Application for parental leave sent

Today I have posted my application for parental leave in relation to the birth last autumn of our twins Alexander and Cecilie da Silva-Tønnessen. All I have had so far is two weeks straight after birth. I now apply for a further 21 weeks or so, with some of it taken as graded parental leave (part-time, combined with part-time work). If the application is approved as submitted, I will start part-time parental leave April 1st and have full-time parental leave August 1st to October 26th (the latter portion of leave will be rearranged if I get a position as Head of department at University of Stavanger).

Holiday?

I was on holiday last Friday, with my son (in Bergen, until Sunday). But worked all night.

Parental leave September 15-28th

Until yesterday, I was on a 14 day parental leave, at the occasion of the birth of my twin son Alexander and twin daughter Cecilie September 15th.

Talk at researcher stand-up cancelled

My participation at the researcher Stand-up event in Stavanger today was cancelled due to the birth of my twins about a week ago.

See also:

To talk at researcher standup, Stavanger, September 22nd

Father again; not attending "my" conference

Despite being the chair of the Local organising committee, I am not attending the conference "Animals in the Anthropocene: Human–animal relations in a changing semiosphere", since I became a father (again) two days ago.

Birth is coming - early train

Today I felt I had to catch an early train to get home to my soon-to-deliver wife. Birth is coming. Sometime soon.

Photos from NASS IX (Tartu)

Photos from the 9th conference of the Nordic Association for Semiotic Studies (NASS), aka this year´s Tartu Summer School in Semiotics, are available online. I found two involving me and my son.

Tartu conference plans

I have just arranged my trip to Tartu, Estonia, at the occasion of the 9the conference of the Nordic Association for Semiotic Studies (NASS). I will be going alone with my soon 3 year old son - the second time I try this.

Two more evenings off per week

Today I have decided to make some changes with regard to my work week and work time/free time devision. Among other things, I will have two more evenings off per week (Wednesday and Sunday, in addition to Saturday). The aim is to attain a better balance between work and family time (including more housework), now that my wife is pregnant with twins. I should also be offline in my free time (afternoons).

Work and family life - a few new work routines

As a commuter, I am working much of the time from my home office, and I have to structure my workday - also since I am a father-of-one and my son is in kindergarten (only) 3 days a week (plus, my wife commutes too). After a "discussion" today, I've decided to make a few changes:

• After travelling on work trips, I'll work only 1 hour or so (checking email etc.) in daytime (plus work in the evening) the first day I am back home again - presupposing that my son is home this day. He is usually very eager to spend time with me once I have been gone (and I with him).
• In my daily planning, I'll start making room for 1 hour of "email and incidental tasks" in the morning and a further hour for the same task in the evening, in total 2 hours. With this I hope to remedy an all-too-common occurrence: Namely that quite often my daily work plan bursts since new, unexpected tasks that should be dealt with straight away appear. This then leads to working overtime and/or not getting done everything I have planned to get done.
• Trying to get things done well ahead of deadlines.

In sum this should make me more flexible, more relaxed and a more present father and husband.

See also:

Remaining parental leave; plans for spending time with my son 

Working time, autumn 2013 - spread over 3 counties, daytime and evenings

This Spring I had a high percentage of parental leave combined with a 20% contract at University of Stavanger - though I worked long weeks even so, in combination with family life. The puzzle game is perhaps even more complex this autumn. My soon 1 year old son has started in kindergarten 3 days a week in Arendal, where my wife now teaches portuguese. Every second Thursday, when my wife is not working, I am taking him to kindergarten. I teach in Stavanger every Monday (first 9 weeks of the semester) and some Wednesdays (5), and also stay there every Tuesday.

Today I looked over my work weeks this autumn, and arranged tasks. The regular routine when I'm working from home, in Kristiansand, will be that I work 12-15 and then again 19-23. This results in a full work day, and maximises the time to be spent with my son (and wife). Every second Thursday I'll have the evening off, and every second Saturday my father is babysitting our son while my wife and I have a day to spend together. Sundays are workdays, given that I'm commuting between Kristiansand and Stavanger and teach Monday morning.