Walking in Mom's Shoes

Before having children, I taught fourth and fifth grade in Fort Worth ISD. When I was pregnant with Nolan, we made the decision to change our lifestyle and make some sacrifices so that I could stay home to raise our baby.

Now, I'm a stay-at-home mom of our two-year old son and our four-month old daughter. In an effort to help supplement our income, I am currently working from home, too. We have a friend that is a court reporter, and she hired me to be her scopist. I haven't really averaged the number of hours I work a week (only because it's so chopped up throughout the day that it's hard to actually add up an hour), but I typically work in the morning, during naptime, and after the kids have gone to bed.

I've often been asked, "How do you do it?" To tell you the truth, I just survive from day to day. Here's a glimps of a typical day:

My day usually begins anywhere between 7:00 and 8:00 when Ella is stirring for her morning feeding. I pry myself out of bed, thank God for another day, and decide that today will be a good day.

After Ella has finished her breakfast, which is usually a 30-minute ordeal at each feeding since I'm supplementing while nursing, I get my game plan together. If I've got scoping work to do, I'll try to get about 20 minutes in after Ella is happily playing on her activity mat or sitting in her Bumbo chair before Nolan wakes up. (Mind you, this is rarely 20 solid minutes of working. Somewhere in that 20 minutes, there's a dirty diaper, spit up, or fussiness that needs to be tended to.)

Nolan typically gets up between 8:30 and 9:00. I know, I'm blessed that he will sleep that long, sometimes longer if I'm really lucky! While Nolan's eating breakfast, I'll try to quickly grab something to eat and then begin unloading and re-loading the dishwasher while he's finishing up his breakfast. At about this time, Ella has reached her limit, is screaming and ready for a nap.

Once she's happy in bed, it's time for Nolan to get changed and dressed for the day. I'll try to throw a load of laundry in the washer if I remember. and at this point, if I really have to get some scoping work to get done, I let Nolan watch his beloved Sesame Street episode, which was thankfully previously recorded on our DVR since it airs at 8:00 am.

Although, I really try to reserve this time of our day for mommy and Nolan time. We typically read books, play with cars, work on our letters and numbers, play with Legos, you name it, until Ella's up and ready to eat again, which is typically around 10:30 ish.

At about 10:30, half of my morning is gone, I've gotten little to no work done, Ella's ready for her 30-minute feeding again, and I've forgotten to throw the load of laundry into the dryer. After her feeding and another diaper change, I try to squeeze some work time in if Nolan's happy and content playing in his room.

Man, the whole morning is gone now, and it's time to get lunch together. Luckily, Craig comes home for lunch every day, and he's able to help me out a bit. After we've eaten, it's usually between 12:30 and 1:00, and Ella's ready for her lunch. After she's finished eating, yea, it's naptime for Nolan!

Once Nolan is changed and in bed, I've got a few minutes to play with Ella before her afternoon nap. Oh, crap, the laundry; I forgot to change it again!

Once both of my sweet babies are resting, that's when I've got the biggest chunk of work time. I try to get as much done as I possibly can before one of them stirs or before 3:30, whichever comes first. At about 3:30, I have to start planning for dinner. (I know, that seems early, but if I don't get a head start before they're both up, it makes dinner-making so much more difficult!)

On a good day, I've got a good majority of our dinner ready to go before Ella wakes up. Then it's feeding and a diaper change again. Normally, Nolan's up about this time, too, and he's ready for a snack. Unfortunately, he's been waking up awfully grumpy lately from his nap, and I'm not sure why. That adds a whole new dimension to the day, trying to get him to wake up happy and willing to cooperate for the rest of the afternoon until Daddy gets home, which isn't until after 6:00.

In the afternoon, normally we'll go outside and play for a bit if it's nice or we'll play with play-doh or color for awhile. On days when I'm ambitious and have enough energy, we'll paint outside or bake some cookies.

It's now 5:00 or so, and at this point, Ella has gone from a three-hour feeding routine to a two-hour feeding routine, so it's time to feed again! Nolan's normally more demanding of my time later in the afternoon, so it makes this particular feeding quite challenging! I try to encourage him to bring books to me and we sit together on the couch and read while Ella's eating.

After her early evening feeding, it's time to get dinner out of the oven, a salad made, Nolan's dinner cooling, etc. Yea, it's 6:15, and Daddy's home! By this time in the day, I'm just as excited to see Craig walk in the door as Nolan! Craig will quickly change out of work clothes, and we all sit down to eat.

By the time dinner has been cleaned up, the kitchen picked up, we may have time to go for a family walk, and then it's bathtime, which means bedtime is right around the corner! Craig gets Nolan bathed and ready for bed while I get Ella ready. Then she's ready for her bedtime feeding between 7:30 and 8:00 and then she's down for bed. Nolan is soon to follow between 8:00 and 8:30.

Ahhh, some time to relax for a bit with Hubby and watch some of our favorite shows. We're usually trying to catch up on folding the laundry that I finally remembered to throw in the dryer while we're watching some TV. (I'm grateful to have a husband that's willing to help me out with chores around the house!)

Depending on my workload, I take advantage of the late night time when babies are asleep to get some more work done. My day ends about 11:30 or so after I've showered and crawl in bed. I get a good three- to four-hour "nap" in before Ella wakes up for a middle of the night feeding, typically between 3:00 and 4:30. Luckily, she easily goes back to sleep, which means I can get some more sleep before we start it all over again between 7:00 and 8:00.

I often feel as though I've got three jobs: Mommy/Wife, Housekeeper/Chef, and Scopist. Sometimes some things have to give a bit, and Mommy/Wife is not one of them. Most of the time, my house is not as clean and organized as I'd like, but I quickly remind myself that it'll be there tomorrow if I don't get it done today.

I love my job, or should I say jobs, but it's very hard work! It's very much a balancing act to get everything done throughout my day, not to mention playdates with other kids for Nolan's sake (mine, too, for sanity sake), grocery shopping, errands to run, doctor appointments, etc. The days when I have to leave the house are much more demanding and tiresome!

Please don't mistake this post as a gripe session. I've never really given it much thought as to "how I do it." I just do it. I'm thankful that we're in a position that we can make it work so that I can be home to raise our babies. God has called me to take on this challenging task, and I'm honored to do it. There's really no better job (or jobs) than what I'm doing now!