Tell me your daily schedule...

marrymemylove

I'm jobhunting at the moment but it is likely to be January before I'm back at work. I'm a lawyer and the hours totally suck. The best I can hope for is an inhouse role about 8-6 each day (about a 20-30 min commute) or a private practice job which allows me to start and finish early (say 7am-6pm or something like that). Those are rare. I know a guy at a firm who does 6:30am -5pm but he bargained that as part of a partnership deal, not an option yet for me.

?It is quite possible I'll be working 8-8 plus 1-2 late nights each week. In that case I would barely get to see DS at all since he wakes up around 7:30 and goes to bed about 8:30/9pm. We'd have to try to adjust his schedule too.

What kind of schedule do other full time working mums have and when do you get to see DC? I also feel bad for DH because it isn't easy getting DS off to daycare and he'd have to leave work early to pick him up. He has a more flexible job so he can leave early (say 4:45 for a 5pm pick up) but it still affects his job and means more work at night after bedtime.

At the moment we have:

7-7:30 everyone up, showers, DS breakfast, get ready

8:30 or so we're ready, DH goes to work, DS and I often to go the park then too

6pm DH gets home

6:30pm I start dinner

7pm dinner

7:30pm get DS ready for bed

7:45 or so start reading

8:30pm DS asleep though lately it has been more like 9pm?

?

Kabekona

I work full time with a rigid 7-5:30 schedule, only 4 days per week though.  Some of those days are weekends, so some weeks I only work 3 weekdays.  DH works full time with somewhat flexible hours most of the year.  He's a CPA, so Jan thru April it's just a ton of hours.  We found a daycare center with extended hours to accommodate our hours-open 6 am to 6 pm.  On days we both work:

Me up at 5:30-get dressed and ready, eat breakfast by 6:10 (I usually shower at night to save time in the am-I can't get up early than 5:30!)

DH up 15 minutes or so later-everything ready by 6:15 or so

I get DS up around 6:10 and get him dressed.

Everyone out the door by 6:30.  DH drops DS off at daycare on the way to work (it's out of my way).  Daycare gives DS breakfast, so we don't have to worry about that.

DH picks DS up after work (around 3:30 now, closer to 6 during tax season).

DH usually makes dinner (or heats up what I've premade) and we all eat at 6 pm when I get home.  

After dinner we go for a family walk (with the dog) and have some play time.

DS is in bed by 7:30.

The above schedule stinks during tax season because DS is in daycare way too many hours, but otherwise works well.

My friend is a lawyer and found a job with a small firm working long hours three days a week-perhpas something like this will come your way.

Luckystar2

Dh and I both have flexible jobs.  Its really the only reason I am ok with going back to work. 

6 I wake up and get ready
6-7 DD wakes up
7 DH or I get her dressed and I BF her
7:15 DH takes her to daycare on his way to work, and I leave for work
7:30 at work
3:30-4 I leave to pick up DD
4-4:30 we get home
4:30-5 DH gets home
5-6:30 playtime with DD and BFing
6:30 dinner
7:00 bathtime, book, BF
7:30 DD asleep

There's no way DD could stay up much later, especially now with the time change. But I usually get at least 3 hours at night with her.  Even that doesn't seem like enough.  I used to go into work later and get home later, but I started going in earlier and getting home earlier to have more time with DD.

marrymemylove

Thanks ladies!?

I was ?so spoiled when I was doing my masters, I was dropping DS off around 9:30am and picking him up at 5pm on the dot. I didn't feel at all guilty about that but somehow the idea he'll have to go to daycare before 8:30 and not be picked up until 5pm hurts me. Its like a marginal increase but some kind of trigger for me to go all guilty over.

?I am so not a morning person and so grateful DS turned into a late sleeping toddler that I feel like a beast for waking him earlier than 7:30 too. But I know that's more about me really.

Fingers crossed the job I manage to scrounge in this climate is not too unfriendly.?

tina623

5:30 babies wake up to eat then go back to bed

8:30 I get up, get everything ready for the day

9:30 girls get up

9:30-2:30 breakfast, playtime, naptime, lunch

2:35 I leave for work

7:00 I come home

7:00-8:00 feed girls dinner, spend time with them put them in jammies

8:00-8:30 eat dinner

8:30-9 put girls to bed

beenbizzy

6 am - DS wakes up and has bottle, goes back to sleep

6:30 I shower and get ready, DH gets up after me

7:25 leave the house, drop DS off, head to work

8 am - get to work

4:30 pm - get off work, pick up DS, figure out supepr

6 pm - eat supper

7:30 pm - pjs and bath (if needed)

8:30 pm - DS's last bottle and sleep

azuremama

I'm a lawyer, too, and I work for the government.  Have you thought about something like that?  The pay is not nearly as good as private practice, of course, but (at least for the federal government) it's not terrible, the hours are usually much better and it's often pretty flexible.  I can't imagine working law firm hours. 

Can you maybe try to work some from home?  Like get up before DS gets up or work after DS goes to bed?  Not ideal, but then you could spend more time with him.

Our daycare center has noted that the kids who are there 9 or 10 hours get anxious and tired in the afternoon.  So I'd do whatever you can to minimize the time DS spends at daycare.

I prefer to go in early and get home earlier.  DH and I work close together and our daycare is right there, so we all commute together. 

5:40-6:30 -- I get up, shower, get ready, eat breakfast

6:30 -- get DS up, feed him, change him, get him ready to go.  Hopefully out the door before 7.

4--pick up DS from daycare, drive home.  Depending on when he napped at daycare, he'll sometimes sleep on the way home, or go down for a 30 minute nap shortly after we get home.

6 or so--DH and I eat dinner.

7:30--start bedtime routine for DS.  He's asleep by 8.

9 --I usually start getting ready for bed and read or talk to DH until about 10.

 

mrsnewlywed2005

i'm an attorney and i work for the govt so my hours are very flexible.  i'd rather not post my hours but wanted to ditto azuremama about govt employment as an option.  i took a paycut from private practice for dd, but ironically my hourly is actually higher than when i was at the firm.

 

bluecookie

I am also an attorney and I work at a small firm (less than 10 attorneys with a specialized practice).  My daily schedule is more or less the following:

6:30 a.m. wake up, shower, get ready

8:00 arrive at daycare (5 minutes from house)

9:00 arrive at office (hour commute)

5:30 DH picks up DS from daycare 

6:00 I leave the office

7:00 arrive home

7:30 dinner

DS falls asleep by 8:30.

I spend time with DS in the morning and for about and hour and half in the evenings.  I look forward to the middle of the night feedings and the weekends. DH and DS have quality time during the hour and a half before I get home.

Working for a law firm can be very demanding.  Most of the attorney moms I know work 80%, meaning they take a day off to be with DC or they work 5 days a week with shorter hours.  Of course, they get 80% of their salary, but it is still a good arrangement.

I really like working at a small firm.  We do not have strict billable requirements, the hours are very flexible, no weekends.

Best of luck with your job hunt.
 

rissa06

so my schedule changes constantly . . ?

generally, DD gets up at 7-7:30 . . change her diaper, put clothes on, feed her . . then get ready for the day . .

8:30am: ?drop off at daycare

8:45am: ?go to work

4:00pm: ?pick up DD

4:30pm: ?get dinner ready for DD and ourselves

5:00pm: ?dinner

5:30pm: ?bedtime routine

6:00pm: ?bedtime

6:30-9-10pm: ?work from home to make up for leaving work early.

?on tuesday's - Thursdays: ?these days, DH gets to go to work for noon, so she goes to daycare for 11:15am

on the days that Dh has to go to work early and so do i . ?she goes around 7-7:30am ?and gets picked up by 6pm.?

jellybelly03

Ug.  Being a lawyer STINKS!  I'm a lawyer, too, and am at a "big firm," but at 80% time.  Many people on 80% take one day off per week, but, for me, it works out better to go in every day and just work closer to 9-5 (which is sometimes better than others - I'm actually working from home right now...  or I will be as soon as I finish typing this!)

 Have you thought about (a) government work or (b) starting your own practice?  In my state, you can get on a list to do appeals work for indigent criminal defendants (the state gives you cases and pays you).  It's not *great* money, but the hours are totally flexible, you can work from home, and it's a predictable income stream.  I need to stay in my job a bit longer, but will be leaving to do that in another couple of months.  The thought of that is literally the only thing keeping me going right now.

 Anyway, my daily schedule (it varies by about an hour depending on the time DS wakes up):

6-7 wake up, then spend the next two hours prepping for daycare and work.

8-9 DH and I drop DS off at daycare (we try to go together most days...  it's a nice walk and some of the only time DH and I spend together is on the train, commuting.  Bah.)

9-10 get breakfast/coffee and hustle to work (get to work no later than 9:30, hopefully!)

11-12 PUMP

2-3 PUMP

5:30 - DH picks DS up from daycare and starts the nighttime ritual:  making bottles, prepping diapers (we cloth diaper), making/serving dinner, playing with DS, bathing, putting to bed.  I take part in as much as I can when I'm home.

7:30 - DS goes to bed

Recently, I've been slow at work, so I've been home to pick up DS, but when I'm busy, I usually don't get home until around 7:30, so I have a minute to play with DS, feed him, and put him to bed.  Then, we spend from 7:30 to roughly 10 making and eating dinner for ourselves, cleaning up, finishing putting things together for the next day, maybe billing a few more minutes, etc.  Then we crash at (hopefully) no later than 11 and start it all the next day.  It stinks.

 Good luck!

krub

I am in house and have been for 7 years, so a lot has changed over those 7 years and I've earned some of the perks I have.  I work 8-9 hour days 4 days a week, usually staying late on Thursdays.  And, I WAH on Fridays.  I usually work through lunch 2-3 days a week and Fridays when I WAH I put in the most time b/c I don't have my commute.  Our day pretty much goes like this:

6:30 - I wake up

7-7:30 - kids wake up and I make them breakfast, get their lunches ready to go

8 - I leave for work

8:30 - DH takes kids to school

4:30-4:45 - I leave work

5:15 - Pick up kids

5:30 (we live 2 minutes from school, but DS takes forever to get in the car) - get home and start dinner

6 pm - eat

7 pm - baths or play

7:30 - start bedtime routine

8 pm - kids in bed, DH and I start load of laundry, clean up dinner, make lunches

9 pm - relax

I like this schedule.  Any less structure and I'm a slacker.  lol!