A Day in the Life of a Stay at Home, Working Mom
•Posted on February 05 2019
An Average Day in the Life of a Stay at Home, Working Mom (for me)
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6am: Sneak downstairs, past the sleepy two years old’s room holding my breath and on my tippy toes praying he stays asleep. If I’m successful, I crank out an hour of work after making my cup of coffee
6:15am: “Mommmmma, is that you?" …crap.
7:00am: Turn down any requests for jelly beans or cookies for breakfast.
7:15am: Play “monsters”-aka chase him around the house.
7:30am: Distract him by playing ANYTHING but monsters.
8:00am: Sip my room temperature cup of coffee and let the little man “watch a little show” as he would say. Grab my computer or iPad and get to work.
9:00am: Feel guilty that my son is probably still glued to the TV while I wish I would have just asked the babysitter to come today.
9:30am: Run around the house to try to get some steps in…Max also loves this time-it’s kind of like a mild form of “monsters”.
9:45am: Remember how truly blessed I am to do what I love with who I love.
10:00am: Bribe Max with ALL THE THINGS if he would just go potty on the potty. If we actually gave him all the things we are claiming we will, we will be bankrupt. Instead, I’ll spend the good part of the 10 o’clock hour convincing him to sit still so I can change his diaper.
11:00am: Make lunch, of which, he will eat two bites…if I’m lucky. Turn the TV Off.
11:00am: Listen to screaming and crying because of my last action.
11:30am: Play play-doh and cringe at the sight of him mixing colors and dropping little pieces all over the floor.
Noon: We made it. NAP TIME. A stay at home mom’s favorite time of the day. I’m kidding, I think. But it really is a great part of the day. I will cry the day Max stops napping entirely…and that day is drawing near, folks. Take Max to his room where he will demand he sleeps on the floor instead of his awesome tree fort bed, makes sense. Turn on the sound machine, JUST RIGHT-not too loud or too soft or he’ll tell you about it. Read a book and hold firm in not reading it “one more time” five more times. And say prayers in which he prayers for one person, his uncle, whom apparently is in need of LOTS of prayers with a very long, drawn out ending of “Ahhhhhhhhhhhmen”.
12:15pm: Head downstairs, don’t move or breath or make any noise and say a prayer he will actually go to sleep so I can get more work done or clean up or actually shower or change out of my pajamas for Pete’s sake (that’s right, neither of those things happen daily).
12:30-3pm: Cross as much off my to do list as possible while listening to my favorite podcasts.
3:00pm: REPEAT 9-11am and count down the minutes until Daddy gets home and he can get in for a round of “monsters”
4:45pm: Start dinner on a good day (homemade dinner DOES NOT happen every night in this house-nope!) and ask Max to help, which typically involves having him do laps to and from the garbage. Listen to Max yell at our google home to play “Dragons” (Imagine Dragons) or “Who Let the Dogs Out”…he’s got good taste! ;)
5:00pm: Daddy’s home. Oh Happy Day!
5:30pm: Bon Appetit or try to eat while Max is on our laps eating our dinner because it’s so much better than the same thing on his plate! :)
6:00pm-8:00pm: Work and continue to understand why the indoor play places near our house close at 3pm.
7:45pm: Look at my family in awe the I am so blessed and lucky to call them “mine”.
8:00pm: Repeat the Naptime Routine and cross your fingers.
9:00pm: Work while watching trashy TV and beating my husband at Sequence for the third night in a row.
10pm: Thank God for blessing me with another day.
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I’m not super Mom. I’m not super Wife. My son watches more TV than I want him to, and eats deli ham, cheese and crackers for lunch multiple times a week. I feel guilty daily that I can’t play monsters for three hours of the day each day and that he doesn’t know how to dress himself or use the potty yet. The house is never as clean as I want it and if you must know a secret, I actually have a cleaning lady that comes to help me out on occasion. Never thought I’d admit that or hire one, but it has been 110% worth it. I feel bad the nights I’m glued to my phone getting a sale ready or responding to emails or messages. It would be easier if I had 7 straight hours to work during the day. Balance is SO SO hard to find as a stay at home, working Mom-but honestly, it’s hard to find for anyone at any stage in our life. And we are hard on ourselves when we aren’t perfect in every role we play in life. But you know that saying “progress over perfection?” It fits here too.
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I’ve been trying to prepare my day the night before, which most days is so helpful but if you have a two year old, you know they can be very unpredictable so sometimes planning ahead only gets you so far and you have to be able to roll with the punches. I have hired sitters to come and play with Max two times a week, because let’s face the TV just isn’t the best option for us. I meal plan for the week on Sunday. I try to wake up before Max so that I can get a jumpstart on the day and be ready for him when he wakes-to give him all my attention for that first hour or two of the day. I pray daily and I go to church on Sunday to remind myself of all the blessings in my life and to humble myself in remembering it’s not about ME! Progress…not perfection. In the end, you know what matters most to me? It’s not the number of veggies on his plate or if he watches Daniel Tiger all morning, it’s that he’s loved. He’s loved while I send emails, he’s loved when I sneak away from work to kiss attack him, he’s loved even when he’s throwing all that play doh on the floor or screaming because he can’t have jelly beans for breakfast. Being a stay at home, working mom is chaotic. It’s frustrating. Exhausting. But it’s also entertaining. Rewarding. A TRUE BLESSING.
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Here's to remembering what's most important and always making progress but knowing it will never be perfection and it's not supposed to be.
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Comments
2 Comments
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Posted by Kimberly | May 06, 2023
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Posted by Patti Murin | September 14, 2020
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