I now work 6am to about 4pm. Hop on the bike by 5:30am, get home around 4:30pm. I get to be with Baby during his last wakeful period of the day, in addition to putting him to bed. I miss him during the day, but getting to spend over two hours with him before bed time is the saving grace. For having a full time job, it’s really nice. Well worth the insane wake up time. If I had to work until 6pm I’d only get to see Baby 30 minutes a day.

The worst part of this new schedule is my general lack of time. Work, sleep, and Baby takes up about 23 hours of my week day. That leaves about an hour after Baby goes to sleep to be with Wife and decompress. This makes for many neglected errands and obligations that pile up for the weekend. I do my best to at least squeeze in baby-laundry and dishes during the week to contribute a tiny smidgen to Baby care. Once it’s Saturday morning my make-up time with Baby begins. This is exactly how it should be, but what about those piled up errands and obligations? Priority is Baby, so the weekend has actually become a slightly stressful balance act as well. I have to use nap time to quickly get done what I can, but nothing that’s noisy enough to wake Baby. Sunday is for cooking food to have for the week, as there’s no time for any of that after work. Being disciplined to stay strategically productive during all moments of “downtime” is key to keeping everything going. What should I be doing while Baby is napping? While playing with Baby? Right when I get home? When Wife is watching Baby for a couple hours? No mistakes!

Wife has quit her overly high stress job. Her goal is to find good part time work, but turning over childcare full time is officially not an option for her. I love that she feels this way; I want Baby to at least get one of us for a decent amount of time each day. The mother in law has also been great help, and will be the key ingredient in Wife working part time. Baby is loved and cared for by family all the time, which makes me quite happy and relieved.

So all things considered, things are going well. We had a lot of things up on the air before this, and the current “plan” feels well balanced. The lack of downtime for papa is not a high priority issue at the moment, and it’s all worth it if Baby is getting good care. Not to mention, with all that’s going on in my life, this time period is much harder on Mama. For me, the difficulty is all about my schedule. For Mama, it’s about her body and sanity.

Lots to talk about Baby! Getting stronger, giggling, wiggling clockwise on the ground, and evolving sleep issues. More to come.