The ups and downs of being a stay at home mom

Things you can’t do when you’re a stay at home mom

• Have “me” time. Jack has been waking up so early that even if I wanted to wake up before him to have my “me” time, I couldn’t. And when he naps – if he naps – it’s usually just for an hour, and that is NOT long enough. So during that hour, should I enjoy the peace and quiet? Should I work? Should I clean? Should I blog? By the time I decide what to do; he is up and screaming away!
• Shower. If I want it to be a good day and feel at least presentable if someone were to come to the door, I must shower. I used to be able to throw Jack in the bouncer or the jump-n-go and enjoy my 10 min showers. Sometimes I’d even be able to take a nice relaxing bath. Those days, my friends, are over. Last week while I was in the shower, Jack managed to shatter my favorite perfume. He also managed to smear an entire tub of Vaseline all over himself and the bathroom floor. So this morning when I was about to hop in the shower, I put all of the lotions and perfumes out of reach and jumped in the shower. It seems I forgot to put away one item – the toilet paper. After Jack managed to unravel the entire roll, he proceeded to try and get in the shower with me (we don’t have a door, just a curtain). So now the dry toilet paper all over the floor is wet and mushy. Lovely. What a great way to start out the day!
• Have a clean kitchen floor. And by clean I mean actually able to see the hardwood floors and not be sticky.
• Enjoy the meals you slave over. Since I’ve become a stay at home mom, I’ve really tried to be a better cook. I’ve become pretty good at feeding Jack some snacks while making meals. However, once it’s time to actually eat the meals – I am so fixated on getting Jack more food (because he inhales it), and this usually requires me to be chopping up food. Then, once I’m done chopping and can take a few bites of my own, Jack starts throwing his food on the floor and feeding Bailey. Awesome. Oh and my biggest pet peeve of meal time is when Jack throws his sippy cup on the floor (20 times).
• Talk on the phone. Jack will be in the best mood ever and be playing all by himself…until the phone rings. “da da da da” is what Jack says every time my phone rings. And from the second I say hello, the whining begins.

If you can’t tell by this blog – this has been quite a challenging week for me. But when it comes down to it, I wouldn’t trade my job for the world. No one can love my baby more than me. Maybe his daycare provider wouldn’t scream back at him like I did this morning when I was so frustrated – but I know they wouldn’t be able to hug him like I do, or kiss him like I do, or tickle him in just the right spot to get that uncontrollable giggle.

So, what helps me get through the really hard days?

• Having a husband who understands what I do is not easy, and who loves me and Jack unconditionally. Just to see Jack’s face light up every time Tom walks in the house makes me so happy. Tom understands that I need to get out of the house every once in a while on my own, or just sit in peace at our house alone – and he loves his time with just Jack. I also love our nights when it’s just us and we can pretend even just for a few hours that we don’t have that responsibility of a child and not have a care in the world.
• Having other stay at home mom friends who can get together with screaming kids who all have runny noses and love every minute of it because you are actually having adult interaction. You can call these moms at anytime in the day to tell them today is the day you might actually kill your child, and they still won’t call social services on you because they’ve been there too.
• Having family close by, and by close I mean less than 3 miles away.
• Having amazing friends that will take you out on a Friday night and get you so drunk that you don’t even remember how awful the past week really was, ha ha.
• Looking back at baby pictures from Jack and realizing that the time goes by way too fast and it’s not always going to be like this (for good or for bad) and to cherish it as much as possible