WWWednesday!

Wednesdays are my opportunity to think of things that start with W to Write about.  This week I'm picking Working mom, which is What I am.

Oh, how do I love spending my days at work for twelve long hours while my baby boy is at the babysitter's all day..?  Truthfully, it kinda sucks at times, but somebody's gotta do it; actually in our family two somebodies' gotta do it!  That means that as much as it bugs me to be away from my little bundle of perfection now, it'll be that much better for us in the long run.  Now that we have a child we have to plan for his future, right?  Luckily, he started going to the babysitter's young, he was two months old then, so he actually kinda likes it.  We had a really good babysitter, the wife of a coworker of mine, who lived right here by my place of work, so I felt really comfortable with that.  We just changed, however, to someone who is less than five minutes from home for us, which means that on days when Daddy has to take little man to the sitter's it's on his way to work too, instead of diverting him an hour out of the way!  So, this is best for us all.  Also, new babysitter has a boy more Alex's size and heft and also very energetic, so on day one our guy came home having sweated out his energy and with plenty of naps so he was in the happiest mood!  This was a relief for me, because he was starting to get to where he was a little overtired and crabby coming home to us before, so so far we are very happy!  (Half the price doesn't hurt either!!!:) 

At least I only have to work for three days at a time, then I get three off.  I know a lot of people think (and often tell me) that that's a cake schedule and what am I whining about...  As they say on that show on MTV which I haven't seen in a long time, so I don't remember the name (True Life, maybe??)... You think you know, but you have no idea...  You have no idea, unless you've done it before, how long twelve hours are when you don't get the napping breaks every few hours.  Or how it feels to come home from work exhausted and wanting to do nothing but spend hours playing with your child but you have no more than thirty minutes before he has to go to bed, in which time you also have to eat dinner and pack his bag for the next day!  Then rush yourself off to bed to wake up at 4am the next day to do it all over again!  I know there are lots of us out there that do it, nurses have a very similar schedule a lot of times, and they feel my pain (haha).  But, my saving grace is those blissful three days off that I get in between every one of these short work weeks, which completely makes up for it!!  As much as I feel run down and as much as I feel like I miss in his life is washed away after three whole days together without work to interfere.  We actually do get a lot of one on one time, just the two of us, and sometimes we're EXTRA lucky and my days off fall on a weekend, so we can all spend it together!!  It's amazing how much more you value family time when you don't have it every day.  Not that stay at home moms necessarily take it for granted, but it seems different for me personally, so I'm grateful for that, because I might not see how good it is for us if I was home every day.
Eventually, once I'm finished with my military career (whenever that may be, haven't decided yet), I'd like to have a new career where I work a more kid-friendly schedule... ie. a Teacher!!  It's funny because that was my absolute dream job when I was younger.  Picture me, age 8 or 9, bossy little blonde chic, my favorite store was the teacher supply store (I know), and I would actually corral all of my friends (who were willing, kinda) or pets, stuffed animals, whatever, so that I could "teach" them.  I even had a real teacher grade book, and I loved it!  I think of that sometimes when I'm organizing or list-making now, it still makes me a little excited, it's sad really.  But that was me, I wanted to be the leader and instructor of all the perfect little children that wanted to sit still and eagerly learn from my experience and know-how!  Somewhere along the line I lost my way, I think it was high school that ruined it for me.  Everyone hated school, hated learning, hated teachers, so I was discouraged and decided that I didn't want to teach ungrateful brats who thought they were too good to learn.  Now I just realize that I'd rather work with the younger ones who might still care a little and want to be motivated.  So, when I grow up (after career #1 is over, that is), I think I'll be a grade school teacher :)