Last week, hubby stayed home with Boo for 4 days while I was working on set. (I love saying that, “working on set”!) It’s also a 2 week March break here. They had quite the active week, with Boo being in soccer camp for 3 hours in the mornings then hanging with DH’s best friend and his sons for the rest of the day. They went to the science centre, and Playdome and the movies…leaving me with precisely nothing possibly as fun for this week. And now Boo has a cold, so great, no play dates.
I worked 2 nights, arriving back home between 3 and 5am. Needless to say, I was pretty darn tired, and trying to get quality sleep during the day was next to impossible. (IS MUMMY SLEEPING?!!! YES, BOO, BE QUIET! WHY IS SHE SLEEPING?!!! crash of soccer ball on bedroom door, squeal, thump, thump, thump, crash) It was interesting to note that while hubby was having a blast with his little man, this week’s breakfasting of the kid, shopping and tidying was mostly still left to me. He’s always saying that he’d rather be a house husband than go to work everyday and have the stress of being the breadwinner so I thought he might have used this rare opportunity to show me how organized and efficient he is. He just mainly kept the kid busy by hanging out with his buddy.
I pretended I was working full time and I’d “help out” where I could. Boo’s diet consisted of a lot of pizza and cookies, didn’t eat home most of the time. The vegetables in the fridge went bad. They also had a sleepover, but I had deadlocked the back door and hubby came home about 4 hours after I had gone to bed and I had to stumble out like a zombie and let him in. Then the kid was home an hour later because he had had one too many late nights and hubby had to go back and pick him up. No break for daddy, boo hoo. Perhaps he has a inkling that it’s not all beer and Skittles for a stay at home mum. You get very little personal time and that time is usually filled with walking the dog, answering emails, grocery shopping and personal hygiene.
Meanwhile on the movie location shoot, I had my makeup done for me, dinner was cooked for me, someone brought me a bottle of water and I read my book. I was cold (but there was someone there with hand, foot and back warmers) and I had to stand a lot, but I also enjoyed talking with other actors. Seriously, I had one line and some ad lib stuff, it was a sweet deal. In my world, this is as good as a vacation!
The snippets of time I did spend with Boo, I swept him up and covered him with kisses and I just wanted to eat him up. He did not mind that at all. For once, I could savour exhaustion without feeling guilty. Working actor, that’s me.
A Woman My Age 
Lol- it’s exactly the same in our house. When I’m working weekends, nothing gets done, but hubby sure has a blast with the wee woman. I still have to stop to get groceries at the end of my 12 hour shifts, pack lunches, plan meals, pay bills, etc. The funny thing is, hubby never seems to view any of the responsibility stuff as particularly urgent (you know- if we run out of healthy food, we’ll just eat chocolate for dinner! No problem!) and it infuriates me! Why do I always have to be the one who has it all together? Sigh.
Oh- I totally feel your pain on sleeping during the day. About 75% of my shifts are night shifts, and I never get more than 3-4 hours of sleep on those days. It’s brutal.
I’m not sure how do night shifts – aren’t you exhausted all the time? The world just goes on (garbage trucks, dishwashers, etc) – and you either block it out somehow or get used to being tired. I used to know a guy who drank scotch to fall asleep and he had blackout curtains. Didn’t work either. You know what I really hate when hubs washes the pots, pans, etc and then stacks them up like a Jenga tower and then leaves it. Any glass or cup he misses stays on the table until I remove them. Every morning I put stuff away (or rewash). I’ve asked them if he would just dry the pots and pans and put them away right away. He refuses (oh, they can airdry) but it’s okay for him to rail away cause I left crumbs on the counter. I swear on all that’s holy that if I ever have the chance, I will hire domestic help so I don’t have to deal with this domestic nitpicking. Doh!
Love this post, too, and can relate on the DH front. If I leave him alone with one or both kids, even if the baby is napping and our older son is playing iPad, DH can’t manage to get one thing around the house done. It is odd, odd, odd, the wiring of men and the inability to do what needs doing. Is it because they have capable wives? I ask him all the time what he’d do if I were no longer around and I gather he’d live in squalor!
Yes! How interesting that your DH “wants” to stay at home but then doesn’t seem to pick up the slack when you work. Maybe he treated it as a fun vacation instead or something….??? Congrats on your job.
I don’t think I’d mind working f/t if he wants to stay at home, so I hope Hollywood gives me a call real soon!