What's your work routine? How many hours are you away from LO?

imsoexcited915

Going back to work FT soon and curious what time you get up for day and who gets LO up for day and what time to daycare? Who drops off and what time? And who picks up and what time?

How bad is it really being back at work? Does it get easier? I love spending time with DD and keep thinking I will never get this time again unless on weekends. I do want to work and it is the right move for our family. But it makes me want to cry.

LaurenAsh23

Let me first start off with...I was so ready to go back to work. I needed that adult time and needed to get out of the house. Also, my dh works at a factory, so he doesn't work traditional hours, so it's all me in the mornings. So I get up around 5a so I can get ready as much as possible before dd is up. I drop off around 730 and pick her up by 5.

You have to be comfortable and happy with your daycare provider in order for it to fully work thoigh!

Bigboobsmcgee

It definitely is hard at first but got easier for me and now I love the break

My kids are 13 months and 3.5 years old. They go different places during the week (my older one goes to school 2 days a week, baby alternates between cousin's house and my mom's house) but I am the one who drops off and picks up the most. I'm away from them from about 7:30am to 5:00pm when I pick them up. My youngest goes to bed at about 7:00pm so I don't have much time with her in the evenings but that's life. We get really good family time together on the weekends.

I think ALL new mom's want to cry at the idea of going back to work after maternity leave. Your life just got flipped upside down with a baby and now it's being flipped again leaving that baby. Lots of changes and that's hard. IMO and IME it does get easier. You eventually find a balance.

Good luck!

crsanchez87

Going back to work was/is super hard but right now it is the best option for our family. LO is 8 months and currently I get up at about 5:30 am and get dressed and then get him up around 6:30. I drop him off at daycare at about 7:05 and am at work by 7:30. We are lucky that the daycare is near both my work and home. DH works from home so he goes to pick him up around 4:00. I get home around 4:30 and I start his night time routine around 6:45. I do all the feeding/bathing/storytime night stuff so I get to spend more time with him before hes in bed at 8. My goal is to eventually be at SAHM but we are saving for a house right now so it is definitely a long term goal. 

Perfect Sonnet

It does get easier.  My three year old LOVES her daycare, so we never have any qualms about sending her.  We even do on the federal holidays that school is open and we are off.  That said, I understand how hard it is...we just started sending our 3.5 month old and there has definitely been some anxiety and tears.  My husband usually drops the kids off at 6:45AM and I pick them up at 4:30PM.  They both go to bed at 7-8-ish.

Especially as they get older, you have to start looking at your time together in terms of quality rather than quantity.  I  could spend all day, every day with them but I would go insane...and that wouldn't be good for any of us   good luck!

SLGILL1978

It's definitely much harder on Mommy than baby. 
I get my daughter up, dressed and do drop offs and pick ups. My husband is in the military and he is either gone on deployments, training, teaching, out in the field, etc and/or he leaves before we wake and comes home after I get off. I am a big believer in following babies lead/cues so I never put my daughter on a schedule. When she was a baby, she naturally woke about 30-60 minutes before my alarm went off. I would feed her, get her dressed and then she would play, sit and watch me get ready. Now that she is a toddler, same pretty much applies except I get her ready after I am done, especially if she is still sleeping when the alarm goes off. When she was a baby, my hours were not specific as long as I worked the 8 hours (I worked at an elementary school) so I would get to work between 7:30-8:15 am and I always left by 4:30. I have since transitioned to the superintendent's office and my hours are more set and I work from 7-4. I drop her off around 6:35-6:40 and I get her picked up by 4:10 (I included my travel time). 

mhwood

My husband works Monday - Friday, and 8 months a year I work Wednesday - Sunday (the other 4 months, Wednesday - Friday).

Our 2 year old goes to daycare 3 days a week, and is home with one or both of us the other 4.

On daycare days, we are up around 7:30 and ready to leave the house by 8ish. As we commute together right now, we drop off our daughter at daycare, he drops me of at work and heads to his own work. He works extra on the other 2 days a week which allows him to leave in time to pick up our LO from daycare by 4:30, gets me by 5 and we are home by 5:30.

Her bedtime is 7-7:30 depending if she napped at daycare or not.

NurseRieger

I do 12 hour nightshift 3 nights a week and am happy with that. My husband does nights also and when he's home baby stays with him and when we both work he goes to my parents house which is practically on my way to work yeay. I always drop him off because my husband drives a police car so he just can't. Honestly I don't think my son misses me but he gets excited to see me when I get home /pick him up. I think babies are like dogs, they just live in the moment and don't know how much time goes by. Happy I went back at 12 weeks, this way it's always his routine and not a rough transition some day.

skibunny59

I have 2 kids age 3 and 1.  Both kids get up between 5:15 and 5:45.  DH usually helps me by getting one of them dressed and ready.  Then DH leaves for work and I sit with both kids for breakfast.  I do all drop offs and pick ups.  I drop the baby off at my mom's around 7:30 and then we usually get to DD's preschool around 7:40 or so.  I get to work around 8.  I leave at 2:30, pick up DD by 3 and the baby by 3:20 or so.  Depending how long we hang out at my  mom's house we are usually home by 4.  DH is home between 5 and 5:30 and he and I work together on dinner, baths, bedtime, etc.

The morning rush is the worst part of the day.  It sucks doing all drop offs and having two drop offs is really hard.  Honestly, as a whole though it's not that bad and I really can't complain.  I really don't like working and would rather be home but I realize that I have much more time than most working moms.  I'm an elementary school teacher so I don't benefit from adult interaction at work.  Sometimes I envy my husband who works with grown ups.  I always feel like he REALLY gets a break but then again I do have lots of time off throughout the year so I guess that's the trade off. 

I hear it does get easier as the kids get older.

 

 

imsoexcited915

Thank you ladies! I know it will be an adjustment. I have an hour commute to and from work and that's a factor. I get up at 5 to get ready and leave to get to work by 8. DH will do drop off and i will do pick up. Right now will be working one day til 6 when I will be home after 7ish and DD will likely be asleep. The other days til 3.30 so I can do pick up and spend time in evening. Just concerned about my added commute time and not really getting to see her in am before I leave. Right now she is waking around 5 am for bottle then will go back asleep for a few hours. Im wondering if I should wake her and dress her then so I can spend some time before I leave and then help out DD esp with the dressing part!

TerraMae80

I'm with @LaurenAsh23 I was so ready to get back to work. But after I was there a week I wanted to be back home. That was at the beginning. Now I have a great routine, my son is a year and a half. Here it goes:

I wake up at 6:00am, get dressed, brush teeth grab my purse and coat. Head downstairs grab coffee and do my make up and hair ( I shower the night before to take time off for blow drying. My hair is a lot fuller and healthier now).  Then I head out to the care at about 6:45 to put everything in there, and start the heater. 

Head upstairs to wake up Noah and get him dressed.  Carry him downstairs, right out the door to daycare. Have him dropped off by 7:15 and arrive at work at 7:45am. 

My husband picks him up at about 3pm (he goes into work at about 3-4am daily)

When my son was younger, I'd wake up get ready, when he woke up I'd stop and get  him ready and sit on the bed and feed and burp him.  Then I'd put him in the pack and play and continue to get ready. It was a little tougher because he wouldn't stay content as long.  As he got older I'd get ready, when he'd wake up I'd get him dressed and then sit him in his highchair with milk and breakfast and he'd watch disney jr while I finished getting ready. 

I'm now pregnant with number two and I am interested to see how the new routine will be with a newborn and a 2 year old.