Give A Little Respect To Me

It's 9am, and I'm not babysitting. Normally that would be very nice, but they didn't tell me they didn't need me. We have an understanding that I will watch our neighbor's two-year-old on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from about 7am to 10am. In exchange, they will watch Benjamin from about 10am to 1pm on the days I have to work at 11am. It works pretty well most of the time, and I really can't beat the convenience of dropping of my baby on the way out the door. I think I put up with rather a lot to have that convenience, but this week has been a bit ridiculous. I didn't watch her on Monday, and I was fine with that, since they had just gotten back from vacation Saturday night. They could have let me know, but I let it slide. Tuesday I had to work at 11, and she didn't get back from wherever she was until 10:25 (I try to leave around 10:15 because it's a 25 minute drive, then I have to find parking and walk about 10 minutes to get to the hospital tower, then I have to clock in and change into my scrubs and be READY TO WORK by 11). So I was late on Tuesday. Wednesday, I slept in guilt-free and it was great (I didn't have to work that day). Thursday I babysat normally (they brought her downstairs around 7:10), although she didn't get back until 10:20 that day either, and I had to work at 11 again. Today, however, I didn't. The thing is, I have to be up and ready by 7am (whether I get home from work at 1:45 a.m. or not) to be ready for them. Then I have to wait for them to knock on the door, and I can only do so much during that time with my own baby and with the house, etc. I'm hearing her upstairs now, but I'm not listening for the knock anymore. I think I need to tell her that if she's not downstairs by 8am, I'm not watching her that day. Is that fair? She chooses to sleep in, but I don't get that choice. I have asked her to change our times from 9am-noon, especially when I work my "fun shift" (5pm-1am). She said no, so I'm really trying to make the best of it and be productive in the mornings. But I think it's really disrespectful! My time, especially my alone time with Benjamin, is very valuable to me. She's probably not thinking about the consequences her actions have on my day, and she probably just 'forgot to set her alarm,' or something like that. Do I need to be more understanding, or am I letting her walk all over me? It's frustrating. I really want to change my schedule. Currently, it's crap and it takes a freaking algorithm to understand it. I REALLY want to go back to 12-hour shifts. Yeah, those days are gone, but you get 4 days off per week. If I could go back to the 11am to 11pm shifts, I would be very happy. It would require more babysitting, but Lexy has said she's willing to help and I could probably enlist Peggy once a week or so . . . and it's only for about 3 hours during the overlap of Allen's and my shifts (about 10am-1pm). I kinda feel stuck right now, though, because of our agreement with the neighbors. Personally, I want to move again. Our apartment is okay, but it's not a GREAT deal, and we have tons of ants and spiders, no a/c, the world's smallest shower, the world's slowest dishwasher (it takes 3 hours to run, whether it's on the light cycle or heavy wash!), and I'm ready to have our own house. I'm sure we can't afford a mortgage right now, but it's frustrating to be paying someone else's mortgage and only getting frustration out of it.