How about working part-time?

I haven't always been a morning person, but since I moved back to the farm, I have had every reason to get up early and greet the morning with a smile.  Recently I noticed that I have been staying in bed until 10:00 or some days even 11:00 a.m.  I started to wonder whether there was an underlying condition which might be causing this this unusual symptom.  DH brought it to my attention that I have been working a lot of hours at my off farm job and haven't had much time with our son or to work on spring projects.  I shrugged it off - it doesn't matter that I am getting older, I have always been able to run on little or no sleep - it will be fine.

The discussion began with whose turn it was to watch the baby.  Working late the night before I slept until almost 9:30 a.m. on my day off.  Dragging my sorry tail from bed I was greeted with a mug of coffee and handed the four month old and DH proceeded to go outdoors and start working on the pig pen.  I was a little unhappy, but nothing that wouldn't go away.  I started on household chores since the little one was not quite ready to go to sleep.  Almost three hours later I didn't finish either the dishes or the laundry which were started and stopped twice before the baby started crying.  I didn't return phone calls which were promised to my family. I even missed my grandmother's birthday because I have been so distracted.  DH finally came inside to find out why I hadn't been outside yet and I just about lost it.  Several short and probably hurtful remarks later - I managed to put some food in my stomach and realized that this just wasn't working...

A decision was necessary - was I working to live or living to work?  I had found myself in this position before, but at that point I was single and the only dependents I was ignoring were furry and four-legged.  Now I have living, breathing, two-legged dependants who actually notice if I am not home more frequently than when their food bowl is empty.  I had long ago given up climbing the corporate ladder, but lately I lost track of how much I was actually working.

Apologies were made and DH and I discussed the financial feasibility of my working part-time.  I sent an email to my boss and made an appointment to discuss this with her on Monday.  It would be a big change, but it could work...