The Life of a Cop Wife

I have a total love/hate relationship with my husband's work schedule.  As far as cop's schedules go, we are very lucky that we know what days he's working for the whole year, for the most part.  He has a rotating schedule of four days on, two days off for three weeks and then one week of five days on two days off.  One week he works 7 am to 3 pm.  The next week he works 3 pm to 11 pm.  That only changes when he takes overtime after a shift.  Overtime is another eight hours long.  Then there are the days he works at the police academy from 8 am to 4 pm.  And then sometimes he works a funeral or parade for the honor guard, and those hours depend on what he's doing.

Are you still following me?  Haha.  Needless to say we have three different calenders/agendas each filled with when and where he is working.  Because he is rarely off on a weekend I can never seem to keep straight what day of the week it is!

When we were first married, and I had a set Monday through Friday 7:30 to 3:00 teaching schedule, I hated Skip's work hours.  I never saw him when he worked nights and we hardly ever had the same days off {he is only off on the weekend every three months or so} It was just miserable.  I was only happy when he worked days and I was able to see him at night.

Now that I am home with Little M all the time, I like his schedule a little more.  The weekend thing doesn't bother me anymore because I like getting to run errands or go away for a few days during the week, when things are less crowded.

The night shift is now my favorite shift that Skip works.  We are able to spend time together in the morning {or trade sleeping in!} and it's nice that I don't have to cook dinner all the time!  I also like that I use those nights to get things done around the house, projects and whatnot, or I can have some of my friends over for girls nights!

The day shift is my least favorite now, since I am up with the baby when she gets up and it's just her and I all day.  But it is nice to be able to sit down and have dinner together as a family.  And Little M loves when Daddy does bath and bedtime!

Overall Skip's schedule isn't too bad.  It makes things just a little more interesting for us!  Over the years we have realized that the best way to keep us on somewhat of a normal schedule is for Skip and I to stay up until about midnight every night.  It keeps us on a better sleep cycle than if we went to bed early when he works days, and then late when he works night {and I just cannot bring myself to go to bed before he gets home...I miss him to much and love recapping our days together when he gets home}  That means that we don't get all that much sleep, but we manage.

The one thing I will always hate is that Skip does not get holidays off.  There is the rare occasion when his days off happen to fall on a holiday, but those are *very* few and far between.  Hopefully in a few years he will have enough seniority to take a vacation day on holidays, but for now Little M and I just invite ourselves over to my parents alot, haha.

So there you have a little glimpse into the life of a cop wife!  All the other cop wives, how do you deal with your husband's crazy work schedule?

ps...bottom line though....as a cop Skip is never deployed...I would *much* rather have this crazy schedule than have him gone!