Working Late

One of the reasons we moved to Lawrenceville about a year ago was so that Daddy could work closer to home. With our house being less than 10 minutes from the office, I'd say we did a pretty good job at accomplishing that goal. And now that we have Kaylani, having my office so close to home allows me to maximize my time at work AND my time with Kaylani...most of the time.

On normal days, I'll be home by 5:45 or 6pm at the latest, which gives me a good 1-2 hours to spend with Kaylani before she gets tucked away quietly in her crib. Back when Kaylani was just over a week old, I didn't think that 1-2 hours would be enough time for quality Daddy-Daughter bonding time. Over the last 16 weeks though, I've made the best of it and learned to maximize quality, not quantity (and make up for the quantity part on the weekends).

But today, I ran into my first "late" day in a long while. There are days when I take work home with me and get to it after spending my time with Kaylani (and Mommy), but today, was one of those days that I couldn't just take it home with me. I had a 4pm meeting at one of our partner agencies in NYC today that ran late. And since NYC is a solid hour train ride away (plus the 10 minute drive), I didn't get home until 7pm. This is going to make me sound real old (and spoiled) but 7pm is late!

Luckily for me (and unluckily for Mommy), Kaylani actually took a later nap then usual and woke up at 6pm, which meant her bedtime is being pushed back an hour. Breaking her routine isn't the best thing to do, but I gotta say I'm okay with it. After all, it gave me an extra hour to spend some time with her, and that's exactly what I needed after a long day at the office.

I know I'm one of the fortunate ones to be close to home. Not everyone gets to spend as much time with their kids and have a great hours and a great job, so for that I'm thankful. I can only imagine what it's like to go through this every day, but at the same time, I'm very glad I don't have to. Days like today make me realize that maybe my work-life balance isn't as off as I think it actually is. I guess the question is, is there actually such a thing as work-life balance?

First Day Away

So I went back to work today. So sad. So far away from my family. Okay, I only work 8 minutes away from home, but from an emotional standpoint, so far away. I think Kaylani knew I was going to go to work today. She even stayed awake all night just so I would spend some additional time with her. What she actually learned was that she gets to spend more time with mommy than daddy when she stays awake, but she still got to daddy a little bit so I guess she wins.

My first day back wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Being away from Kaylani and mommy were were as bad as I thought, but the actual day itself wasn't. I was tired (rightfully so since I've slept 5 hours in the last 2 nights), but that was to be expected. Dunkin Donuts gave my brain enough to get me through my day of meetings. Sure I crashed around 3pm, but a can of Mountain Dew (damn coffee machine was broken and the other one is just way too far away) lasted me the rest of the day. So I survived. I adjusted. Just like I knew I would.

The saddest part of the day is actually the after work hours. I got home a little after 6, ate dinner, and just finished bathing Kaylani and getting her ready for bed. 20 minutes from now, she'll be asleep for 4-5 hours (please?) and then we'll get up and do it all over again. Is this how it's going to be? 2-3 hours of quality time with Kaylani after work, and 1-2 of them she's either sleeping or eating? That's really only 1 hour of quality time with her, and I had to wake her up to have it (not a good idea by the way). So 1 hour of crying time? Does crying = quality? If that's it, then I'll take it. I'll take any time I can get with her.

If I could figure out a way to keep my salary and stay at home with my family, I'd do it in a heartbeat. Maybe I should play the lottery more. A couple of million dollars would solve a few problems, but until then, I'm going to enjoy the prize that I already have. I don't even need a dollar or a dream, because I already have my dream.