This is long, and I've name changed. I need someone to look at this and tell me there is a way.
I currently work 3 days a week from home, 9am-5pm. DD is 14 months old and spends 2 days in nursery and 1 day with grandparents. Soon I'll be expected to do 4 day, then probably 5 days by the end of the year.
My client base is Asia-Pac and pre-maternity leave I worked 6am-2pm. I'm 99.9% sure I could suggest doing this again and my boss would support it. This would be great in terms of spending time with DD in the afternoons whilst still earning a full time salary and to be honest, was the only thing that was getting me through the idea of working full time. My thinking was that DD would do 3 mornings in nursery then 2 mornings with grandparents.
However, I'm not sure it'll be feasible :(. The only way I can do it is if DH can get DD up and dressed in the mornings and take care of the childcare runs. He's freelance and tends to work in one place for a few weeks before going somewhere else for a few weeks, so it's a bit sporadic. He needs to leave anywhere from 5:30am-7:30am (using our one and only car). Nursery opens at 8am and is a 20 minute walk each way. Also, a morning session at nursery is 8am-1pm (though they said they could just charge an hourly rate thereafter). Grandparent days shouldn't be a problem as they can have her (and maybe even pick her up) whenever and they are closer anyway.
We could get a cheap second car or a bike with baby seat for me to do the drop-offs a bit quicker....
I could, on the days DH would be here until 7.30am, just block out 45-60 mins on my calendar for those 3 nursery mornings? So it wouldn't be every day but some days it would earlier/longer than that.
DD is really happy at her nursery, so seems unfair to think about moving her to one that does an earlier start (and in fact the only one I'd consider doesn't do half days until 2yo).
She usually wakes at about 7.15am, but what about the days she wakes at 6.45am and I've got a call scheduled in at 7am and DH has gone early?
DD naps at lunchtime now, meaning if I paid extra for her to stay at nursery after 1pm it would only really be for her to sleep... So my thinking was she'd nap in the buggy on the way home from nursery until about 2.30pm giving me time to tidy up loose ends at work. Then we can go to the park/zoo/pool/library and hang out...
But there are also times when I need to go into London. Sod's law that it'll be on a day when she's only at nursery until 1pm and then I'll have to call in another favour with the grandparents to collect her and look after her until I get home. And no chance of me expensing the cost of nursery to come into work outside of my "working hours"!
DH going in to work late isn't really an option. We'd stand to lose anywhere between £200-600pm if he's an hour or 2 late...
At the moment, her official nursery hours are 8am-6pm but we usually do something more like 8.15am-5pm. And in that time I can get my food shop ordered, delivered, washing done, dinner sorted for that night, pick up stuff from the shops on the way to and from nursery/grandparents without it really infringing on my work day.
So am I pissing in the wind here? Would I be making life difficult/stressful for myself and feel guilty to work if I'm doing childcare runs most days that take as long as a lunch break, and then nip off early to pick her up too? My work is flexible and as long as the work gets done, no one seems too too bothered about hours.
Do I just need to suck it up and accept that 9am-5pm is easier/simpler? Even if it means seeing DD for only a couple of hours either side of childcare runs? My heart might break (my mum has had her today and I feel really envious of them getting out and about... I should be the one taking her to those places).