‘Working’ from home

People who work from home must fib about the amount of work they actually accomplish. About four years ago, I spent a few months doing freelance work before going to graduate school and taking a part-time job with my current employer. I hated working from home. I was too easily distracted – dishes, laundry, surfing the net with no chance of anyone walking up behind me, a magazine, an episode of Murder She Wrote.

I could be lured away from the computer by just about anything. I quickly decided I needed to physically go to an office outside my home where other people were working alongside me.

Four years later, things have not improved and now I have a major – and legitimate – distraction in a 9-week-old baby.

Because my company doesn’t offer paid maternity leave, I needed to start back to work when Kate was 6 weeks old. So for two weeks, I “worked” from home. Last week, I was scheduled to head back to my office where I could actually work through a full day without having to stop and change a diaper. After three days in the office, Clint was called away to San Diego for a business trip. He was scheduled to stay home all week with Kate because she can’t get into the daycare center until April 14.

This week, Clint and I planned to trade off stay-at-home duties Monday through Wednesday until my mom arrived to keep Kate on Thursday and Friday. Well, Clint’s trip to the West Coast sort of through a monkey wrench in our carefully laid plans.

Now, I’m back working from home until Thursday. A typical day goes something like this:

9:30 p.m. Put Katherine to bed
4 a.m. Katherine wakes up to eat. Change diaper, feed Katherine
4:45 a.m. Put Katherine back to bed
4:47 a.m. Consider heading to the computer to get some work done before she wakes up again in a few hours.
4:47:30 a.m. Crawl back into bed … for a just a few more minutes.
7:30 a.m. Katherine wakes up to eat. (See how easily a few minutes can turn into hours.) Change diaper.
7:30 – 9:30 a.m. Feed Katherine, bathe and/or dress Katherine, attempt to eat some yogurt and brew some coffee while juggling baby in one hand. Take super fast shower while Katherine is occupied in her bed with some toys. Put makeup on and dry hair in record time (although these are optional if day doesn’t require leaving the house).
9:36 a.m. Put Katherine on toy mat, grab coffee and sit down at computer.
9:37 – 10:18 a.m. Work
10:18 a.m. Katherine fusses. Pick her up, maybe read her a story or walk around for a few minutes.
10:25 a.m. Put Katherine in swing next to desk.
10:25 – 11:15 a.m. Work
11:15 a.m. Katherine is ready to eat.
11:20 – Noon Feed Katherine
Noon – 1 p.m. Eat some lunch and watch TV. Clean out bottles, throw in a load of laundry. Check on dogs or let them out to use the bathroom.
1 p.m. Pick Katherine up and head back to office and toy mat. Katherine spits up and covers herself and me with a milky mess. Change clothes. More laundry.
1:15 p.m. Work while Katherine naps (yeah!)
2 p.m. Check laundry
3 p.m. Katherine starts to fuss. Read Katherine some stories and sing her a song. Try to check e-mail before time for a feeding.
4 p.m. Change diaper. Feed Katherine. May as well see who’s on Oprah today.
5 p.m. Feed dogs. Check work e-mail and catch up on a few things.
6:30 p.m. Eat some dinner (most likely cereal).
7 p.m. Change diaper. Feed Katherine. More laundry.
10 p.m. Change diaper. Feed Katherine and then put her to bed.
Start all over again.

OK, that’s not exactly how my day goes but it’s awfully close and gives you a good idea of how tough it is to work from home with a zillion distractions. Not to mention, it’s draining to be the constant caregiver with no husband to share the duties. Just wait until he gets home. I may get called off on a trip too.