Week in the Life of a Working Mom: Prosecutor in a Small Town

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For this week’s installment of our Week in the Life of a Working Mom series, I’m happy to introduce CorporetteMoms reader L, who lives in a small town in the Mid-Atlantic with her husband and son. Our usual caveat applies: Please remember that this is is a real person who has feelings and isn’t gaining anything from this, unlike your usual friendly (soul-deadened, thick-skinned, cold-hearted, money-grubbing) blogger — so please be kind with any comments. Thank you! — Kat

If you’d like to be featured (anonymously or otherwise), please fill out this form! You can see all posts in this series here.

{related: how to find balance as a working mom}

First, Some Basics About This Working Mom…

Name: L
Location: Live and work in a small town in the Mid-Atlantic
Job: Prosecutor
Age: 33
Home Situation: I live in a 1,600-square-foot single-family home with my husband (bank executive), our 11-month-old son, and two dogs (and 12 chickens in the backyard).
Childcare Situation: He attends an in-home daycare 40 hours per week for 0.

How is the work-life balance in your industry in general? What are common ways of juggling responsibilities that you see your colleagues and coworkers doing?

My work-life balance is my favorite part of my job. I occasionally have periods of overwhelm or craziness, but for the most part, if I manage my time correctly, I don’t really work once I leave work. My job is a little unique in that I am always on call for law enforcement questions, so my phone does occasionally ring at 2:00 a.m., but not very frequently (maybe once or twice a month). My office is set up so that we are all responsible for our own case load, but I’m very fortunate that we work as a team, so if I ever need help with something, or if I get scheduled in two courtrooms at one time, we all cover for each other to get things done.

Stay tuned for all of our best tips on how to stay polished!

A Week in My Life

Sunday

5:30 a.m. DH is going fishing, so he’s up and out the door as quietly as possible so he doesn’t wake C.
7:00 a.m. C wakes up, but he’s happily playing in his crib, so I snooze for 15 more minutes until he gets loud. I get him up, change his diaper, he nurses, then I get coffee going and make us breakfast. Our chickens are producing 8–10 eggs per day, so … we eat eggs! We play with his toys and read books in the living room, but he’s really just interested in practicing his newfound skill of crawling up our stairs.
8:30 a.m. C goes down for his first nap of the day, and I work on laundry, meal planning, and picking up the kitchen.

10:00 a.m. C wakes up, nurses, and I get him dressed so we can go to the grocery store. Since we live in a fairly rural community, we drive about 30 minutes away to get to our favorite grocery store, as well as Home Depot to pick up a Father’s Day present for DH.
12:00 p.m. Worked hard to keep C awake on the drive home (if he sleeps in the car, second nap is toast!), then feed him lunch and get him down for his second nap. While he’s napping, I continue laundry and make some components of our meals for the week. We try hard to make our lunch on Sundays to make the weekday mornings easier. I sneak in some mindless Hallmark movie-viewing while I fold laundry, etc. I also sneak in some planner time and map out the plans we have for the week and month ahead.
3:00 p.m. C wakes up, nurses, and is ready to play! We head outside to swing and get some fresh air. DH texts me that he’s off the water and on the way home.
5:00 p.m. DH gets home, cleans up, and starts working on dinner.
5:45 p.m. We eat dinner together. C eats what we eat, but that means dinner isn’t normally a quick adventure for him! We try really hard to all eat dinner together every night.

6:30 p.m. DH gives C a bath.
7:00 p.m. I nurse C one more time, we read a book, and I put him to sleep. DH goes outside to take care of the chickens, and then we veg on the couch.
10:00 p.m. We go to bed.

Here’s what L had to say about living in a small town: 

I grew up in the small town where we live, so I love that we can go to the park and see old friends, and that C will go to the same schools I did, and have some of the same teachers. Now that we have C though, I notice more that the closest urgent care or Target is 25 minutes away. So errand running takes us longer and results in him spending more time in his car seat than I’d like some days!

Monday

6:30 a.m. Alarm goes off. I get up and showered; DH gets up and makes us breakfast.
7:00 a.m. I go in to wake C up, he nurses, and I get him ready for the day. DH puts our lunches together and gets ready himself.
7:30 a.m. DH and C are out the door to daycare. C’s daycare is right between our house and DH’s work, so he does 90% of the drop-offs and pickups. I get dressed, etc.

8:00 a.m. I’m out the door to work.
8:30 a.m. I’m at work, doing a few quick things before I have to go to court.
8:45 a.m. I walk across the street to court for a few guilty pleas.
10:30 a.m. Back in the office, and there’s a police officer waiting to meet with me.
11:30 a.m. Finish that meeting, and sit down at my desk to go over cases for tomorrow.
12:30 p.m. Take a break to pump and eat lunch.
1:00 p.m. Back to court for a bail review.
1:30 p.m. Back to my office to continue working on cases for tomorrow.
4:30 p.m. Pack up to head home. DH picks C up from daycare.

5:00 p.m. Meet DH and C at home. The weather is beautiful, so we load up again and take C and the dogs to a local park to walk the trail for a bit.
6:00 p.m. Back home. C is exhausted, so we decide to feed him first, get him to bed, then eat dinner ourselves. DH makes dinner while I feed C.
6:45 p.m. Put C down to sleep, eat dinner with DH.
7:30 p.m. Forgot a few things at the store, so I head out to a closer store to grab some quick produce. Get home, hang out with DH.
10:00 p.m. In bed.

Tuesday

6:30 a.m. Alarm goes off. I get up and showered, DH gets up and makes us breakfast.
7:00 a.m. I go in to wake C up, he nurses, and I get him ready for the day. DH puts our lunches together and gets ready himself.
7:30 a.m. DH and C are out the door to daycare.
8:00 a.m. I’m out the door to work.
8:45 a.m. I grab my files for court and walk across the street. I have 15 files today, so I get lots of glances while I’m walking in!

12:30 p.m. Finish court, walk back to my office, pump, and eat lunch.
1:30 p.m. Start working on more files for tomorrow! From now until the end of the day, I work on files for tomorrow, while taking random phone calls and putting out various fires.
4:30 p.m. Pack up and head home. DH picks C up from daycare.
5:00 p.m. Beautiful weather again (it feels like it’s been raining for two weeks straight!), so go watch my teenage brother’s baseball game.
6:00 p.m. We leave the game and head home for dinner and bedtime. Life is so much easier if we keep C close to his normal bedtime schedule. DH makes dinner again while I feed C.
7:00 p.m. We get him down and then eat ourselves. After cleaning up, we go outside to brush the dogs and take care of the chickens (those are DH’s responsibility!), then watch some DVR’d shows.
9:30 p.m. I remember my declaration that I need to be reading more, so I head to bed to read while DH plays a game on his phone.
10:30 p.m. Bedtime!

Wednesday

6:30 a.m. Alarm goes off. I get up and showered, DH gets up and makes us breakfast.
7:00 a.m. I go in to wake C up, he nurses, and I get him ready for the day. DH puts our lunches together and gets ready himself.
7:30 a.m. DH and C are out the door to daycare.
8:00 a.m. I’m out the door to work.

8:45 a.m. Grab files, walk to court. I am responsible for the whole docket today, and this public defender isn’t great at communicating with me prior to court, so no idea how long I will be there when I leave!
10:30 a.m. Finish up court; we were able to resolve most of the docket.
11:00 a.m. Meeting with some witnesses on a case that’s coming up.
12:30 p.m. Eat lunch and pump.
1:30 p.m. Back to court for my afternoon docket. I have to be in two courtrooms at one time, so a coworker covers my easy files while I run back and forth between two courthouses across the street from each other. Get a text from our daycare provider that C hasn’t eaten much and is resisting naptime. Sure enough, there’s another tooth coming in! Try to help troubleshoot that while I’m running around. My mother-in-law picks C up from daycare once a week so she can see him, and today’s that day this week. Text her to ask her to delay picking him up so he can get a decent nap before she gets him. She agrees.

3:00 p.m. Finish court, walk back to my office. Catch up on emails, return phone calls, and text DH about our evening plans. MIL picks up C.
4:30 p.m. Head home.
5:00 p.m. DH works a little later since he doesn’t have to get C today. I get home and try to get a little more housework done while MIL is there to entertain C.
6:00 p.m. Dinner as a family, then we all go outside to check on the chickens and collect eggs. C loves those chickens.
7:00 p.m. Bedtime for C. I work on some projects for his upcoming first birthday party.
10:00 p.m. Bedtime.

Thursday

6:30 a.m. Alarm goes off. I get up and showered, DH gets up and makes us breakfast.
7:00 a.m. I go in to wake C up, he nurses, and I get him ready for the day. DH puts our lunches together and gets ready himself.
7:30 a.m. DH is out the door. Daycare is randomly closed today, so I try to get ready while keeping C from pulling up on a million dangerous things.
8:00 a.m. My mother arrives at our house to watch C for the day. Cue the separation anxiety. It’s not normally an issue, because he always leaves with DH, but today he is not letting me go without a fight. Help my mom distract him, and run out the door, but I’m going to be late. Also left my coffee sitting on the counter!
8:35 a.m. Only five minutes late! Spend time at my desk straightening up, etc.

9:00 a.m. Leave the office to head to a local elementary school. I teach a character education program to fourth graders a few times per month. Our local government (my employer) allows us a paid hour per week for community volunteering. I split my time between the character education program and the Rotary club (just didn’t make it to a meeting this week!).
10:30 a.m. Back to the office. No court today, so I start working on files for Friday and the next week.
12:30 p.m. Eat lunch and pump.
1:00 p.m. Meet with my boss about a case we are working on together.

2:00 p.m. Back to my desk, returning calls and emails and trying to work out cases that are scheduled for the next week. Get an email from DH with our monthly finance update. Since he works at the bank we use, and all of our bills are automatically paid, I do generally let him take the lead on financial things. However, I like to see where the money is going every month, and we are very aggressive about saving for retirement and a down payment on a new home eventually, so we check in often (at least monthly) to see how we’re doing.
4:30 p.m. Leave work, head to my parents’ house to pick up C. Visit with them for a bit, then meet DH at home, where he’s making dinner.
6:00 p.m. Dinner as a family. C covers himself in food, so it’s a bath night! (C has eczema, so we try to limit baths to two or three times per week if we can. Luckily it’s getting better in warm humid weather.)

7:00 p.m. Bedtime for C. DH and I talk a little more about our investment and retirement accounts, then I work on a floral quote for a friend. I thrive when I have a creative outlet, and I learned how to do some basic floral design when I planned our wedding a few years ago, so I take on a few side jobs doing flowers for events. I have my first wedding coordinator job coming up in a few months, so I review my notes for that to see if I still have any questions that need to be answered. Send some emails and browse social media.
10:00 p.m. I head to bed.

Here are some more details from L about her volunteer work:

My employer allows us to have one hour of paid time off for community service every week. The program I teach is called Character Counts (it’s actually a national program), and I spend time in two fifth-grade classrooms teaching about twice or three times a month. My boss got involved with the program, and he likes us to be involved in the community, so he suggested I get trained to teach it, as well. I really enjoy it, and since I’ve been doing it for a few years now, I have my lessons down to a science! Every month, we have a topic that we discuss, and we tailor our lessons toward that topic. The six topics we teach are citizenship, fairness, responsibility, respect, trustworthiness, and caring.

We also had to ask her more about her side gig!

I love playing with flowers! On average, I’ve done about 3–4 weddings per year for the last five years. It all started when I did the flowers for my own wedding, and people started asking me to do theirs, too! It doesn’t necessarily take up weekly time for me, unless I’m working on a quote or I have a wedding that weekend. I’m careful not to take weddings during busy work times, because the flower design does generally require me to take a day or two off work the week of a wedding. It’s a wonderful creative outlet for me, though, so I really enjoy doing it! DH would tell you I don’t charge people enough money for the amount of time and effort I put in!

Friday

6:30 a.m. Alarm goes off. I get up and showered, DH gets up and makes us breakfast.
7:00 a.m. I go in to wake C up, he nurses, and I get him ready for the day. DH puts our lunches together and gets ready himself.
7:30 a.m. DH and C are out the door to daycare.
8:00 a.m. I’m out the door to work.
8:45 a.m. Grab files and head across the street to court. I have a few guilty pleas today, and no idea what order the judge will call the docket in, so I settle in until all my cases are done.

12:30 p.m. Break from court. Run back to the office as professionally as possible to pump and eat lunch quickly. My last day of pumping! We’ve already exceeded my breastfeeding goals, and I’m ready to have some freedom from the pump!
1:15 p.m. Back to court to finish up.
3:00 p.m. Back to my office to work on files for the next week.
4:30 p.m. Pack and up and head to daycare to pick up C. DH has to work two Friday evenings and two Saturday mornings per month, and this is one of them.

5:30 p.m. Get home with C and play with him while contemplating what to make for dinner. (The meal plan isn’t foolproof.)
6:00 p.m. Figure out C’s meal, feed him, and keep playing. DH texts that he’s leaving work.
6:45 p.m. DH walks in the door from work, just in time for starting C’s bedtime routine. DH is a big part of our bedtime routine, so I’m glad he made it home in time!
7:15 p.m. Put C to bed, and try to figure out what we’re going to eat. We end up winging it with some leftovers.
8:00 p.m. Debate watching a movie, decide I’m too tired to make it all the way through, and basically mindlessly watch TV for a couple of hours.
10:00 p.m. Bedtime!

Saturday

7:00 a.m. Husband’s alarm goes off. He gets up and gets ready for his morning of work. I roll over.
7:30 a.m. C wakes up, so I get up, nurse him, and get us both some breakfast. We play until his first nap.
9:00 a.m. Put C down for his first nap, then settle on the couch with my book and my coffee. I have three million other things to do but decide to enjoy the quiet for a few minutes.
10:00 a.m. C is awake! Get him up, get him dressed, and we head to the farmers market in our town. We get our veggies and treats for the dogs, then walk up the street to the library. I’m sad to admit it’s my first time in the library in a few years, so I have to renew my card, and I pick out some books for C.

12:00: C and I get home. I feed C lunch and get him down for his afternoon nap. Then I make myself some lunch and play outside with the dogs. I work more on my craft projects for C’s birthday party, clean the floors, and continue the never-ending laundry. Call to schedule a house cleaning — I have a trusted cleaner who comes in once every few months to do the detailed work I just don’t have time to do!
1:00 p.m. DH gets home from work, changes, and goes outside to putter in the garden.
3:00 p.m. C wakes up. We all get ready and head out to run some errands for the afternoon. Because we’re so rural, running to Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods is an event!
6:00 p.m. We get our shopping done and meet friends for dinner.
8:00 p.m. We get home, get C to bed, and enjoy some quiet time with a cocktail on the deck.
11:00 p.m. Bedtime!

Thanks so much to L for sharing a bit of her life as a working mom! Readers, what’s your biggest takeaway from her week of work as a prosecutor as well as her general work/life balance?

Stock photo via Shutterstock/BrAt82.