Thursday, May 23, 2013

The life of a SAHM


With my recent change in employment, Connor is at home with me while Molly is at school.  For the first time in my career, my job title is "stay-at-home mom."   This is not one I have had before.   I have mixed feelings about it and it can change at any given minute.  It changes so often that I'll probably require some mood stabilizers soon. (Kidding. Sort of.)  One minute I am thrilled.  Connor and I are hanging out in the living room, playing with his latest "ball machine" from his grandparents.  He's dancing away and we are having a blast.  But then the next minute, I need to _____  (go to the bathroom, check my email, unload the dishwasher, get something to eat, return a call to the insurance company.  Insert any of those plus many more in the blank.)  But I can't.  I have a little one that needs my attention.   And I am only on Day 4.    By 3pm, it really feels like 6 pm and I am ready for a glass of wine. Note to self: don't start drinking at 3 pm.

Connor's not the kid that you could put down and he'll independently play.  Actually, he plays well independently but with all the wrong things.  Though he has a hundred toys, he loves wires, electrical outlets, tall pieces of unsecured furniture, and I caught him the other day underneath our buffet table in the dining room.  It's about 18" underneath, he was wedged under and completely stuck.  I thought I was going to have to call the fire department to extract him - it really was that bad.

So there's no chance of working at home with him at my feet.  Mostly because he doesn't stay at my feetand he just gets into everything he shouldn't.  Consequently I don't work when he's around.  I quickly learned that I can only work during naptime.  Naptime is now a mad dash to do everything I possibly can. What I used to be able to accomplish in 6 hours, now has to be crammed into 1.5 hours, 2 if I am lucky.

Here's what I have accomplished in the last 4 days as a Stay At Home Mom.

  • 6 loads of laundry (I have never been so on top of laundry!) 
  • Bleached my toilets & took a magic eraser to the walls of my kitchen - man, that thing works! 
  • Cleaned out the water table toy that has been outside for the last 2 years 
  • Made sugar cookies with Molly 
  • Worked on Connor's 4 month photo book 
  • Went to Target and bought sippy cups.  
  • Paid some bills.  Wait - that's on today's list of things to do and I am dreading that. 

Truthfully, I am not the stay-at-home Mom type. I actually like working. I derive a lot of self-worth from my career and I am highly motivated.  I get a lot of satisfaction and enjoy being a part of a business or seeing something succeed outside of my children.  

So I am busy figuring out what's next and exploring all my options.  No possibility is being discounted.  There are a lot of interesting opportunities out there and we will just have to see what's the best one and have faith that everything is just going to work out. 


In the meantime, I am going to work on keeping my mood stable and really, really enjoying this precious time with Connor (and Molly when she's home and not in camps this summer.)   When he's awake, I am all his and he is all mine.  We'll never get this time back and we won't have it forever.  And aren't we lucky? And during naps, I'll drink a lot of coffee and accomplish a lot.  While everything's a bit unsure and unknown, I am so blessed to have these kids and my husband.  (And my mom who is incredibly supportive.)  Because if you don't have family, you're missing a lot. 



6 comments:

  1. It is hard! But you can do it. :) That's why I stay up all night...it's so hard to work with kiddos around! It would be nice to get some sleep though. ;) Your kiddos are so cute!

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    1. For real Ginger, I know you don't sleep. There's no way you could with all that you do. I actually was thinking about you earlier in the week. I had great plans of non-work and lots of crafts and cool pin-worthy pics.... I did laundry. Thank you for the words :)

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  2. I understand your dilemma of cramming everything into naptime. I'm a SAHM of 2 under the age of 3. Best advice is to teach your kids to help you in your chores. It helps you keep your house picked up and teaches them the beginnings of chores (yes, I said chores, and I even mean it for kids that are near 18 months!) The hard stuff - the working at home, the meticulous items that need a lot of attention - they will always need to be done at naptime (it's a bummer, I know). But confining your child to the laundry room and have them "helping" you will be a blessing in the future - like when you're recovering from a c-section, need to do the laundry, and your 2 year old can empty the dryer for you! Good luck!

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    1. That's a great tip. Love the idea of chores - inspired to do a chore chart for molly with some rewards/stickers. Thanks Ashley! And wow - 2 under 3, good luck. Thanks for reading!

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  3. Welcome to our crazy stay at home mom world :) and yes my husband is still like, I don't get what you do? Haha... Some days are awesome and some days are hell... This is all I ever wanted to do so I'm thankful- the key to my exsistance is I have to have at least 1 play date a week- adult interaction is a must :)

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    1. Good tip Taylor!!! How do you do all that you do though?! You're amazing.

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