There are 120 hours in a five-day work week.
In a good week, 40 of those are spent working, and Anna sleeps for another 50 hours (she averages about 10 hours a night).
That leaves me with 30 hours of face-to-face time with her during the work week (which equals 25% of my time Monday through Friday).
But, I often have events that need to be covered in the evenings during the week, so a “normal” week would actually leave me with spending less than 25% of my time being a mother.
I’m calculating all of this because I’m getting to the point where I just don’t have the free time and flexibility necessary for my job. And if I don’t have enough time for the job, I sure as hell don’t have enough time to also be a good mother.
This job + motherhood has turned out to be such a horrible combination. Both of them are awesome on their own, but they don’t easily mix.
What I thought was just a temporary rut is turning out to be something a little more long-term, and I’m afraid that I’m going to get hit with a week where I can’t possibly keep up… and if I can’t keep up, I screw up an entire community newspaper, since I’m the lone staff writer for the entire thing.
There’s a staff meeting tomorrow, so I’m going to meet with my bosses seperately afterward to let them know about my concerns. (Basically, I easily fall behind right now, and things get even busier around here once summer hits.)
It’ll be tough if the best option for me is to quit and move back in with my parents. This is a job that a graduating journalism student would love to get his or her hands on, but I’m the one who got it. AND, I got a job in Michigan, which is a very special feat these days.
But some of my hours fall in the evening (at least 2-4 hours of evening work outside of my house every week)… and I’m a college grad getting paid $9 to do the work of at least two people.
Anyway, I’m not looking forward to talking to people tomorrow because I did a really crappy job this week AND I want to talk to them about my concerns AND my daycare is closed for Good Friday and I have nothing set up childcare-wise, so I have no choice but to stay home Friday (or bring Anna to work, which isn’t really a possibility).
Ugh. I just want to go back to our previous city. I never knew how nice it was there until I moved away 
It really is hard. The work/parent struggle in itself is difficult but at the new grad, single, just starting out stuff in the mix and I can imagine it must all be incredibly overwhelming. I wish I had advice, but I’m sure you’ll figure out what the best move may be for you. Keep us posted and do everything you can not to stress too much!