My first week is over :: 2005-08-20

Yeah, yeah. People do that all over, but this is the first time that I have ever had to work anything even close to an 11 pm - 7 am shift. Then I still need to sleep (bah! sleeping during the day makes me feel so lazy) and take care of my children and do what ever needs to be done generally. This is not the easiest thing ever. Even if I have been only doing it for a week now.

I had given myself a week's grace to begin with, so that I had time to figure out what was happening with my schedule and such. That week is over, and I haven't figured anything out. Well, I have realized that the best time for me to work out is in the A.M. when I first get home. There is no way that I'll even think about getting it done in the precious few hours that I have with my children at the end of the day.

So, morning workouts it is.

Nutrition isn't so bad. I don't feel hungry working at night so my biggest obstacle to overcome is actually making myself eat. As long as I pack my food for the work night, I am fine. I don't feel tempted to supplement with vending machine fare or breakfast at McDonald's in the morning. This I am quite proud about. I just don't feel like eating crap. Yay me.

My water intake has been SOOO low though. I have upped my coffee to two whole large cups per night in this past week and my water has gone down to under a litre. This is not good. I bring my water with me, but I just don't drink it. I am going to have to make a real effort here to bring it back up to normal (normal being at least 3L/day).

I am thinking that my schedule will look something like this:

10:30 pm - drive to work
11:00 - 7:00 - work
7:30 - arrive home
7:40 - 8:40 - workout
9:00 - 3:00 - sleep
3:00 - 7:00 - various things with kids that can be packed into four short hours
7:30 - 10:00 - nap while putting girls to bed

Oh the joys that working at night brings. This wouldn't be so bad if the girls were in school already, but they aren't. I also can't find a babysitter for during the day so the little rugrats get to play inside the house all freaking day while mommy is passed out. Talk about a fucking guilt trip there. First of all it's beautiful out, they should be outdoors, and second they shouldn't have to fend for themselves while mommy lies unconcious on the couch for what ever the reason may be.

Again, once they go back to school ... I am looking forward to it, but not for the normal "I want my kids out of my hair" reasons, I genuinely want to spend MORE time with them, not less.