Winds of Change
The times, they are a-changing.
The most significant changes are work related, as R is leaving his steady job to try his hand at self-employment, and I changed from working nights to working evenings.
My job at Gigantic Telephone Company is considered an "essential position," meaning that we have to be there 24/7/365. There is a choice of three shifts: day, evening, and night. I worked the night shift at GTC for two and a half years, and I worked nights for other companies for two more years prior to that. So, a total of about four and a half years of night shift. I loved working nights for the longest time, but after the Moosh turned one, it stopped being so great and really started to suck.
When the Moosh was an infant, the night shift worked great because I would come home, go directly to bed, and R would bring the baby in to eat and go down for his nap. He usually napped for three to four hours, resulting in seven to eight hours of sleep for me. So I was fairly well-rested and the baby was happy. But by the time he turned one, he didn't want do go down for his nap so early. You would think that this would result in R just staying with him longer, but oh no. R just assumed that he still went to sleep on time (around 11:00 AM), but the truth was that R brought him in at 11:00, and I had to then wake up and entertain him for two hours before he was ready to go to sleep. This severely reduced the amount of sleep I was getting, and my personal outlook and work performance were sinking rapidly. Then we purchased the business, and realized that R was going to have to leave early in the morning to go to work (before I got home from the night shift), and so nights weren't really going to work for us any more.
Truth be told, I was over working nights anyway. It's fun when you're childless, because you can still pretend you're living your bad ass college lifestyle. But when you have a toddler and are running on about three hours of sleep, it kind of takes the romance out of it.
So when an opportunity to move to the evening shift came open, I began moving heaven and earth so that I could take the position. The main problem was the babysitting. Daycare simply doesn't cover any time past 6:30, and R wouldn't be available to pick up the kiddo until 8 or 9. Luckily my sister A1 was able to pick up the nanny job. We love her, and the Moosh loves her. The job pays enough for her to go back to school, which is something she's been trying to do for a long time. And so, after four and a half years of working nights, I switched to the evening shift and got to sleep regularly at night again.
I was really nervous about the change at first, to the point where I was freaking out and crying right before it happened, but honestly it's been the best change I could possibly make. The whole family is sleeping better, and I feel like a million bucks after six months of severe sleep deprivation.
I'm a habitual fighter of any changes in my normal routine, but in this case, change is a good thing.
The most significant changes are work related, as R is leaving his steady job to try his hand at self-employment, and I changed from working nights to working evenings.
My job at Gigantic Telephone Company is considered an "essential position," meaning that we have to be there 24/7/365. There is a choice of three shifts: day, evening, and night. I worked the night shift at GTC for two and a half years, and I worked nights for other companies for two more years prior to that. So, a total of about four and a half years of night shift. I loved working nights for the longest time, but after the Moosh turned one, it stopped being so great and really started to suck.
When the Moosh was an infant, the night shift worked great because I would come home, go directly to bed, and R would bring the baby in to eat and go down for his nap. He usually napped for three to four hours, resulting in seven to eight hours of sleep for me. So I was fairly well-rested and the baby was happy. But by the time he turned one, he didn't want do go down for his nap so early. You would think that this would result in R just staying with him longer, but oh no. R just assumed that he still went to sleep on time (around 11:00 AM), but the truth was that R brought him in at 11:00, and I had to then wake up and entertain him for two hours before he was ready to go to sleep. This severely reduced the amount of sleep I was getting, and my personal outlook and work performance were sinking rapidly. Then we purchased the business, and realized that R was going to have to leave early in the morning to go to work (before I got home from the night shift), and so nights weren't really going to work for us any more.
Truth be told, I was over working nights anyway. It's fun when you're childless, because you can still pretend you're living your bad ass college lifestyle. But when you have a toddler and are running on about three hours of sleep, it kind of takes the romance out of it.
So when an opportunity to move to the evening shift came open, I began moving heaven and earth so that I could take the position. The main problem was the babysitting. Daycare simply doesn't cover any time past 6:30, and R wouldn't be available to pick up the kiddo until 8 or 9. Luckily my sister A1 was able to pick up the nanny job. We love her, and the Moosh loves her. The job pays enough for her to go back to school, which is something she's been trying to do for a long time. And so, after four and a half years of working nights, I switched to the evening shift and got to sleep regularly at night again.
I was really nervous about the change at first, to the point where I was freaking out and crying right before it happened, but honestly it's been the best change I could possibly make. The whole family is sleeping better, and I feel like a million bucks after six months of severe sleep deprivation.
I'm a habitual fighter of any changes in my normal routine, but in this case, change is a good thing.
posted by Lisa C. @ 8:45:00 PM
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