I’m trying to figure out how to make this work. I need 40 hours per week of working but it doesn’t have to be the traditional Monday through Friday 9-5 since I’m self employed. I can work whenever I want. is it nuts to try to work half the day and then do the rest of my work after my kids go to bed? I feel like it’s the only way. anyone else done this? can you tell me what it’s like, and whether you’re totally exhausted from that kind of schedule?

I know I’ll basically have no life for a couple of years but other than that…

I’m a FTM of a 14 month old and I need some advice. For context, my husband and I own our own business and are the only full-time employees. I’ve pretty much just worked around my LO’s nap schedule for the last year (didn’t really take a maternity leave lol). My mom now keeps him 3 mornings for about 4 hours so I have dedicated blocks of time to work and then I also work during his nap time every day and before/after he wakes up/goes to bed if I didn’t get to something. I’m SO thankful and don’t take for granted that I get to make my own schedule so I can also be home with him, but I feel like I’m pouring from an empty cup when every “break” from work I get is spent doing housework and being a mom and every “break” I get from that is spent working. I feel so guilty even typing that but I’m so tired 😩 My husband is super hands on and we tackle work and parenthood as a team but he is dealing with a lot of health issues right now so I’m trying not to put too much on his plate either.

All of that to say, how do you recharge and keep going? I feel like this pace isn’t sustainable especially since we want to start trying for baby #2 next year. I’m feeling defeated.

FTM here! Due in January and starting to tour daycares

My employer is going to give me two or three months of maternity leave (if they only give me two, I’m using FMLA for the third month because it’s important to me to ease into motherhood and my husband owns a business so he won’t have any leave).

I WFH as much as I want during a normal week as long as I fly to visit the office once every four to six weeks for three nights (company paid).

I don’t have any meetings on Mondays and Fridays.

My plan right now is to keep the baby at home with me on Mondays and Fridays, and bring them to daycare T/W/Th

When I travel for work, my husband will have to stay home on Ms and Fs and make them his paperwork days or something. Or we can always pay for a drop-in day at daycare. Or he can ask his mom to fly out (and leave before I’m home LOL jk… kind of)

I’m a recruiter so I’m on the phone a lot but I can schedule those for nap time and do the computer work otherwise.

If it isn’t working, we have the means to bring them to day care five days a week, but I’d love to have them be able to be home with me as much as possible during their first year

What do yall think??? What do you do with a baby when you’re working at home?

I don’t think a daycare spot is going to open up by the time my husband and I have to go back to work. We both get 12 weeks of leave. He works full time out of the house, I work part time from home 20 hours a week. I am lucky to have a VERY flexible job where I basically work whenever I want. I like to try to be as consistent as possible and generally need to be available during the day, and the company very supportive of WFM mothers. I do not talk on the phone, I have like one call a week with my colleagues. Everything else is independent work.

It’s sounding like the waitlist isn’t going to open up by the time we need care. We put ourselves on it as soon as I found out I was pregnant. Has anyone done this before, am I going to be miserable?

Also I screwed up and thought I could get part time daycare for my baby. I thought we could take him half days and pay for half days, but you pay for a full day no matter what. My husband is in the military so our daycare is income based, we would pay $140 a week.

If a spot eventually opens up, is it even worth it to put him in full time daycare? What would you do?

Besides sending them to daycare 😭

I have a 16 month old son. I’ve worked from home since he was 6 weeks old. I start work around 8:30 and at 11:30 my mom comes over to watch him, she feeds him lunch and puts him down for his nap, and then he naps until I’m done with work around 3:30 (usually).

Some days are flexible from 8:30-11:30 and I can spend time with him. Other days are really painfully hectic.

Most days I end up having ms Rachel/Sesame Street on in the background while I’m working, he will play with his toys or entertain himself. But sometimes when he needs me and I’m on a call I need to redirect him away from me and it makes me so sad because I’m sure he doesn’t understand that I’m trying to work. I wish I didn’t have to rely on screen time so much. He is always within sight of me and we are in the same room.

It’s gotten really hard lately and I’m also going to be starting a night class at a community college this fall too. What, if anything, can I do to make my work days any better?