Here is what I have learned:
In my life, being a stay-at-home mom is much harder than being a work-away-from-home mom. I also have a brand-new appreciation for mom's who work from home. This used to seem perfect to me and now it seems like a crazy impossibility that I can't fathom how people manage!
Here's a small breakdown. On days that I work I:
Wake up at 6:15, make breakfasts, get my girls up, check my email, write a blog (exactly where and when I am now), get everyone dressed, do hair, make beds, fill water bottles and get out the door.
Then I drop the kids off, come home I clean up breakfast stuff and sweep the house, unload/reload the dishwasher, prep dinner, put a load of laundry in, prep jammies and clothes for the next day, shower quickly and walk to work.
Get to work and spend five hours relaxing. I mean, everything I do there is very easy. Everyone I work with or around is very pleasant, everything is pretty much fun.
Leave work, walk to pick the girls up, get home, immediately do homework, immediately start dinner, cook, prep snack and Jay's food/girls lunches for the following day, try to keep an eye on my children, eat dinner, flip laundry, do dishes, clean kitchen (Jay is doing bath while I do this), sit down for the first time since I had coffee in the morning!!!!! (usually more than 12 hours later), read stories, put girls to bed, hang out with Jay or just go to sleep.
Yesterday I had the most exhausting day. I woke up at 6:30, made breakfast, stripped the beds, got all of the sheets in the washer, cleaned the bathrooms and swept the whole house. Went around floor boards of the house with the skinny vacuum to suck up any thing gross that might be sitting there waiting to hatch or suck our blood in the night the dust. I got a pot roast started with veggies. I got the girls dressed and made an early lunch. We headed out to the grocery for baking ingredients, picked J up at 3rd and Lombard, headed home to make 60 peanut butter cups and 3 dozen chocolate dipped, orange macaroons for ICS 365. The girls were struggling and board yesterday. I really wanted to do something fun on my day off with them, but unfortunately, there wasn't time to go anywhere so I trusted them to play independently and nicely. I was asking for too much. For whatever reason, everyone was very grouchy all day. I prepped clothes for the next day, got pretzel money ready, did bath, got pj's out, J had prepped mashed potatoes, so I mashed them and made gravy. We had dinner, I cleaned up, Jay to J home and I read stories and got the girls to sleep.
Yesterday was far more exhausting than a typical day at work. Maybe this is because I had company on top of my normal activities and the girls weren't feeling agreeable.
What I'm wondering is how it's possible to be a work-from-home mom? How do people do it. Both my friend LB and LS do this. And LB does it on her own (lots of the time) and with a toddler. How?
all that housework doesn't happen here. i mean, elliott does it. he does everything except cook. i "do" that, which means we eat out a lot. it was much harder in our old house, where i didn't have a separate office to run and hide away. i don't have to do the day to day, and try to work on top of it. i just work, then come downstairs and do afternoon and evening stuff. it's good for us. if my husband ever went back to an office job though, while my kids weren't in school? i think it might fall apart, or my mom would have to retire and become our full time "grandma". haha!
ReplyDeletehahaha....
ReplyDeleteI think that you're a super hero.
I don't know that I would be able to draw the work/home line necessary to make it work.
My friend Lorien also works from home. Her husband is a musician and he travels a lot. She has a two year old. She also... is a superhero. Seriously, I'm in awe.
i like lorien and her fam, they seem so grounded.
ReplyDeleteso, to clarify, because i re-read and i want to make sure...you found it more difficult to be a SAHM than Working at the Earth store Mom? I guess it makes sense because you are totally away when at work and that becomes your priority.
a few times i have babysat while the parents have been home. at first i thought this was weird or to like test me but now i totally get it, it gives mom or dad time to get stuff done with their child occupied and needs met =)
i looooove kids but at the end of the day i am glad none of them come home with me. at this point.