Divvying up

So now I'm back at work, albeit part-time and last night my husband and I were sitting trying to work out how the household chores will work out as we enter a new phase. While on maternity, and mostly because we wanted the baby to sit and eat with us, we ate dinner at 6pm, which meant the minute my husband walked through the door, which meant I made dinner every night (pre-baby we used to alternate this task religiously). That was okay, although I did run out of ideas - and interest - I enjoy cooking but every night is a chore, not a creative process. It made sense because of the social aspect, the timings, and because I wasn't out at work. But now? My husband's new chore is to drop off and collect the baby, every day that he is at the childminder's, so then it sort of make sense that I should cook. But five nights a week? Forever?

I don't feel hard done by or outraged. It's more of a nagging feeling. I could say okay, we'll eat late and he'll cook on alternate nights. But eating together matters to me and so that's 2 nights, and then the three nights where I am at work he has a new chore and I'm more likely to be at home by 5 while he (and baby) will not get in till 6.15.

I don't have an answer. The weekends are okay, he makes breakfast, I make lunch, each of us cooks one evening meal just like we always did. The best I've been able to come up with is that perhaps on Sunday night he should cook and cook double portions so Monday night is just heating up? And that I revise our shopping so that a few meals are very quick and easy to prepare... takeaway would be the easy option of course but that's really not very good for the waistline and I could do with my waistline decreasing, not increasing.

So... I think we'll have to mess around with the formula till we find something acceptable. It's a tricky one. The best solution is to find something acceptable, wait a few years and teach the kids to cook us dinner. After all, they don't work....