I'm a mother (by choice, by chance, by the seat of my pants) of three great kids (3 yr girl- Early Bird, 6 yr girl- Mealyworm, &; 8 yr boy- Bug), I'm a wife (slave/queen, depends on the day) to T-Dad, and I'm also a... weight watcher (kind of), librarian (by credentials), reader/multi-tasker (unabridged audio recordings and chores, a delightful duo), camper (not often enough), relaxer (regularly and often), napper (as much as possible, never enough)...
Snapshots of Lemonades
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Wednesday, April 08, 2009
A Revelation
Ooooohhh, I get it now. Being a stay at home mother means you have to do EVERYTHING. Cook, clean, plan activities, take kids to doctor appts, grocery shop, get things fixed, etc. At least when I worked, my husband chipped in a little. But now that I have all this time at home...I have to do everything. Well, at least now I know.
The hardest part, I feel, about doing the mom thing and trying to figure out how you are actually still a person separate from your kids is the whole I do everything... and no one notices. No one sees how hard I work... and the craziness that comes from doing the same thing every day or every week. Or the same conversations... the repetition. It makes me resent MacTroll a lot, as he dumps his shit and runs off somewhere, or doesn't do what he says he's going to do as fast as I want it done.
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty sure that's why women started working outside the home in the first place.
ReplyDeleteI am so lucky JB goes to preschool 3 days per week from 9-12 or I wouldn't get shit done and I'd be 10x more crazy.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, 9 hours/week really isn't a whole lot to get stuff done and it leaves zero "me" time especially now that WW isn't going anywhere. There are things I wish I could still do, but now with 2 small children those will have to put on the back burner until they get older. Hopefully, this whole "stay-at-home" thing will pay off and my kids will be wonderful, well-adjusted, productive citizens. I guess that is all I can ask for. =)
Yeah, I sort of figured that out the hard way too. Except, when I became a SAHM, I was in early pregnancy and couldn't do anything but lay on the couch because I was so exhausted all the time. That set the precedence for not actually cleaning the house LOL
ReplyDeleteOf course, now I have one in school full time and the other in preschool a couple of days a week. Those days, which I should be using to clean without "helpers" under foot, I'm going to the gym for "me" time. Next year, with 3 days in preschool, I'll take 2 days at the gym and one day at home cleaning. Hopefully, I'll be able to keep the crap under control with 2 hours a week dedicated to it.
It's the never having a day off that truly sucks. I only work part time outside the home now, but I think I mainly do it so that I can have a day off!
ReplyDeleteI agree with Lisa, this is why women fought for the "right" to work. Because we would at least get a little break. We also aren't meant to be home by ourselves. We should have other women with us so we are all doing laundry in a stream and chatting or gathering nuts and berries or whathaveyou while the kids play together and we get adult time and help.
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