Kate Spencer holds newborn Anna, while James Spencer, right, helps their eldest daughter, Violet, 3, put her shoes on in the park next to their home in Aspen Village on Tuesday, April 28, 2020. James and Kate met in school about twenty years ago and got married in 2011. “James is working 4 days a week and I’m home with the girls. Violet would typically be at Aspen Mountain Tots two days a week, so that is the biggest difference for us. We’re spending a lot of time together and there are good days and bad…it definitely has its challenges, but it’s probably good in the long run to have more time with both girls together.” James took 6 weeks of PTO to spend with his girls, but is now back to work as a physical therapist. He said he’s been “bending ears” to anyone who will listen about implementing paternity leave for new fathers. With the pandemic, James explained that although he has to go to work now he’s had less work with only essential patients so he can go in a little later than normal and come home a little earlier, which gives him more time at home. “It’s just a weird time and then you throw a newborn in on top of that,” said James. “It’s all contradictions: like work’s light, but it’s super stressful.” Kate is also a physical therapist and said that although it’s odd to not be going into work every day, she was mentally prepared to do that since she was having Anna. “With Violet, I was out hiking from the beginning. Maybe four weeks after she was born, we were hiking Smuggler all the time and going out for walks with friends. I think emotionally and mentally if this was my first [baby] it would be more difficult, because I would feel totally lost. I think when I first had a child, the support of friends was really helpful. Right now, I have to focus all of my energy into the routine we’ve set for Violet, so it’s actually probably easier, but I don’t feel like that a lot of days,” said Kate. “I wasn’t planning on working, but I wasn’t planning on full-time momming. It’s weird for me to complain about it, because I feel like people do this for their lives. Ever since I had kids I had a career. So when I had Violet, I wanted to be with her all the time. And now to be with them all the time, then having those stressful days, I almost feel guilty. People do this, and they’re moms full-time, and now I don’t know how. Or maybe it’s the virus stuff on top of it, because I can’t have the neighbor girl come over and watch one of them for an hour while I take the other one for a hike. It can be rough, but it’s probably all the other external stuff coming through.”
Kelsey Brunner/The Aspen TimesKelsey Brunner/The Aspen TimesKelsey Brunner/The Aspen TimesKelsey Brunner/The Aspen Times
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