Working from home

I somehow managed a sweet deal with my maternity leave this time around. A lot of it has to do with having a real live job, one with benefits and the such. And part of it has to do with timing.

When Bela was born I was a PhD student taking a leave of absence from my studies, working at a garden center. Ouch. I became the manager of the store and had about 5 weeks off with little B before heading back to the 9-5 grind.

With Mae, I was back to teaching and on summer break. Not enough sick pay accumulated to take a real leave, I spent two lovely summer months with her before heading back.

But Gillian? I had her at the end of the Fall semester, had all of winter break off, and started my official 12-week leave at the beginning of Spring semester (the benefits). In my line of work, however, I don't tend to teach in the summers, thereby extending my leave until the start of Fall semester 2012. August. 8 months off (the timing).

Glorious. Right? Except for one little detail. My leave was 12 weeks, the semester was 17. I had to do something about the 5 week difference.

Enter Working From Home.

Every time I would describe my extended, paid maternity leave to friends, I would do so with gusto and joy and a little incredulity. I would go on and on about how long I had with my new babe, paid, like a real maternity leave should be. And then I would say the only thing I have to do is work from home a bit, AND THAT'S ALL!

Naive.

Working from home is hard. 

What do you do with a baby who takes only 1 hour naps now if you're lucky? Who can't entertain herself for very long? Who ends up in your lap while you're typing? With one hand? In Spanish?

A lot of the time I end up sitting with my laptop on the floor. Spanish papers spread out in front of me. One hand on a toy that I dangle in front of her, or one finger in her mouth so she can suck on it for fun. The other hand typing, cutting, pasting, planning. My mind a complete jumbled mess.

Working at night doesn't prove to be any easier. I'm exhausted. Must sleep. Can't think.

How do people do it? Work from home with immobile infants? Spill the beans, please.

I'm nearly done with my work assignment. Unfortunately I hear Gillian crying - up from her morning nap. Looks like I just wasted the last 30 minutes on this blog. Sigh.

One thing working from home with Gillian does produce? A surplus of Mommy/baby photos taken by webcam. Seeing her own face on the screen always makes her happy.

If only I could find a way to turn in a series of Katie/Gillian photos and some poorly written blogs to my employer in exchange for those five extra weeks, then we'd be doing pretty ok.