Saturday, January 26, 2008

Change of Schedule

My typical weekday schedule when I was a working mother:

7:00 am: Wake up, spend half an hour getting myself ready
7:30 am: Get girls up, changed, dressed and out the door
7:50 am: Spend 60-75 minutes on commute, including stop at Tim Horton's for the girls' required blueberry bagels
9:00 am: Drop girls at sitters and get to office
5:00 pm: Leave office, pick up girls
5:15 pm: Spend 60-75 minutes on commute home
6:30 pm: Arrive home, make dinner while being nagged by children who are putting on spectacularly dramatic display of hunger
7:30 pm: Kid time - play, read, sing, dance, cuddle with children; bathe them if necessary, get them ready for bed
9:30 pm: Kids hopefully now alseep; do load of laundry and clean up kitchen
10:30 pm: Watch tv, read, take shower
11:00 pm: Bed time

This is my typical schedule now that I am at home:

9:00 am (-ish): Wake up, take 2 minutes getting myself ready
9:15 am (-ish): Hear Anna calling "Mommy, come get me!"
Side note: I do realize how lucky I am to have a three-year-old who not only loves her crib and has never asked for a big girl bed (although she has slept in them elsewhere), but also waits for me to come and get her in the morning. While I am counting my blessings, I also realize how lucky I am to have children who sleep this late.
9:16 am: Let Anna open the door as we go to get Rachel who is waiting for us with a beaming smile. "I get up!" she announces.
The remainder of the morning is spent eating breakfast, cleaning up after breakfast, starting dinner if necessary, emptying the dishwasher, starting laundry and usually some Disney movie featuring a princess.
Late morning is when errands are run if any are needed. Otherwise we do a non-tv related activity - taking a walk if weather permits, playing with play-dough, coloring, reading
1:00 pm: Lunch
2:00 pm: Nap time, baby. I have the best kids.
2:00 - 5:00: Mommy time. Cleaning, laundry, cooking, yes but also internet usage, bad tv on DVR, the occasional nap. This is also when I normally shower.
5:00 -9:30 pm: More toddler time including dinner, play, bath and usually another Disney movie. Preferably with a princess.

I always felt frazzled when I was working. I always felt strained for time. I was always exhausted. And I was always in my damn car.

I do not miss the needy clients, the office politics or the heinous commute. But I will admit to sometimes missing the eight straight hours per day someone wasn't calling me Mommy, the Friday lunch time discussions of Grey's Anatomy, the excuse to wear cute uncomfortable shoes.

I don't feel guilty about occasionally fantasizing about those days, because all in all I am pleased with the trade off.

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