The Fine Line

From a "Parenting" article: "there really is a Land of the Living Dead. It's populated by zombies whose children don't sleep". And that goes double for working parents I'm sure. Maybe it's the recent travel over the holiday season, teething or a developmental milestone, but little one is not sleeping well - and today not napping either. She's currently working on finding the most dangerous thing in the house to pull herself up on in order to find the most dangerous or irreplaceable thing to put in her mouth. The least helpful advice I got on this recent development is that it's due to the disturbance in routine cause by travel. It might be true, but I hope not -- we have two trips for her, and my first trip away from her coming this month. And one of the things that attracted me to Astronomy as a field was the travel... The most helpful advice - this will pass, and on astronomical timescales it's a very short phase indeed.

The trips are good news - I have two interviews for faculty jobs - a much higher success rate (for interviews at least) than I expected. It'd be nice to get some sleep too though...

And another positive thought - I have the flexibility to work when I like, and catch up later if I feel like a nap instead. I can also go to work without brushing my hair (and certainly with no make-up) and most astronomers would never notice! How do 9-5pm working Moms in the office environment manage at all...?

I guess we all walk a fine line between coping and exhaustion...