The Life of a Stay at Home Mom

When I had my daughter in 2004, I worked for a beer distributor, I had been there a long time and I enjoyed my job. After I gave birth, I took 3 months off to care for our new baby girl. We had saved up money during my pregnancy and while I was out I received "short term" disability.  I was excited to get back to work, I never thought about staying home longer than 3 months. I seriously thought I would go crazy being a stay at home mom.  So I went back to work and she went to the best daycare.

Fast forward 5 and 1/2 years, I had our son. I no longer worked at the beer distributor, I worked in a Medical Office which I really didn't like. Chris and I went over all of our expenses and made the decision that I could in fact stay home with our new son.  I was super excited, I thought this going to be great!

You know when you first have a baby, its so draining. You sleep when the baby sleeps. I never had a problem doing that.
But, what I didn't expect is that I had all these great expectations of what my life would be like being a SAHM.
Well, let me tell you, unless you have a lot of money there isn't much fun to be had staying at home doing laundry and cleaning up after everyone else.

Living on one income is very difficult!!  As I mentioned before my car broke down and we couldn't afford to get it fixed or even buy a new one. So here I am, at home with no car!

One of my close "girlfriends" Shirley (and if Chris is reading this, no we have not had any sexual encounters)
Shirley works full time and so does her husband. They have 4 kids, a 2 year old that is both her and her husbands. And her husband has 3 children from a previous marriage. All the children expect one of his kids live with them.
Shirley made mention  last week, she wanted to quit her job and be a SAHM!  So I asked her tell me what you think your average day would look like if you did get to stay home with your son?
She proceeded to tell me, well I will get the older kids up and off to school. I will wake up my toddler and make him breakfast, get him and myself showered and dressed. I would clean up the house a bit and do some laundry. Then I will go work out in the garage, maybe go to town and run a few errands or come visit me out in BFE!  Back home to put the toddler down for a nap. Plan dinner and then finish the evening as normal.

I said to her, let me tell you what your average day will actually be: You will get up early to get the older kids off to school, if your toddler is still sleeping you will go back to bed with him. When you guys wake up you will get him some breakfast. While he's eating you will sit in front of the t.v and watch The Kelly Show, or some other mind numbing program.  You will think about working out, but then decide nah.. maybe tomorrow.
While all this is going on you and your son will still be in your p.j's. You will probably get some housework done while on the phone with your friends.  If you have any errands to run you will most likely move them to the next day, because you just don't want to get dressed. When nap time comes for your son, you will be so exhausted from doing nothing that you will lay down with him. When you wake up you will think about what your going to do for dinner, maybe take a shower, put on a new pair of p.j's and finish the evening as usual.
You will realize you didn't get as much done that day like you wanted too. So about 4:00 you will run around like a crazy person, getting everything done before your husband gets home.

Since I've become a stay at home mom I've become an expert at a few things  I could definitely win the
 "The Price is Right", How to dance like Ellen Degeneres. I could write a book about all the health &  beauty secrets Dr. Oz gives. Cook like Rachel Ray (not that I have any desire to)  Last but not least, how to get a nap into my day before my daughter gets off the bus.

I know I joke about how boring my life is, but I truly love being home with my son, I get to watch him learn and grow. I didn't get to see that everyday with my daughter, mostly everything she learned was because of daycare. They even potty trained her. Now, I have to do it with my son.. and I'm not doing too well.  But we are trying and having lots of fun learning together.