Calley wrote a post about how her household runs and I found my comment stretching into my own post so I came back over here to share instead! Please visit Calley and see how other people do it!
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Cleaning: I stay at home so I end up with a lot more of the responsibilities around the house, and sometimes, truth be told? The mopping? Oh the mopping doesn’t get done for MONTHS! (but we have no pets, don’t wear shoes in the house, wipe up spills immediately and sweep 2-3x a day for crumbs–so it’s not GROSS or anything!-but with 2 at home it’s almost impossible to find a time there won’t be tiny footprints on wet floor!) I’ve set up systems so that at least the minimum gets done and everyone has clean clothes, dishes, and 3 squares plus snacks every day, and then as time allows I do other things to keep the house neat, bake, garden in season, etc. A lot of times I’m folding laundry at 4 a.m. but it all gets done eventually!
Child care: Obviously I have a 24/7 shift and Matt goes in to work SUPER early so he’s home as soon as the kids are up from nap most days. He tends to play a lot with them in the afternoon and evening, which lets me sit and peruse the internet or just sit back and watch them interact, which is a blast.
Activities: I try and add in things like trips to the library during the day, we all go grocery shopping in the winter, and in good weather I go Saturday AM’s before anyone is up, or make a pm run through the week if I need a mommy break! My husband volunteers with our church’s youth club (4 yo goes there 1x/week) and does all the evening activities (swim, etc) so I don’t have to drive in the dark. This gives me alone time or 1:1 w/toddler. We go to church activities as they occur and Sunday services.
Me time: Right now we both tend to sneak in ‘our time’ during naps. So I might read, sneak out to stores during sale season/weekend, watch DVR’d shows the kids can’t see, or craft something. My husband tends to work on his electronics stuff, play on the tractor, or work in his shop during the weekend nap period. Sometimes he schedules something on a weekend and we just hang out without him, but he gets his guy time then. I don’t often get girl time, but my options are fairly limited anyway, so whenever I do get the chance, I go, kids or not! My friends love my kids so it’s not a big deal.
Us time: My husband has gotten into the habit of helping me cook dinner. The kids play and we sneak in a chance to chat then and on weekend mornings. Other wonderful times are when we’re driving/riding somewhere because there’s no other distraction, and when he works from home and/or during the weekend naps when we can reconnect. Night time usually ends up being more about sleep than anything since he leaves so early, so we cherish all the ‘sneaky time’ we can get. We now have a babysitter we can call on, so we need some activities out of the house to do!
When he’s gone for work: In the next 7 week period, he’ll be gone 2 weeks. Needless to say, this is not a whole lot of fun for me. I really cherish the time we have together, and the kids definitely do not behave as well with him gone. I will have to keep us VERY busy and active so that we have less time to be missing daddy! Thankfully the weather is taking a positive turn so we’ll have outside activities to count on as well as inside things like movies/reading which kept us busy over the winter.
What about you? Is your split 50/50 or more like 90/10? As long as it works for you, stick with it and enjoy this wild ride! Bubble wrap optional.
It’s always nice to hear how other families make things work. My husband is on day 3 of a 10 day trip (very rare for him) and I’m going insane! Trying to be consistent with our routine and learning to do it all (which we normally share). I may need some bubble wrap at the end of this week! XO
Mopping is for the birds! I do like my steam mop, though. It’s dry almost immediately.
I’m on Mama Duty 24/7. If I ask him to help out with cleaning or whatever, he will, but I rarely ask. Our house isn’t spotless, but I do try and keep the clutter to a minimum, surfaces dusted, and the floor vacuumed.