#workingparentprobs

Any of my other working mommas and daddies get sad when their babies sleep all evening?

So sweet but so sleepy.

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When free is a problem

“It’s no secret that getting something for free feels very good. Zero is not just another price, it turns out. Zero is an emotional hot button – a source of irrational excitement” – Dan Arierly from Predictably Irrational.

Few things make me feel as much like an adult (in a bad way) as filling out insurance paperwork. Deciding between the high or low deductible plan, whether or not to include my husband on my vision insurance. Asking him his SSN again because I haven’t yet memorized it. Pretax, after tax, wondering if any of this will leave me with a decent paycheck or just this building headache.

Insurance sucks. The only thing worse than dealing with insurance is not having it when you need it.

One of the happiest days of my pregnancy was when I learned that prenatal care was covered at 100% before the deductible. I had been thinking I’d still have to meet my deductible before coverage would start at 80%. I was thrilled because this meant my visits and most of my labs and ultrasounds were practically free! (more…)

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With baby comes guilt

Can you see it? The guilt is right there. Right past his shoulder.

Guilt and babies are pals. Best friends. Bros. Noted confidants closer than Blanche, Rose, Dorothy and Sophia.

I find it’s hard to think about my little man without feeling his committed life partner Guilt lurking in the corner hissing.

Guilt says, “You spent 12 weeks getting to know him and what he needs and wants and he trusts you, and now you leave him with strangers who yes will make sure he is fed and dry enough but really they have how many other babies to take care of? You know he’s going to be doing a lot of sitting in bumbos, swings, bouncy seats, and in the crib wondering where you are.”

When I arrive to pick him up and his eyes are red, guilt says, “You know he does this on and off all day. He cries for you, and you don’t come.”

When I get home and I put him down in his rocker while we make dinner, guilt says, “Really, you put him down? All day you haven’t had him. You held him for what maybe 40 minutes MAX this morning between nursing him at home and nursing him at school, and now you put him down. He doesn’t know you need to eat dinner. He knows you’re here not holding him.”

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