A Supportive Spouse

Let me start off by saying that I truly know how lucky I am.  Some women reading this blog are doing it alone--working full time and single moms.  I will address these women in another post, and please know that I am amazed at what you are doing.

Several years ago, I was frightened at the amount of laundry that came with signing a marriage certificate.  I honestly felt like I was doing laundry all the time!  Of course now that we have a child, I really feel like I do laundry all the time.  My husband worked weekends when we first got married, and I used my "free time" on Saturdays to clean house.  I would spend hours mopping, scrubbing, vacuuming, dishwashing, and laundry.  Because he was working two jobs that year, I felt it was my responsibility to make sure the house was perfect. 

However, when he cut back to one job, we had a family meeting.  We talked about the household chores that we were good at and also discussed the things we disliked.  At that point, we agreed to the following:

• Bathroom cleaning - Him
• Vacuuming - Her
• Putting clothes in the washer/dryer- Him
• Folding clothes - Her
• Dishwashing - Neither of us liked this one, so we both do it.
• Mopping- Her
• Dusting - Her
• Yard work - Him

You get the gist.  Well, again all of that changed with the arrival of "Lucky."  During my maternity leave, I could barely find time during the day to eat a sandwich.  Seriously.  I remember looking at the clock at 1:45 one afternoon and realizing that the only thing I had ingested during the day was coffee. 

Side note: I was so used to being on the go- taking classes, working a full-time job, going on outings with friends and family, that I did not adjust well to being home 24-7.  Having a baby in the winter months did not help, either.  Our pediatrician scared us to death - warning us against getting our baby out of the house for fear of introducing germs.  I didn't even take him to Target until he was 8 weeks old.  Even then, he was completely shielded from the Target world with a receiving blanket. 

Thankfully, my husband embraced the role of "daddy" and was so helpful; especially when maternity leave left us.  "Lucky" started sleeping through the night (an 8 hour stretch) the week that I went back to work.  Hubby would wake up with the baby at 5, feed him his bottle while I got ready, and entertain him until I pulled myself together enough to walk out the door.  Many days he took the baby to daycare (I will write about finding a great childcare center in another post).  One thing that helped tremendously is cooking ahead and/or eating leftovers.  My husband would typically arrive home before me and would start dinner before I got home.

My point to all of the above is that to make things work at work and at home, for me, it takes a loving, supportive husband.  I can honestly say that I don't think I could do it without him.