Initiation into Working Mom-hood

justjinny · February 2014

Hi! I thought I'd introduce myself before barging in & posting. I've been a bit of lurker on here while on leave and hope to join in now that I'm back to work. MH & I adopted a baby boy in October and I've been back to work two weeks now after taking 3 months of maternity leave. I'm an architect and have a 4 day per week (80% full time) schedule with Fridays off.

I thought the first week was tough, but last week was just terrible! LO got a cold from daycare, then I got it, then DH got it, then I got the flu, then DH got that... suffice to say even just a normal working week sounds pretty nice to me now as long as no one in our house is sick.

I feel super lucky that I get to have a day off each week to catch up on housework or hang out with the LO if I want. We pay for full time daycare, so I'm still not sure what our routine will be on my day off - keep LO here or take him to daycare and get a few hours to myself. What would you do with your time if you had an extra free day of the week?

CarrieB. · February 2014

If I had a day off I would take LO to a mom and me class in the morning and then catch up on housework in the afternoon during nap time.

jesuisfatiguee · February 2014

PrivacyWanted said:

Hi. Welcome. Congrats on your baby boy! If I had the extra day I'd play it by ear. Sometimes I'd use it to catch up on chores, or to get my hair/ nails done. And sometimes I'd just spend it with my lo

Same. Some Fridays you'll want to go and do things without a baby in town, but some weeks you'll be counting the hours to getting to spend all day with your tiny. That's how I am, anyway.

Congrats on your new baby!

jlaOK · February 2014

Welcome! I also work 4-days a week. We have the option to pay for PT daycare and so we send DS to daycare on my Fridays off and I keep DD home with me. DS loves the structure of daycare and gets really bored at home. With DD, on the other hand, it is easy for me to take her with me on my errands and she naps really well so I always have time to catch up on housework. I really enjoy my day home with her (I did the same with DS when he was little) and it makes working PT really worth it.

KL777 · February 2014

I have an extra day off during the summer and last school year (pre-kindergarten) I had a day off every other week and DS and I would always go somewhere fun (theme park, beach, museum, bounce house etc.)

djm31012 · February 2014

jealous of your day off! i would probably do a mix. maybe every other week drop him at day care for 3-4 hours so i could get things done, work out, whatever!

skibunny59 · February 2014

That's awesome that you have a day off each week! Everyone's different but for me, I would spend that day with LO. You have to do what works for you.

thespianlawyer · February 2014

I would love to have Fridays off! I'd probably drop DD off at daycare every other week or so. Would be amazing to have time to clean the house, go grocery shopping, go to the gym, etc. all without worrying about how to manage naps & meals. But there would definitely be some Fridays where I'd want to do a mommy & me class or go to a museum or something.

laurakaz13 · February 2014

Welcome and congrats on your new baby! The first year of daycare can be tough with sickness, but they build up immunities and the coming years will be better. It's been over a year since DD (age 2 yrs, 9 months) was sick.

If you can afford it, I would get a cleaning service immediately. I have no desire to waste my free time cleaning and a cleaning service is the best purchase we've made. I would use a free day off to do play dates with LO and friends, go to museums/beach/parks, etc., or do Mommy and Me classes. I would also probably go grocery shopping.

You will get into a routine. It is hard at first, but we all get into our groove. This is a great place for advice!

iverske9 · February 2014

Welcome to the board and congrats on Mommy hood. It takes a little while to get in a schedule and I think it was smart to have fulltime care. You can basically decide weekly if you feel like bringing him in for a few hours and get stuff done (I do this quite a bit as it keeps me sane) and other days if you want mommy son day you can do it.

thedash · February 2014

Welcome and congrats!

TigerLily12345 · February 2014

We are also planning to pay for full-time daycare even though we may be home a few days here and there. DH owns his own business and wants to spend 1 day/week with baby. I hope to eventually negotiate a 4 day work week. We have parents & grandparents who also want to watch baby from time to time, but I don't want them to be on any sort of obligated schedule.

However, we also want the flexibility of full-time daycare for those times I have to travel for work, DH can't get away, etc. We are ok paying for the time even if we don't use it. In your case, I would probably do a mix. Sometimes take baby in late so you can run errands or have adult time. Sometimes keep baby home for classes or fun things.

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