Dealing with Change

My husband, an engineer,  usually works 3rd shift (10pm till 6am). He is a night owl and likes to see the kids. Work decided to get rid of 3rd shift for the moment. So today he starts on 2nd shift (at the moment 3pm to midnight). Not our favorite shift and not lots of warning.

Now I am feeling out what routine would work best for us. I usually work until 3, so I need to carve out some time to be with my husband. And I will probably want to work some in the evening to compensate.

I also need to get up earlier because Jeff can’t take the kids to school because he will be sleeping. Soon they will be walking again when it gets light and not so snowy.

I will look over evening activities to make sure there aren’t any overlaps.

I think I will make a nice lunch for Jeff and I before he goes to work most days.

And I need to find a routine for the kids in the evening since it will be just me checking that homework , chores and showers are done.

I’ve also been feeling negative about this shift thing so I would like to look at the positives:

• I can work with my music on since Jeff will be awake.
• My husband and I get some alone time together.
• I can cook unusual dinners (my husband usually doesn’t like my "experiments").
• The kids still get to see Jeff on the weekends.
• The kids have had years where they have been able to see both Mom and Dad after school every day.
• The kids won’t have to try to be quiet on days off of school.
• The company never keeps 3rd shift gone for too long.

Complaining about change doesn’t make it better. It just gets you stuck so you aren’t in problem solving mode. Have you had any unexpected changes lately? Have you planned how to incorporate the changes into your life successfully?