I’m back to working at home after completing a recent contract, much faster than the client expected, I’m proud to say, as I was able to leverage some open source software to do exactly what they needed.

While I love being able to see Helen and Ilenia more during the day, it also brings up that old question of Adam Smith’s: the division of labor. It’s pretty difficult to concentrate at all with a baby in the house, despite having an office with a door. When she’s noisy, she’s really noisy, and there’s nothing like the yowl of an unhappy baby to get a parent’s attention, even if he’s not the one currently taking care of her. Also, perhaps most importantly: she’s adorable and full of smiles for me, and loves to play… as do I, certainly more so than working! Since she won’t take a bottle yet (well, I did succeed once, but it’s not easily repeatable), my wife is still the one Helen’s primarily attached to, but even so, needs some time when I take care of the baby so she can do her stuff too.

I’m curious what sorts of arrangements other people have worked out? Fortunately, one option would simply be to spend the time with Ilenia and Helen and forget about work for the most part, but that’s pretty extreme. It’s not as if I don’t have computer time, but the biggest problem is the constant interruptions, which make it difficult to do more than read and write a little bit. Serious coding requiring concentration is pretty much only for late at night or early mornings these days.