I am asked all the time who is taking all these pictures I seem to make it into with Fallon. And the answer is almost always Chris. And that's because he works night so he is home in the afternoon with us. A lot of people are surprised to learn he's a truck driver, because apparently he doesn't fit the profile. It's a pretty demanding job and he sometimes works really long shifts. So yea, it can be really hard to deal with for us as a family. But there are actually some pretty great trade-offs to his non traditional schedule.
Chris started this job at the very end of my pregnancy, just 2 weeks before Fallon was born. It was one of those offers he just couldn't refuse and allows him to single handedly support our family. Everyone was feeling sorry for me when he went back to work the week after Fallon was born, assuming I was pulling the night shift with a newborn all alone. The truth is, it wasn't a big deal. Fallon would wake to nurse, something Chris would have been no help with anyway, and then go back to sleep. I can count on one hand the number of times she didn't go right back to sleep after nighttime feedings. And now that she sleeps from about 7-7 every night, daddy works while we get our beauty rest.
Working when most of our friends and family are off for the weekend can kind of suck. It's harder to make plans and attend parties and events sometimes but he actually doesn't miss out on nearly as much as you'd think. And it's really nice to have a week day off to go places that are super crowded on weekends. We also run errands together pretty often as a way to get in family time while being productive. There's quite a lot of family time but not always much time for just Chris and me. But we're okay with that. Really. We've learned to make the time we spend together just the two of us really count. He has a bit of a drive home from work so sometimes he will even call me on the way home so we can catch up or make plans for when he gets home.
The nature of his job is it ain't over til it's over. He doesn't just get to clock out at 5 every day. So sometimes things go wrong, somebody messes up, there's traffic, truck problems ect. and it takes him longer (or WAY longer) than it should to get home. When I've been holding down the fort solo since the afternoon of the day before and he's running late, it can be exhausting and frustrating. And the last thing I want to do is toss him a screaming baby when he finally walks through the door but sometimes it's the only way the laundry gets done. Doing the morning hustle to get everybody fed, let outside and dressed, often at the crack of dawn, then the dinner and bedtime routine by myself does wear me down by day 4. But we get 3 mornings and 3 evenings together so that's pretty awesome and usually makes up for the rest of the week.
Overall, this works for us right now. There are times I wish he had a M-F set schedule. And I know he does too. But is there really a perfect work schedule? This is what we know and what we've become accustomed to at this stage of life. If anything I think it's made us more adaptable as a family and I am grateful that his job supports the kind of lifestyle we want to live.
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