a Comment