Xander Week 58 – Working Mom’s Exhaustion
November 30, 2007
I started a new job a few months ago. I really, really enjoy it. Unfortunately, there are some draw backs. It is currently a non-benefited hourly position, so I get paid when I’m at work, and I don’t get paid when I’m not here. So, I won’t get paid for the Thanksgiving holiday. I won’t get a paycheck when the place closes for 2 weeks at Christmas time. I can’t afford to be sick, and if Xander is sick, I can’t stay home with him. It also means no maternity leave, but that’s a story for a different post.
Since I’m hourly, I need to be vigilante about being on time. As I’m sure many of you can attest to, once you have a child, it is sooooo much more difficult to be on time! Consequently, I always feel like I’m late – rushing from place to place. I barely make it to work on time, I’m busy for 8 hours, then I barely make it to the day care on time to pick Xander up. Never mind the fact that the day care teachers keep telling me how upset Xander gets during the last hour of the day when everyone else’s parents show up, and his doesn’t. Then I rush home and start my second job – cooking, cleaning, folding laundry, bathing Xander, etc. Zach does help – he does whatever I ask him to, but there is so much to do, that I don’t think either of us has the energy to keep up.
The next day we start all over again. I’m too tired to get out of bed early because Xander woke me up so much the night before, on top of the fact that I stayed up late to pack bags and put out clothes for the morning. In my last job, it was easy to run a few errands during the day – pick up cat food or a prescription, fill the car with gas, etc. Now, I hardly ever leave my building, and if I do, it costs money, so I hate to leave. This means that all of those errands that have to be done between 8am and 5pm during the business week don’t get done.
I haven’t yet figured out how to balance this new job with my old responsibilities. I do know that I’m getting less sleep and feeling more rushed than ever before. Add on top of that all of the stress of Christmas cards, holiday parties, shopping, wrapping, planning, decorating, etc. and it seems like life is going to get even more interesting before it quiets down. Wish me luck!
LOTS of luck!