Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Law Students Blogs -> Lag Liv

Law Students

: Lag Liv

Getting Up Early, Coming In Late

By Anonymous

Landon woke up at 6:30 this morning*, so I woke up at 6:30 this morning. I have class at 8:30 on Wednesdays, so this should have worked out perfectly- we need to be out the door at 7:30 and one hour is usually plenty of time to make that happen. But then it took a while for Landon to eat his breakfast, and JP is really sick so he was in bed and no help at all, and suddenly it was 7:10 and I hadn't even changed out of my PJ's, and then I was dressed but Landon wasn't, and then we were both dressed but my backpack wasn't packed, and then I had to make up Landon's lunch and bottles, and then I remembered that it was negative fifty degrees outside (or maybe it was 3 degrees, but at that level of coldness, the difference is negligible) so I put on warmer shoes, and then I had to wrangle Landon into his coat, mittens, and hat, and then I started walking out the door wearing my backpack and a Landon but no coat, so I had to take everything off, set down the Landon, and put on my scarf, coat, and gloves... and then it was 8:26 and my class was going to start in 4 minutes. Maybe we'll make it next week.

Mornings like this make me think how different life will be when JP can help out with the daycare drop-off and pick-up. Right now we live near the middle of our two jobs - he drives 30 miles Northwest, I drive 15 miles Southeast. It would be ridiculous for him to drive an extra 30 miles, in terrible traffic (his 30 mile commute usually takes 75-90 minutes, my 15 miles usually takes about 35 minutes in the morning and 45-60 minutes in the evening) just to drop Landon off, no matter how much of a help it would sometimes be. Help with the pick-ups would be even better. I leave school at 4:40 to get the little guy, and while most days that's just fine, there are days when I really need another hour or two to work, or attend a meeting, or take a seminar. The other downside to JP's commute (besides our high gas bills and his occasional crabbiness) is that even when he leaves work at a reasonable hour, he doesn't get home until at least another hour after that. I love Landon, but evenings are a fussy time and by 8:30 I could really use another person to hold and entertain him while I make dinner or dare to sit down for a few minutes.

Most of the time everything works fine, but the commute is really wearing on JP and I'm getting really behind in my reading (and finals are 3 weeks away- gulp). I just keep reminding myself that in a few short months, I'll be the one working (5 miles from the neighborhood we're hoping to buy in), JP will be a student (only 12 miles from our hopeful home, in the same direction I'm going), and Landon will be at a wonderful daycare right in the middle. On the mornings when I have an early call or meeting, it's going to be so nice to say, "JP, can you drop Landon off?" And of course, there won't be the coat, hat, and mittens nonsense to deal with either...

*I'm hesitant to even announce this, but Landon slept from 8:30 PM to 6:30 AM without waking up once. I think he knew his daddy was really sick, his mommy was well on her way, and we really, really needed some sleep. He may be the dictator of our little apartment, but at times, he can be a benevolent one.

Full post as published by Lag Liv on February 20, 2008 (boomark / email).