Stay-At-Home-Motherhood: A Noble Profession
My day usually begins around 7:00 am, when my husband leaves for work. I'll usually have at least an hour, sometimes two, of quiet time before my son awakens, so I do some quiet chores. Once my son wakes up, by 9:00 am, my day is all about him. I enter his room and find the first "fringe benefit" of the job, which I lovingly refer to as "Smiley Pumpkin." My little angel is elated to see me! We have breakfast after he's changed, then we play on the floor in the living room. If I'm lucky, I'll have a few minutes to do other things while my son quietly entertains himself; if not, I drop what I'm doing to attend to him. Sometimes, if there is something pressing that needs to be done immediately, we'll do it together; my son at my side in the baby sling. He'll usually take a morning nap for about an hour, during which I try to respond to emails, keep track of online sites for which I'm responsible, take care of our budding home businesses, do some quiet chores around the house, and eat my lunch. Usually I don't get all of those things accomplished during my son's short nap! After napping, it's lunch, then more of our morning activities.
Later in the afternoon, it's time for another nap, which usually lasts about an hour and a half. During that naptime, I continue what I'd started during the morning nap. Sometimes I am able to get dinner started while he's sleeping; more often, dinner preparation waits until my husband returns home from work, because I don't feel safe while cooking with my son on my side or back. During the evening I am able to accomplish more of what I tried to do earlier that day. Many household chores are finished during this time; if I'm lucky, I'll also have time to take care of our businesses and of my online responsibilities; if not, those tasks wait until after 10 or 11 pm, when my son is tucked safely in bed. My day usually ends at 11:30 or midnight, though sometimes, like tonight, I become engrossed in what I'm doing, or have a deadline to meet, and I'm up much later than usual.
Whew! I guess it's no wonder I'm exhausted! Still, I don't complain about it, because I chose to be a stay at home
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