WFH Balance?
Bear with me here, I'm kinda just getting my thoughts out and hoping some of you have advice or encouragement if you've been in a similar situation ❤️
I've been a sahm for a little over a year, largely because we just couldn't afford daycare with what I was making.
My husband is a self-employed contractor, focusing on tile installation. Recently, his business has grown enough that he's having a hard time managing it, so he's asked me to step in and help. I'll be learning and taking over his books, and most of the back-end office work.
It'll be a pretty steep learning curve, with a bit of a mess to clean up, but I'm fairly confident that I can manage it much better than he has once I get going lol, I'm generally better with numbers and organization.
I'm having a hard time figuring out how to fit it into my schedule, though. I have a 7yo and a 2yo and they are... wild. Up to now, I've had us spending as much of our day outside as possible, and I've been looking for ways to get us out of the house more while still getting my housework done. I'm not entirely sure how to juggle that with making sure I have time to get my work done too, especially if he also wants me to take over some of the customer-contact like setting appointments.
I'm also not sure where to set up a work station. Hubby has a spot at the kitchen table where he tries to do this work. If I worked there, I could keep an eye on the kids, but I'd be interrupted constantly. If I set up at the desk upstairs, I'd be able to actually focus, but I wouldn't be able to watch the kids. My oldest is home from school for the summer and just barely responsible enough that I can leave them semi-unattended together for short bursts as long as I'm available if they need me, but not for long periods. They're obsessed with each other, but they wind each other up like crazy, and if they get too wild someone inevitably winds up getting hurt. The eldest also knows how to operate the TV, and I don't want them to have too much screen time. They are not able to go outside unsupervised at all. We have some small wyze cameras that we've used before when my eldest was *not* as responsible, but we don't currently have enough outlets available.
My youngest is hit-or-miss with naps lately, but she's usually happy to take some "quiet" time in her crib on days she decides not to nap; she just sings gibberish, plays with her plushies, and looks out the window until she'd usually wake up. I'm hoping that by the time she drops the nap entirely, we'll be able to afford part-time daycare/preschool again.
I think my best case scenario is being able to do most of my work during nap time and getting better at doing my housework throughout the day? That will depend on how much work ends up on my plate, though. Most likely, I'll have to figure out how to juggle work and kids.
This was longer than I planned, but I wanted to be thorough.
Any tips and advice are very welcome!
Emotional support and validation are also welcome lol. I'm sure I'll find a way to muddle through, I'm just trying to sort out how to balance things ❤️
AIBU
Am I being unreasonable. My partner works full time and I’m on maternity leave. My partner goes away weekends on golf tournaments, gets out for his runs and has his recreational time without question. I obviously don’t have that luxury, I literally do everything (cooking, cleaning, childcare) from dawn till dusk. My partners way of looking after the baby is sticking him in the bouncer in front of the tv which I hate. Recently he’s started developing an app and wants to put all hours into it which I get but I simply asked for an hour when he gets home before we put baby to sleep so that we can eat together, he can spend time with baby and I can just have time to shower and decompress. Once baby’s asleep I’m then cleaning and doing everything in readiness for the next day. I’ve now been told I’m not a supportive partner and as “supportive as a blade”. (Yeah I’m unsure of the analogy to but whatever haha) Really just don’t know how to feel and feel as though I’m looked upon as staff in our house at the moment.
