How much time...

spainy17

...do you spend with your LO each week?

I am feeling some mom guilt lately because I am working more and also because we have super involved grandparents so she gets time with them and sometimes I feel like I am not with her as much as I should be. 

My schedule is weird because I am a nurse so this week I worked 6 day shifts so was gone a lot.  I see DD for 30 minutes in the am before I leave (she goes to Dc during the week or is with DH or my mom) and then get home around 4pm and hang with her until bedtime around 7.  Then spent the whole day with her on my day off.  Next week I work only two day shifts so I'll be with her more but already my MIL asked for a day with her "to give me a break" and while I would love one (work doesn't count as a break for me!) I feel bad giving up part of a day with her since I was gone so much this week.  I also take the evening every other Saturday for date night with hubs and her other grandma watches her. 

How often are you away from your little one?  How much "you" time do you allow yourself?  I would probably clean for much of my time when she is with MIL next week but I STILL feel bad. 

Before having kids I would have thought that was crazy but now I just feel bad... I should be picking up shifts to make more money and I feel horrible doing so.

AshleyDehaven

Well, i am in a totally different situation, i am a SAHM, and my husband works constantly, and we have no friends of family here. So i haven't spend more than 45 minutes away from DS since he was born. BUT, we are moving home in 19 days (AHHHHH!!!!) and as soon as he is settled in and comfortable with my mom, i am hoping to take a few hours a week to have time to myself and decompress. I think that is important for everything, working or not. I think you need to do what feels right for you. If you need a couple hours for just you there is nothing wrong with that AT ALL. Everyone does eventually. Not date time, or grown up time, but just totally by yourself alone time. That is the only thing i miss about pre-momma life. Getting time to myself. 

jjdillie

I get less than an hour in the morning and about 2 1/2 hours in the evening. Every other weekend DS's dad gets him on Saturdays, the whole day but not overnight. As a single mom I don't get much me time. Yesterday he was with his dad so I cleaned house. I try to remember quality over quantity.

ungraceful13

Right now I am SAH. So I am with her 24-7 minus 1 hr weekly for my doctor's appointments when my grandparents watch her, 1 hr a week while I grocery shop (DH watches her) and 1x a month for date night when one of our parents watch her. However when I worked. I was with her 30 minutes in the morning and 2.5 hours in the evening and almost all day Saturday and Sunday except for grocery shopping and date night.

Myaflowers

I worked all week and went to a training all weekend long. I drove back and forth (1.5 hours away) all 3 days so I would be here at night, but I haven't seen her for more than 3 hours in a row since last weekend. It's sad.  And I get to do it all again for 3 more days the weekend after next.

jobiann

I work 40 hours every week, unless it's a holiday or I take vacation time obviously. I get up with DS, he is usually up between 6 and 6:45am. We hang out, get ready, eat breakfast together until I take him to d/c at 7:30am. Then I pick him up at 4:40pm and we head home usually unless we have to make a grocery run. We play, eat dinner, give him a bath and he goes to bed between 7:00 and 8:00pm. 

BabyHope2013

I work full time---so I see DS for about a half hour in the morning--I wake him up, get him ready for the day and give him something small to eat. (He eats actual breakfast at daycare). Then my husband does drop off and I do pick up---I work till 4:30 but have over an hour commute, so I don't pick him up until almost 6. We go home and immediately start making dinner. (DS tries to "help") Then we eat when DH gets home around 6:45, clean up and play until about 8:30 when it's bedtime. Then I generally will snuggle with him on the couch till he falls asleep. 

I am off on the weekends, but DH often works most of Saturdays. So on the weekends I try to do as many chores as possible during nap time, but otherwise try to dust while DS plays in the room or fold laundry sitting next to him playing. I do most of the cleaning and laundry in the house. I also do all the cooking, so I try to prep what I can for the week on Sunday's. 

I wish I worked closer---or could work part-time so I had more time with him each week. Until then, I completely treasure the days off that I have when I do have them.