Skip to main content

Waking UP

One of the hardest things to do as a stay-at-homer (for me at least) is get out of bed everyday.  It's not that I am depressed this is by no means the case, but it's getting up to someone else's needs everyday.  You know how, when you have a job outside of the home, you get up leave the house and go to work.  That's not so when you are a stay-at-homer.  I know!  It's craziness!  Seriously though...  So those who work at least have a variance in schedule.  The weekly grind and then the joy of the weekend.  It's not that they have nothing to do on the weekends (I'm sure working mother's play catch up on the weekends as do we all), but they have something different to do.  As a stay-at-homer, everyday is basically (not technically) the same.  You wake up have a short time to yourself and then it's breakfast, getting everyone dressed, brushing teeth, morning clean up, rushing to get somewhere on time, diffusing fights and tantrums, etc.  You get the picture?  Not that it's all negative you also get the hugs, kisses, sticky hands on your face, scribbly pictures made just for you, giggles, tickle wars...  And the best and the hardest of it is that no one compares to you.  No one can made the breakfast like mommy does, no one can kiss away the pain like mommy does, no one can wipe the snot and such like mommy does, no one can cuddle like mommy does, no one can sing or read like mommy does.  It's flattering and endearing and yet it's exhausting.  
So, back to the point, there are days when it is just simply hard to get up.  More than anything you just want to do your own thing for a day... or two.  Today, was one of those days.  I just wanted 5 more minutes to myself before getting up.  Unfortunately, I chose the wrong day.  My little one came into to wake me and I pulled her up into bed with me and tried to convince her to go back to sleep.  Wo is me.  Not 2 minutes later I was covered in vomit.  It was great.  Poor girl was sick and I hadn't noticed.  I should just realize sleep is over-rated anyway.  It was a rude awaking, but a needed one.  One thing a stay-at-homer (and any mom for that matter) has to be weary of is selfishness.  Parenting is the most selfless job in the world... Whether you want it to be or not. 

Comments

michelle said…
Great thoughts on the subject. I find myself kind of in the middle, a mom who works IN the home. I really look forward to the summers when I can spend quality time with my girls but then I realize that I have to entertain them the WHOLE day...it's seems a little easier when Kylie gets to play with "friends" during preschool 4 hours a day.
One thing I have learned is that I cannot work full time. Last year I taught 2 classes a day 5 days a week and I was MISERABLE! Grouchy, stressed, and tired all the time. This year I do 2 classes three days a week and things are A LOT better. I enjoy spending time teaching and being creative but I also like those days to have time with my girls. So I realize it is very important to be a stay at home mom and that each mom needs some variety, and time to themselves with hobbies and interests.

Popular posts from this blog

Being Dismissed from Services

I heard those dreaded words today. "I'm afraid that most likely your child doesn't qualify for services anymore." I paused afraid that if I responded too soon I'd yell or cry. I asked a few clarifying questions, blinking back tears of panic. I held my own for nearly the entire conversation. And then the therapist said, "You should be so proud, Mom. He's made so much progress." Then, I cried. The truth is he has made so much progress. The truth is I am very proud of him. Still, the truth is I hate hearing those words. Every time a specialist says to me that one of my children "no longer qualifies" for services, bile-like panic rises in my chest. "But he still has such anger issues," I said. And, "His impulsiveness gets in his way on a daily basis," I added. Doesn't she know? Can't she see the things I see? "I did tell you that he pulled a knife on his brother last week, didn't I?" Somehow she h...

Beautiful Disaster: His own brand of Awesome

Published on the Liahona Project, link here I took my oldest son back-to-school shopping the other day.  It was.... awesome.  sad.  exciting.  funny. inspiring.  surprising.  mama-heartbreaking. Big Brother was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome in 2009, when he was eight years old.  It was years of evaluations and developmental preschools and speech therapists.  Years of teachers bringing their concerns to me and me taking those concerns to doctors and, and, and...  years of misdiagnoses.  It was years of meltdowns and vomiting and aggression and wondering feet, running feet and hearing him say things like "I'm a bad son.  I'm going to let a car hit me," as those feet took him out the front door. And then that moment, that singular sentence, "Your son is on the spectrum," that changed everything, that changed nothing.  That bitter-sweet recognition that he was, in fact, atypical. And we've had years in between that the...

Diligence and Obedience Bring Safety and Peace

I've had a few people ask for copies of a talk that I recently gave in our ward's Sacrament meeting, so I am putting it here with the thought that maybe others will appreciate it too. Please find at the end a reference list for all sources I used in planning and preparing this talk. Diligence and Obedience Bring Safety and Peace Today we live in an unstable world. Due to this instability many are security obsessed. They buy the top-of-the-line locks and alarm systems for our homes and our vehicles. They buy expensive insurance policies, even for their pets. They invest their money in stocks and bonds to "keep it safe." We have large militaries and governments. We have nuclear weapons as deterrents. We band hand lotion and breast milk and nail clippers from airplanes. We even go so far as to invade others privacy in the name of security, so that we ourselves can be safe. That's not to say that any, or all, of these things are wrong or even unne...