FINDING BALANCE AS A WORKING MOM

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At one time or another, as a mother, I’m sure we’ve all said it to ourselves…How does she do it?!  The working mom thinks this about the SAHM and the SAHM thinks this about the working mom. We all want to know how they seem to stay together, the house clean, the laundry done, cooking, paying the bills, raising the kids to not be animals….I too would love to know how a SAHM is with her children 24/7 and completes any task at all without losing her damn mind. Now don’t get me wrong. I love my kids. They’re adorable little people who love their mama, but man do they know which buttons to push and which leg to grab on to when I need it most. There’s no possible way for me to do it all. Not even close. Not even a little bit. And I can assure you that no mom truly can.

A Day in the Life of a Working Mom

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5:30am: 1st alarm rings and I hit snooze

5:38am: 2nd alarm rings (snooze again)

5:46am: you get the picture….

6am(ish): turn alarm off and check my phone #priorities I catch up on activity that’s happened on social media since I’ve gone to bed.

6:15-6:24: Fly out of bed to hop in the shower

6:30: after a not-long-enough shower I make the coffee and pack up my breakfast/lunch

6:45: throw on my daily makeup, fluff up my unwashed hair and maybe sprinkle in a few extra curls

7:00am: Here’s where it gets interesting…my oldest may or may not have wandered into the bathroom as I was getting ready declaring “It’s a sunny day!” when in fact its still a little dark. I can try to persuade her with cartoons in bed while daddy sleeps or end up heading back to the kitchen as she demands breakfast- french toast to be exact.

7:10-7:15am: Ideally I’m heading out the door. Sometimes I’m tiptoeing so my daughter doesn’t wake up or I’m running because she’s screaming “who’s going to make me breakfast?!”. I drive, sometimes in complete silence, the hour-ish drive to work.

8:15-8:30am: Arrive at work and start catching up on emails/more social media since I’ve most likely posted a new blog post or photo on Instagram. This is when I’ll eat my breakfast and start chugging water. I have a daily water intake I like to hit and if I don’t start early I’m doomed.

11:00am: I’m starving but try to persuade myself to hold off.

11:30am: I can’t wait any longer. I’ll find something to snack on or eat my lunch.

12:00pm: Another sketchy time in my day. I can do one of three things. 1) nap in my car 2) be good and go to the gym 3) run errands so that I don’t have to do it with 2 toddlers in tow on the weekend (See more Time Saving Tips here.)

1:00pm: back to work/catch up on more email responses, balance sheet recons, commission billing…etc. The fun stuff.

2:00pm: I’m crashing. Must.Have.Coffee or Iced Green tea recently

4:45-5pm: Pack up and go home! Woohoo!

6pm: Arrive home to either 2 very cranky, hungry toddlers or 2 super loving children.

6:05pm: Walk directly across the street to my parents house for dinner. Yes. I told you I don’t do it all. Not even close. Every night we go over and eat with my parents because the thought of preparing dinner with whining children gives me severe anxiety that would leave me to hiding in a closet with a bottle of wine.

6:45pm: Play time with the kids until either we have to head home at 7 for baths or 7:30 to get jammies on.

7:45pm: We all pile on the couch with our pjs on and watch the end of a show.

8pm: My little one and I sit in his room and rock/cuddle for 10-15 min.

8:15pm: Cuddles with the oldest for one more show or books. She’ll also con me into getting her a snack.

8:56pm: (That’s when the show ends) the last bedtime

9:00pm: Husband gets home and we chat for a bit before he usually heads out to the garage aka man cave to play video games. I rejoice in my solitude and decide what I want to do next. Clean off the counters, blog/catch up on more social media/emails, or go to bed. NO matter what happens I’ll lay in bed on my phone until almost 12am wishing I had just put the phone down and gone to sleep hours before.

RELATED: Time Saving Tips for Working Moms

That is every day. My every day life. You’re probably wondering why I didn’t vacuum or start some laundry or do something else more productive. Well for one we’ve been extremely blessed with a wonderful babysitter that comes to our home every day. She helps out in so many ways without even being asked. We typically have clean piles of neatly folded laundry on our bed when we get home from work. The dishes from the day are either in the dishwasher or washed and put away. There’s no mess from dinner because that was at my parent’s house (I do do the dishes there after dinner). Weekends I will try to clean something, but in all honesty it’s my time to spend with the kids. I don’t want to clean. At night when we’re sitting on the couch, it’s usually with my mom. She comes over with us and helps with bathtime and bedtime. This is the reason we moved 1,000 miles from our home. Because I can’t do it all and I know it.

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I am in awe and envy of SAHM and single moms. They seem like SuperWoman to me. But I know they probably look at a working mom’s life and think the same thing. We’re all just doing what we can to make the most of our given situations. We love our families hard and do just enough to get us to tomorrow.