I’m writing this at 6:30am.
Archer has just gone down for his first morning nap. Or decided to
extend his already rocky nights sleep. I’m not sure. What I DO know is that I’m
on my second cup of coffee, I just heard Axel whining in his room and I’m crossing
fingers and toes that I can write out my first blog post in MONTHS. Because,
yeah… I’m a SAHM now. I thought I’d have oodles of time to blog.
*crickets chirping*
So, in typical list-style, here are ten things that I wish I
REALLY understood before taking on this whole stay-at-home mom gig.
- You won’t have any extra time to do anything. It warrants repeating: YOU WILL NOT HAVE ANY EXTRA TIME! What in the world was I thinking?!?! My naïve, pregnant self said several months ago, “Being at home will give me a great opportunity to sew, make things for Etsy and start using my long-arm quilter! I can knit, and grow a garden, cure cancer and end world hunger!” Trust me, none of those things are happening. These days taking a shower is considered an extra – it doesn’t always happen!
- Your house won’t be clean. I try. Oh dear, do I try. I’m constantly hunched over, picking things off the floor. My dishwasher and washing machine run daily. But there just seems to be a layer of clutter on every flat surface of the house. Factor in three cats and a dog and you’ve got a recipe for disaster. And with an infant desperately trying to crawl, well, ick.
- The baby will always choose a dog toy to teeth on instead of the million brightly colored baby toys purchased for just that. Archer was happily chewing on Lucy’s nasty, crusty, flat, 4-year old stuffed squirrel last night. I didn’t even care. Here kid, want one with a squeaker?
- Breast-feeding is hard. There will be another post on that, because seriously. H-A-R-D
- You will lose track of days. I find myself saying a lot, “Wait, what day is it?” Especially now that it is summer vacation for AJ.
- Your job doesn’t end. Ever. Evvvvveeerrrrrrrrr… I am on 24-7. There is rarely a time that someone doesn’t need something from me. It’s exhausting. Which leads me to:
- You will lose your shit. Seriously. Maybe once a day. Maybe twice. It’s a lot of pressure to keep 2 little ones alive on the daily. Reading books, wiping butts, trying to feed them healthy foods, etc. Doesn't seem like a big deal, but it is. Oh, it is.
- You husband is helping, even if it doesn’t seem like it. Poor Hubs, he tries his best but there are some times where I feel like he’s not nearly as invested as I am. And maybe he’s not. He’s got the whole “…put the bacon on the table…” job. That’s a lot to think about.
- You will miss feeling useful. I mean, I guess I feel useful at home, but for me, working outside of the home gave me a sense of purpose that I didn’t know I had until I didn’t have it anymore. I’d like to think that I helped people in the almost 20 years I was employed at the College. When I gave that up to stay at home with my kids, I did it happily. But I still miss it.
- You will feel like you will never sleep again. My sleep is so broken and sporadic that I feel like I can’t wait for the day I can shove a frozen waffle and the TV remote at the kids and go back to sleep for a couple hours. I know that this is a small, teeny-tiny slice of time in my SAHM life, but man, I miss sleeping uninterrupted.
My new role in this family has changed. It’s not an easy
job; it’s often exhausting, dirty, thankless and frustrating. But I’m still so
happy that I chose it.
 |
| July 4, 2014 |
