Throughout my pregnancy and for the first 5 months of my daughter’s life I was finishing my master’s degree and working part-time at the university. Looking back now, I have no idea how I did it. Once I finished graduate school I passed on a full time position in order to work from home and keep my daughter with me. I work as a grant writer for non-profits and am currently working for a particularly amazing organization with a great cause. I am fulfilled doing this work and love interacting with real people adults in the workforce (even if it is by phone and email). I also feel fulfilled teaching my baby how to clap her hands and drink from a straw. They both have their ups and downs but I swear I can’t choose one over the other. I’ve tried. I guess you could say I have it all, if all means no sleep and no showers and no Bravo TV.
I had grand ideas of having my own office and scheduling specific “working hours” so that I could get things done but then of course I woke up and smelled the baby vomit. The thing is, babies don’t let you have schedules (except for their own) so working hours were a joke and my office actually turned out to be my lap, Starbucks if I was lucky.
I was a baby worker by day and a work worker by night and a never-sleeper. I am technically a work at home mom but I have yet to figure out how to work and mom simultaneously. I could use some help here seasoned moms so by all means PLEASE impart your wisdom. How do you set aside time for work? How do you focus on your work when there are children running circles around you or in my case a baby crawling at my feet? Am I crazy for not having some sort of partial childcare set up so I can get work done?
I don’t know how long this WAHM thing will be sustainable but for now I am just joining the forces of all mothers everywhere and trying to keep it together day by day. I honestly never knew how stressful being a mom would be. (Cue eye roll from all veteran moms). I mean you hear it from your own mother and you hear it from TV mothers but you just have no idea until it happens to you.
Bryn Huntpalmer is a contract grant writer, aspiring author, and mother to a 9 month old baby girl. She and her husband recently sold most of their belongings to travel the U.S. in an RV while working from the road. When she isn’t busy with work or chasing her newly crawling baby around their rig, she blogs at Away at Home Mom or tweets as @awayathomemom
Thank you for admitting that you haven’t figured out how to “work and mom” at the same time. I work outside the home, but that exact problem is why most of my chores are done after the kids’ bedtimes. Good luck finding your balance. Hug that little one lots.
Observacious recently posted..Mr. Rogers Rebuts Romney’s Proposed PBS Funding Cuts (43 Years Ago)
Twitter: observacious
My friend is a WAHM and it impresses me the amount of work she can get done during “business hours” with two kids. Her kids sleep until 8 am or so, so she spends the morning getting ready, cleaning up, starting laundry, etc. After breakfast, the kids play on their own or together in the living room, just outside her office. If they are having difficulty settling down, they are allowed an episode of Elmo or Sesame St. She gets most of her work done during nap time and the afternoon is more of a free for all. She takes the kids one day a week to family, and she schedules meetings for that day or spends the day working. And then there are the hours spent in the evening as needed… I am sure being efficient with her time has helped, as she has been doing this foe four years now. Good luck finding what works for you!
I WAH, as does my husband.
My daughter goes to a three day a week 9-1 preschool at 2 years old (started at 1). We also have a mothers helper who comes over during holidays and summer. They play downstairs while we work upstairs. An added bonus is that she is homeschooled and only 12 so she’s flexible and cheap.
Of course, we still had her over enough this summer that she paid for a new DS and cheer camp. I shudder to think what a nanny would have cost!
Having at least some childcare definitely helps — especially as they start to drop naps. Even just a few hours a week can be a God-send. But you must use those hours for work — not for grocery shopping or errands!
I can totally relate to everything that you mention. Working from home is a whole different beast and while it’s amazing — it’s also draining and exhausting and hard in ways that it isn’t difficult for traditional working parents.
Jamie recently posted..School Picture Day: Growing Up