I’ve been a Work at Home Mom (WAHM) for a bit over a month now. I subtract the month I took off after the kiddo was born, because I genuinely took that time off.
I then did two weeks of part time, just to feel out if a schedule was going to develop. Thankfully, one rose from the ashes of my obliterated life before baby. I’ve had a lot of people tell me they couldn’t believe I was working with a newborn – and yes, it’s definitely a challenge and a balancing act; one that takes an incredible amount of focus and organization and logistics. But the beautiful part (and the most important part) is that I’m in charge of my own schedule.
Before the baby, I would get up with my husband around 5:30 a.m.
I would pack his breakfast and lunch together and see him out the door.
Then, I would get to work.
All of my work before 8 a.m. was guaranteed to be a blissful two hours of straight coffee enjoying, sunrise watching (sometimes not by choice; as a window that faces my office is like a magnifying glass for the sun), and production time that could be spent diligently on front end web development or logo production. I could turn my email off and my phone would remain on Do Not Disturb mode; as it had been since 8:30 the night before.
Yes, clients have tried to call me at 9 p.m. Sorry, I’m not answering at 9 p.m. without some kind of heads up (and reciprocating acceptance) prior.
My work now is different. SO different.
To begin my day, I don’t schedule anything before 11 a.m. I retroactively work when I can.
The mornings seem to be when the baby wanted to eat more, and definitely needed to be changed more. The morning is also a time I can recollect myself after he’s had a bad night sleeping, and apply the correct amount of caffeine to my head. The new adrenaline catnap superpowers I had right after childbirth are long gone, so sleep is still something we’re trying to work on.
I don’t mind. It comes with the territory. I never expected to have a baby that slept all night instantly – or after several months.
I am also the champion who gets up with the baby for the sole reason that my husband commutes, and him being alert on his drive is incredibly important. This was something we discussed at great length before we had a baby; and yes, I know people will want to argue that this is a feminist issue, but it’s a burden I am happy to bear because our lifestyle lets me work from home – and I can nap when I need to if things get really out of hand. By that I mean, the baby and I can try to nap at the same time; which is the one piece of parental advice I thought I’d never understand.
After eating and playing all of the early morning, he naturally fell into a nap schedule of one nap in the early morning through lunch, and another in the afternoon. This is a blessing, because around the one month mark he was NOT a napper. He was BARELY a sleeper. I’m really thankful that happened, because I tried the Moms on Call nap schedule for like 3 days and it ruined my life. When he’s a little older and a little more acclimated to sleeping like a human, I think I’ll try it again. It’s come highly recommended. At the time, I think he was too young.
So back to how I’m making this work, my work depends on three things:
1. That the boy naps.
2. That my mom comes over often.
3. My husband gets every other Friday off of work.
Having my mom move nearby is such a blessing. She comes over in the afternoons and holds him. She’s recently begun reading a counting book to him. When he needs to eat, I can take a break from my computer to feed him. Feeding time (I’m still able to exclusively breastfeed, which is an undertaking and full time job on its own) has been a great time to answer emails, texts, plan meals, and stay organized from my phone while hes feeding.
For the days when she isn’t over (and the times I work while he’s napping), I also have a Pack n Play with a removable napper in my office, so he can nap near my work area. It’s also where he slept when he was still waking up six times a night (I slept in the living room, which is adjacent in our open floor plan). I use wireless headphones to listen to music while I work; always with one side cocked behind my ear so I am halfway listening for signs of being awake or distress. I use an office chair with wheels to spin around and check on him, often. It’s also imperative my office be in what used to be a casual dining area, close to the kitchen so i can throw dinner in the crock pot whenever I can, let the dog out, and keep an eye on everything in the living areas that need tending during my breaks.
Meetings and client calls I schedule when I know someone else will be here, and thankfully a lot of my clients are comfortable giving their feedback through email.
I also work a lot in the early and late evenings, because my husband goes to game nights as his stress diffuse time. I know the commute and bureau-crazy he deals with; as I faced it every day in the life I left behind to work for myself. I really don’t mind, because I know it makes him a better father and husband. It’s also something I suggested he get into while I was pregnant, because I knew he would need a break. Again, it’s a decision we came to after many conversations pre-pregnancy.
Tools I’m using for work and life:
1. A custom built tower-style desktop computer with the complete Adobe Creative Suite with a dual monitor setup (for all design production)
2. A Nikon D200 camera (for photography)
3. A Canon XA10 Camcorder (for videography)
4. A Bluetooth wireless headset for client calls that allows me two hands to take notes, send emails and referrals during the call, and edit documents in real-time.
5. Self-Employed Quickboks, which syncs with my smart phone and computer. It automatically tracks my miles, allows me to send invoices and collect payment, and makes filing quarterly taxes easy. It is not the best at guessing what I owe, but it makes the payments easy.
6. A 2-in-1 computer tablet that has Microsoft OneNote for documenting client feedback in meetings. OneNote is amazing, because if you have a tablet and a smart pen, you can draw AND type into a word processor, AND it syncs up between a mobile app for OneNote AND the desktop computer I have. This has not only been a really powerful (and impressive) tool for meetings, but it has kept all of my things straight while I suffered through pregnancy brain, and now in the cloud of mommy brain sleep deprivation. I highly recommend this setup.
7. Baby wearing devices (ring sling, baby k’tan) to have the baby strapped to me while I’m at my desk, if I’m alone and he’s incredibly fussy (or just wants to be held. An added benefit of the work from home mom – all the snuggles and squeezes).
8. A boppy infant lounger that I can set the baby in while I’m really on a roll. Sometimes this is another chair, but often it’s on top of my hard cases that I use for photography because they are wide and sturdy. This way, I can use my left hand to play with the baby, hold his hand, or shake a toy to amuse him while in between keyboard shortcuts. It’s not the best setup for work and play at the same time, but it works in a pinch. The fan in my computer also sounds like white noise when I’m really deep in the trenches of photoshop or video editing.
9. Recipe Keeper: another powerful tool that syncs between my tablet, phone, and desktop computer. It helps plan meals, store ALL your recipes with really powerful customizations regarding tags and categories, makes grocery lists – WOW. Having the grocery list on one monitor and the Wal Mart grocery pickup in another window is SO time saving.
10. GROCERY PICKUP. Oh my god, I NEVER want to live in a world without grocery pick up again. EVER. I can’t even IMAGINE trying to take a baby into the grocery store.
11. A smart phone with a badass camera, OneNote, and Recipe Keeper.
There’s a lot more that’s making my days work, and I know this will change as the baby gets bigger. It’s what works for now.
