Heads or Tails?

Victim of peer pressure. Luke crawls down the hall with Jack.

I usually take Sundays off from photography work(unless, I must admit, there's a deadline on monday for which I have procrastinated). But these last few weeks, I've pushed a little too hard and Luke and I have both been stressed out because of it. He gets grumpy and whiny and then I start to feel sorry for myself for having to live with Mr. Grumpy, and then he breaks my african violet pot and I cry which makes him cry more, which makes me want to bury my head in my pillow and sleep until tomorrow. So you can see it's a vicious cycle.

Yesterday was the breaking point. First thing in the morning I got Luke out of his crib, went to turn on the computer and when I joined him in the kitchen he had pulled his stool over to the counter, found a fork nearby and was forking mouthfuls of butter into his mouth. Not long after breakfast I heard a horrible crash, ran out to the kitchen (from the computer) and found one of my beautiful african violet pots in shards and Luke standing in his high chair beside the counter. Oh dear oh dear. This child cannot be left to play on his own for three minutes! I was at my wits' end by the time Derek came home for lunch to find his son strapped into the high chair with some sliced banana and me laying on the living room floor with my eyes closed. I was so exhausted that the afternoon nap time when I am supposedly my most productive turned into naptime for two. This idea that working from home lets you have the best of both worlds is totally bunk. If you want to do a good job at home/family stuff, your work will suffer. And vice versa. I need scheduling!

I decided to do something about it. I hired a baby-sitter for Monday afternoons. From now on, Monday after school, Cailyn (don't know how to spell that.) is coming over to play with Luke and let Laura get some quality time at the computer. It means I will have to be more organized and prepared to sit down and work on Monday (and not have to run all over town to get pictures last minute!). But I think I can work inside those restraints. And in the end I think it will be very good for our family. I will have a scheduled work time sans Luke (because as much as I love him, I also enjoy activities without him...with photography being my specially favored work), and Luke will have a distraction so he won't get frustrated with me sitting at the computer. And our evenings can be left free for family diversions and relaxation. I am feeling really good about this decision.