how we do the childcare thing

Been in the mood to talk about motherhood and kid business as a sort of state of the union type thing. So here's the state of our union aka Fredrich Corp. 

I was home with Alice for four months after which I went back to work full-time as a freelance production coordinator. My work was mostly steady with a few days and some weeks off here and there. While I went to work, Matt was home with Alice and has remained her primary caregiver since. Which is really strange to write because for 9 months of gestation and 9 months after that I was her primary source of comfort and food. Now daddy makes the bottles.

When I'm home for extended stays Matt takes freelance work but by and large we're depending on my income. I'm very blessed to have a job that supports us and allows one of us to be home with her. Sometimes I wish it were me that was taking her on weekly outings but I'm happy that she gets one of us at least and I get to be the example of working woman in her life.

On weekends I take the reins of taking care of Alice and sometimes Matt gets a break and we go on outings just the two of us and sometimes we meet up with the family.

The parts that get tricky are the breaks. I work all day, then rush home and spend as many seconds as I can with her before she goes to sleep. Then on weekends I spend all day with her, trying to get my fill so I can survive the week apart. But that means that when I'm working, I don't really get a break. I'm on for the whole time. On the weekends though Matt doesn't get a break much either, while I'm doing a lot of the heavy lifting, he's still there helping.

It's not that we need a break from our baby but babydom is pretty mind-numbing and you need to recharge your brain and your energy so you can keep going and give that baby your best. And in the end that's what we want more than anything is to give her the best we can. The best of each of us.

We're still figuring it out, it's very much a work in progress. What it means to be a working mother, a stay at home father. What it means to put a little person first.