Working from home, with toddler in tow part 3

You can catch up on my decision to try and keep my 1yr old home with me while I work and read how our first day went.

Im going to try to wrap the next two days up into a quick summary, as they were honestly quite the same as the first day, with only a couple differences.

Lets start by saying that the number one thing I noticed was that the days where Matthew woke up between 7-7:45am (Wednesday and Thursday), the rest of the day panned out alot better. The one day (Friday) where he slept in till about 8:45 kinda threw me for a loop.

You see, normally, during the school year, I need to have him up, bottle fed, and in the car by 8:20am to head to my sisters. This way it gives me enough time to get across town and drop him off, pick up my nephew and drop him off at middle school, and be back to my house and begin my work day by 9-9:15am. My sister then feeds him breakfast (so I dont have to wake up even earlier). However, during the summer, when my niece and nephew dont have school, my sister instead drops them off at a summer camp around 8:45am and its on my side of town. Thus, she comes and picks him up for me, and thats normally around 9-9:15am. Meaning both of us can sleep in till 8:45am if we wanted, but normally we will wake around 8:20am, and i still have enough time to feed him breakfast before she gets to my house.

Now if were being 100% honest, my sister has mentioned to me multiple times that if I would just get up earlier in the morning, that he would nap alot better during the day. To which I have replied multiple times, that Im not getting up earlier if I dont have to and she will just have to figure it out herself. (i know im a mean "boss" and sister :P) Well, i guess this is where it comes to bite me in the ass. And against better judgement I even admitted it to her that she MAY (and i mean that with only a slight possibility) be right on this one.

We did our normal thing in the morning, whether it was earlier or later. Bottle, cartoons, getting ready, breakfast, etc. Then i logged into work. Matthew entertained himself for a lil bit while in his walker. I brought a couple of toys, including a book, into my office to pass to him if he were to get a lil antsy. Once he was bored with the book, he tried playing with the bubble wrap again. Unfortunately (or i guess fortunately in my case) his lil fingers cant pinch the bubbles hard enough to make them actually pop, so every now and then I would pop a few for him and man would his face light up!

On the good day (ie earlier wake up) he went down for his nap around 10:30am and I was able to get alot of stuff done before he woke up. On the off day (later wakeup) he didnt go down for a nap till 11:30am and then ended up sleeping till 1pm, right thru what would have been my lunch break. Technically it wasnt a big deal, as I didnt have any client calls, and I just took my lunch later. But it threw my schedule off because I knew he then wouldnt go down for another nap around 2:30 like usual. He would instead go down around 4:30, only leaving me about a half hour left of my work day. And as a consequence mess with bedtime. But, as I knew before going into this, there are going to be great days, off days, and bad days. Thank god I havent had to experience a bad day yet.

Both days, lunch went smoothly. I tell ya, this kid will eat anything and everything, which makes mealtimes so easy for us. And as a plus, when hes home with me, i feel like i eat better/healthier opposed to snacking all day on junk. I figure since i have to make him lunch (pb&j, i know extravagant right? lol) i might as well make myself a healthy lunch too. I do admit tho, its a little more difficult trying to figure out multiple healthy options for lil man. Would love to hear any ideas on this, as im kinda stuck in the pbj, grilled cheese, ham & cheese sandwich routine.

After lunch, we took a ride over to the post office since i had to send off my Ergobaby carrier for exchange (absolutely cant wait to get the correct one!!!). By pure coincidence as we were walking up to the post office there was a train passing by. Matthew has started to love trains, i think mostly because of "Choo Choo Soul" where we get up and dance when its on TV. So, even though it was like 90* + degrees outside, i couldnt help but stand in the hot sun and watch as my son pointed and smiled at the train going by.

When we got home I set up a the living room as a play area for him and grabbed my laptop to sit on the couch and work while he played with his toys and occasionally watched the TV. I want to point out right here, that Im a little nervous that if I do keep him home with me during work hours, that i will rely on the TV almost as a babysitter. And I really dont want to. What I want to do is have more interaction with him and teach him things during that time. I know that the TV does occupy him if im in a crunch, but its just something that worries me.

The day we didnt visit the post office he ended up playing in the Tupperware drawer during this time. It absolutely amazes that he has no shortage of toys whatsoever, yet can be completely entranced with Tupperware for a good hour.

Then as it neared naptime again, i gave him another sippy cup of milk, and off to catch some zzzz's he went. I headed back to my office, set up the monitor, and went back to work. Of course on the day that he didnt go down till 4:30 for his second nap, i ended up working all the way till about 5:45pm when he woke up, catching up on stuff i didnt get done earlier. Usually i dont like him sleeping past 5-5:15pm because it messes with bedtime, but i needed to get some projects finalized.

So that was my not-so-quick summary of our 2 final days of trial period. Some things i need to look into more about this whole work-from-home-with-toddler-in-tow include sleep schedules (not only his, but also my own), engaging activities we can do together, and healthy mealtime options. I think that my #1 problem/concern, is that if he does sleep in, i need not sleep in with him. I need to still get up at the 7-7:30am time, if not sooner, to get work done while hes still sleeping to make up for the time i wont get later in the day. As for the activities and meals, i will be scouring Pinterest to try and find some ideas, or any suggestions are welcome!

Working from home, with toddler in tow part 2

written Wednesday July 24, 2013

So today is the day. Our first official day in our Work from Home with Toddler in Tow Trial Period. To sum it up real quick: So far, so good!

Heres the detailed breakdown of how things went on Day 1:

7:30am (early for us)
Matthew wakes up

7:45
Bottle for Matthew in his little rocker in the living room as Mommy feeds the cat and dogs, makes the bed, puts in contacts, gets dressed.

8:00 - 8:45
Playing on the floor with some toys while watching Disney Jr. Says hi to Poppy who came over to take trailer to the local dump. Who also mows 1/4 of the lawn were the trailer was, and leaves the rest unmowed. So annoying......

8:50
Mommy makes juice, cheerios, strawberries, and bananas for Matthews breakfast. A smart ones breakfast quesadilla and the trusty ol' Red Bull Total Zero (zero points on Weight Watchers by the way) for mommy

9:05
Clean up baby and turn on work computer.

9:15 - 10:25
Matthew plays in his walker, getting into everything and anything (bubble wrap, cat litter box, pool toys) while mommy does some work, checks emails, reads some favorite blogs.

10:30
Breathing treatment for little man, as he has a lingering cough and refuses to let me do the treatment any other time besides right before napping or going to sleep

10:35 - 12:00pm
Matthew naps. Mommys works some more. One conference call. Aunt DeAnna stops by to drop off some mango. Mommy finishes mowing the front lawn before Matthew wakes up.

12:05
Matthew is heard loud and clear screaming through the monitor while mommy is out front finishing the lawn.

12:10
Mommy makes some lunch, turkey and cheese sandwiches for both of us. Applesauce for Matthew and some mango for mom. Matthew got to taste his first little bit of mango. Seemed to like it, but didnt want to give him too much as Poppy, cousin Andrew, and Uncle E all have mango allergies.

12:45 -1:00
Clean up lunch mess. Play with matthew and dogs on living room floor.

1:00-2:00
Somewhere during this time Matthew must have pushed to hard on Ruger (our bigger dog) which startled him, and in return snapped on Matthew. I think it was more of a shock and scare for all of us, opposed to an actual harmful or worrisome situation. I grabbed matthew who hysterically started crying, disciplined and threw the mutt outside, and continued to console my lil one. There was no blood, nor broken skin, but you could see something, either a nail or tooth must have scrapped the side of matthews face. I was able to calm him down, and he went right back to playing as normal. Unfortunately, it scared the shit out of me, and the for the rest of the day I was extremely cautious and a tad nervious anytime Ruger was around.
note: Our dog has never shown any aggression towards any of us, and is actually extremely protective over Matthew, so Im not too worried, and honestly think it was one time thing (i hope)

You can barely see it, but by the corner of his eye and the two lil marks on his che

2:15
Set up a play area for Matthew using my sisters gate she lent me for the couple of days shes gone. I knew I had my biweekly 1x1 with my manager from 2:30-3 and didnt want to take the chance of matthew getting into something if I wasnt watching over him for a couple of mins

2:30-3:00
Matthew plays in his area, mommy has conference call. We did extremely well. Only thing I would change is next time I will set up the monitor to point into that area because I completely forgot about this part, and literally was peaking around the corner as I was trying to pay attention to the conversation but all keep an eye on him.

3:30
Matthew gets a sippy with milk, while watching a cartoon in his rocker in the living room.

4:00 - 5:15
Matthew naps while mommy gets some more work done.

5:30-6:00
We play and have a few snacks as we wait for daddy to get home from work.

All in all, it was a good day. Im sure there will be days that are completely out of control, and possibly some days that go even smoother, but I defintely think this is something that we will be able to do moving forward. Which makes me one happy mama!

fridays letters

Happy friday y'all!

You all know what that means; time for Friday's Letters

dear hubby, i know you and my father like to think a project is done when it is 90% done (like our kitchen, our screened in patio, our floors, etc) but this time it aint going to fly with me, I need a door for our bathroom! not only would I greatly appreciate being able to close the door when I pee, but I also think our friends would appreciate it when they come over as well. ummmkay? thanks

dear matthew, thank you for being such a good boy the past two days while you stay home with mommy during the work day. Its making me think we will be able to do this, and that makes me one happy mama!

dear humidity, can you please just go away? i always look forward to the warm weather, especially being from the south, but the amount of sweat that pours off me and matthew just when we step out side makes it absolutely unbearable, and most definitely causes us to skip our nightly wagon rides.

dear bathroom, oh how i love you so much more now that you are 90% complete. You are no longer a ugly yellow and green color, and reflect our familys' style so much better. (be on the lookout for a post on our bath reno soon!)

dear weight watchers, I did alot better than I thought this past week, and actually lost the 2.2lbs I had gained the previous two weeks. But I am still disappointed in myself for not tracking and following the plan (dont ask how i lost the 2.2 cuz i have no effin clue) but i promise that I am going to be on plan this week. Im hoping that you will show me the light again and make me realize why i love this plan (you know because the 30lbs ive already shed thus far isnt enough)

dear rollerblades, yes i know I bought you well over a month ago, and yes youre still in the box, but hello did you see above about humidity? plus i cant very well go rollerblading with matthew in his regular stroller, its just not cut out for that kind of impact/intensity. which leads me to the next thing.

dear bob revolution se jogging stroller, yes i do need to type out the entire name, because well, the dam thing deserves it. Oh how i have been lusting over you for months now. But your $450 price tag makes me want to vomit. I know your worth the cost, but we just dont have the money right now. However, i see that on Wayfair.com you are on sale, plus free shipping, plus 10% off for 1st time customers, plus i have a $50 visa gift card that hasnt been used, plus my sis has generously said I dont have to pay her for the 2 days this week ($50) and to put it towards you, but thats still about $200 i would need, decisions, decisions.......anyone have this stroller? if so 2 questions for you 1) do you want to give it to me? jk....maybe...not really and 2) is it worth it? do you love it? should i just do it?

dear hubby, because you and matthew always get two, how do you feel about me spending approximately $200 on aforementioned stroller? pretty plz? with a cherry on top?....think about it ;)

dear matthew, i cant believe you are 13 almost 14 months now. I have a 1yr old. a toddler. and yet youre still not walking?!?!?! what the heck? we know you can. you walk holding onto us, the couches, your toys, but you just dont have the courage to let go. come on big boy, you can do it!

And because i will never leave you without a cute picture, heres one of our 1 year session (post coming soon) we did before matthews birthday

Working from home, with toddler in tow part 1

For anyone who knows me well, knows that my dream has always been to be able to work form home while having my kids home with me. Its basically my #1 reason for wanting to be a graphic designer in the first place. When I first starting working from home it was actually kinda by accident. The company I worked for got bought out by an out-of-state company, and i was actually kind of forced to quit my job. Then they came to their senses and realized they needed me, and that I could technically do my job just fine remotely.

I was thrilled, I would finally have the opportunity to possible fulfill my dream, seeing at the time i didnt have any kids. I also didnt know how difficult it in fact would be to work from home. Not the job part. That was easy. I love my job, so it doesnt really feel like work. But being a remote employee definitely comes with its challenges. For one, you have to make sure you are in fact an asset to the company, being that they dont get to see you walk into the office everyday like all their other employees. And two its easy to be and feel left out of your team and the day-to-day tasks, so you must remember to constantly keep in touch, be it video conferences, instant messages, email, or hell just pick up the telephone (in my case a VoIP phone).

 So Ill be 100% honest with all of you, I was scared shitless when I did become pregnant, on whether I would be able to handle caring for a newborn while working. My number one fear being, "what would I do if I was on a call with a client and the baby starts hysterically crying?" I was so in fear of how I would be able to balance both being a stay at home mom and a work from home mom, that I decided to give up on my dream entirely and asked my sister if she could watch Matthew, mon-fri 9-5, while I worked from home.

I always told myself that when he was on more of a schedule and I could plan around his naps, that maybe i would then keep him home with me. But as every mother knows, you cant always depend on a childs naptime. One day it could be 45mins and the next 2hrs15mins. It could be 1 long nap, 2 short naps, or no nap at all. But I always had this deep feeling of missing out on all of my sons firsts.
I knew my sister would take lots of pics and videos. We also often facetime at lunch so I can see him and talk to him. And I love that its family that is watching my son grow up. But Id be lying if I didnt say I was a little jealous. I see how he reaches for my sister. Almost like shes his mother too.

Now dont get me wrong, I love their bond, and am happy that he loves her and is comfortable with her. I hope they have the same type of relationship I have with her kids (my neice and nephew). But it does sting a little when we are both around and he reaches for her. And i cant blame him. His time is basically split between the two of us. I know I get him on weekends and such, but during the week, by time we get homes, its dinner, bath and bed. Not much quality time if you ask me.

I was originally  a little nervous to talk to my sister about it. I didnt want her to think I was taking him away due to something she did. And I know she counts on the money each week, and I didnt want to take that away too. But I had to at least try to live out my dream right? So I basically put it out there to my sis that maybe 2 days a week he could stay home with me. And on those two days she could go clean our friends house (for which she gets made alot more hourly than I pay her daily). Turns out, she was kind of thinking the same thing and didnt want to hurt my feelings by having my think she was trying to "get rid of my son" lol.

Unfortunately, at the time we had this discussion we were currently living with my parents during out bath renovation. I told her I thought we should kind of do a trial period once I moved back into our house, to see how it would work. As i didnt want to try it at my moms, where I had my moms help, lots of room, and get comfortable with that setting only to fail at it once we got back to our normal routine.

We agreed, and figured the week of July 23rd would be perfect, as my sis and her family were going to be out of town for Lobster mini season that Wed-Fri. Well thats this week, and I feel like I want to make sure to document it and see how it either works out or doesnt. Im hoping it does, because being with my lil man will always trump my work day!

SO WHAT! Wednesday

This week I'm saying

  

SO WHAT if...

I promised to blog more and i totally havent. fail.

SO WHAT if...

I still havent caught up on Matthews monthly posts since he was 3 months

SO WHAT if...

I only mowed the front lawn and now the back lawn is staring at me as I watch the latest episode of Keeping Up With the Kardashians

SO WHAT if...

I havent tracked my points (with weight watchers) in the past two weeks, plus skipped last weeks meeting. Im totally going to pay for it at tonight's weigh-in

SO WHAT if...

I was able to convince the customer service person at Buy Buy Baby to do an even exchange on my Motorola Video Monitor that I bought over a year ago. (seriously people, never throw away your boxes for expensive products. trust me on this one, im defintely geting my $250 moneys worth)
Buy Buy Baby - 0 Me - 1

SO WHAT if...

I have a tanning membership, and I live in south florida, that I never use.
Hollywood tans -1 Me -0

SO WHAT if...

I havent done any laundry since we moved back into our house, and its been a week today.

What are you saying SO WHAT to this week? Link up with Shannon over at Life After I Dew