Toddler Times
My Favorite Part About Being A Working Mom
Being a momma is tough.
Being an outside-the-house working momma has been especially tough for me over the past year, torn between office and home. When I was home for the weekends, it felt like GO-GO-GO constantly to squeeze in grocery shopping, house cleaning, and playing outside in a short forty-eight hours.
But this year under a new employee, I have time off at the holidays!
Yesterday at 5pm, I packed up my laptop and iPhone and raced through the marble lobby towards my car. We ate pancakes for dinner and let Harrison stay up a little bit later for an extra-long Daddy/Harry wrestling marathon. This morning, the small boy slept until he woke up (unlike weekdays where we go in to get him before the sun rises) and we ate breakfast as a family. As my husband pulled out of the driveway for work, I turned to my toddler and said, “Okay, what do you want to do today?”
We put on sweaters and chased the dog in the backyard.
Then we ran errands to buy Christmas Eve dinner and stocking stuffers, but after we stopped into Starbucks for a latte (me) and organic milk (him).
We came home and colored pictures and made sculptures with hot pink playdough.
(I snuck in vacuuming up Christmas tree needles while he made me cut-out playdough stars.)
I whipped up a quesadilla for lunch with turkey on the side and Harrison fed me his carrots.
He is currently down for a nap while pumpkin bread bakes.
And there are sugar cookies ready to be decorated tonight and a Christmas animated movie sitting in the DVD player.
Sounds picture-perfect, right? It kind of is, but there is the draw – if this was my everyday, it might lose it’s magic. I probably would not be so stoked when it would feel like the everyday. And of course, not every day could be this filled or Harrison-centered – notice how there is no post office run or doctor’s appointment or trying to grocery shop with more than one kid. But the beauty (and my favorite part) of being a working momma is that when I’m off? I get to ignore the mundane and focus on the magic.
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4 Comments
LeighAnn commented on Dec 23 11 at 4:13 pmI love this. You have totally captured it. I am a working mom too. Granted, I consider myself very lucky because I am a teacher so I always get to spend holidays/spring break/summer with my girl. However, there is just something special about having that time off where you can have days where you don’t have to rush to get the laundry done, grocery shopping finished, and clean the house before the work week starts over again. You can just enjoy! I hope you enjoy your time off!
Joanna commented on Dec 23 11 at 8:56 pmWell said, thank you!
MrsK commented on Dec 27 11 at 11:34 amThis is it exactly! My daughter is now 7 and having special days like these are wonderful for the both of us! Enjoy!
Melissa commented on Dec 28 11 at 8:16 amFirst…I love your blog…and love what you write here too! I really appreciated this article because I am a stay at home mom to a 2 year old. I like that you had a fantastic time with your son on your day off but were quick to point out (correctly) that not all days can be like that. Thank you….sometimes I feel like because my full time job is to care for our daughter I need to be like a daycare and be entertaining and stimulating my child all day. But it is not like that in real life….real life involves cooking , cleaning, and errand doing.
Again thanks for your post. On our down days (vacation, weekendsetc) I take a break from the norm and just focus on the family fun!!!!
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