We barely knew each other when our professional lives came together eight years ago.  We actually were not even sure we liked each other.  Likely there is a manual out there on how to find a job share partner. We didn’t follow it. It was more like, “You are having a baby and I have a baby and we both want to work a reduced schedule so let’s ask if we can job share!”  It had not been done in our department before and we were going to push to be the pioneers. They accepted, which justified throwing us into an office together. We have lots of windows and a conference table and can hold hands at our desks when we outstretch our arms.

We owe an unproductive employee for the Saturday morning we spent talking and really getting to know each other while we waited for work to review.  Over time we realized we both loved being mothers and loved our family and wanted our children to be our number one priority but at the same time maintaining our careers and a sense of financial independence.  We both wanted to be the best at both.  And of course, at times you just can’t.

Over these past eight years there have been lots of laughter and lots of tears shared in this office.  We have laughed about the crazy mornings trying to get out of the house and to work.  We have cried about having to leave our babies behind or kiss them late at night after someone else has tucked them into bed.  We have worked hard – at work and at home – and have doubted ourselves. And we thought, why keep this contained to this square office?  Why not share it with others? Maybe others will get a laugh or recognize that they are not the only ones.  Hence, Ledgers and Lollipops was born – and it literally took us months to find time to get it started.  We are not even sure we can keep it going.

And yes, eventually our periods became synced.

Robbin Makled

I’m a mom of three kids- an eight year old daughter and six and two year old sons.  Before I had kids, my life was wrapped up in working as a tax CPA in public accounting firms and a corporate tax department- so wrapped up in fact, that I met my husband sitting three cubicles down from me and we kissed for the first time at an April 15^th end of tax season party (nerd alert!).  I also have moonlighted in comedy writing and performances on some well-known Detroit stages, while never quitting my day job.

I met Elaine at my current job around the time we both decided to have kids, and knowing little else about each other except that we each had a good working knowledge of debits and credits and a desire for babies, we embarked on creating a part-time job share in our corporate tax department.  Little did I know that Elaine would become more than my work partner- she is a life partner!  Wanting to be an involved, fully present mother while continuing to excel in a high pressure job (even on a part-time basis) are my goals, but the two are not always compatible.  I have hits and misses and I am just as likely to send my daughter to school with an impressive full-scale hand painted paper mache model of Mt. Everest that we’ve spent hours working on together, as I am to send her with unbrushed hair and no snow pants.  As for myself, I am also just as likely to walk into an important work meeting having prepared for hours, but with unbrushed hair and no snow- well, you get the idea.  I know how hard it is to try to be everything to everyone, and to sometimes fail miserably.  Although we may have different parenting and working styles at times, it is so great to partner with someone like Elaine who can offer support, humor, advice or even just hand me a tissue to dab at my guilty mom tears.  If you are a mom, a husband of a mom, or even if you just know a mom, I hope my blog offers you some of these things (except for the tissues).  Because we could all use a little Elaine in our lives.

Elaine Oberlin-Nesbit

I am Elaine and have three children – two boys ages ten and eight and a two year-old daughter.  I am a CPA and worked for a few years in public accounting before settling in a corporate tax department.  I too am a nerd like Robbin (or maybe she is a nerd like me) and married my public accounting sweetheart!  I always knew I wanted to have children and I always knew I would be a working mother – like my mother and grandmother – however, I never knew it would be as hard as it is.  I like to say taking care of the kids is the easy part – it is taking care of work and the work at home that is hard!  I can pack lunches, read stories, manage activity schedules, cloth diaper, pump gallons of breast milk, draft a Prezi, and prep Paleo dinners.  But wash and moisturize my face every night before bed?  A dream.  Put away the mountain of work shoes piled at the front door?  A chore.  Remember the action item list from a week old meeting?  A struggle.  Chop and wash lettuce each week for my own lunch?  Sometimes.  Have clean and organized horizontal surfaces at home?  My nemesis.

I would not be where I was today if it weren’t for Robbin.  I never in a million years would have thought that I would go to work and sit next to my best friend.  Our office could be a dorm room if it weren’t for the 1980s Steelcase furniture and the lack of loft beds.  Yes, we do have a coffee maker and a mini-fridge – where else would breast milk be stored?