A Day in the Life of a Stay Home Mom

When I had my first child some 10 years ago, I did stay home for about 18 months, but I found that it just wasn't for me, I missed other adults and having 'real' conversations. Now forward 6 years, I had another child and at this time, I KNEW that I would not be going back to work, why might you ask, because I knew that this was going to be my last child and I wanted to cherish every minute that I had with him. I am going to show you that being a stay at home mom is not sitting around the house in you pj's watching soaps and eating food, atleast not for me.

I maybe a stay at home mom (sahm) but I also am in school full time, I run an in home daycare where I watch 2 full time kids and 1 part time child, I also handle the bookkeeping for husbands part time lawn care company *he works this rfom April till early November and when he does it is full time*, the books for the local conservation club, not to mention helping out with kids homework and at school.

A normal day in my sahm life starts out at 5:15 am, when I get up, head to the bathroom, off to Curve's for my 30 min. workout, back home in the shower and then by 6 am I am upstairs giving my oldest his Concerta *oops did I forget to mention that my oldest as ADHD and is oppositional defiant to boot* then back downstairs to the basement where I throw a load of clothes into the wash and dryer if needed, take the wash upstairs to fold/put away as needed. Into the kitchen to get the coffee pot going for hubby cause we all know how much they need their coffee in the am. Check email sometime during running from room to room cleaning up. By this time it is 6:45 time to get oldest up and ready for school and on Tuesday and Fridays I must also get the little one up too as he only goes 2 days a week in the am. Get the kids dressed, breakfast, teeth and hair done and whatever else needs to be handled before they head out the door at 7:40. I forgot to mention that at 7 am I get the 8 month old dropped off and he needs his am bottle by 7:30 or watch out world, at 7:10 on M/W/TH the 3 year old that I also watch full time gets dropped off the other days she starts her day off at pre-school across town from me kids. So come 8 am the other full time daycare child gets dropped off she is 3 and she stays till 5:30 pm M-F. After everyone that needs to be feed, dressed and diapers changed that need to be, I am running to switch the laundry over and finish dishes that are screaming to be washed.
By 9 am the kids are having snack and juice at the dinning room table and by 9:30 we are starting on our letters, numbers, shapes and of course our art projects. On a normal peacefull day we are done by 10:30 am and then it's time for me to clean up from the morning and start lunch, unless it's Tuesday or Friday, because I then have to load up the kids and go and pick up the preschoolers. Back home by 11:30 and then it's lunch time, diaper changes and down for naps by 12:30 at the latest.
While they are napping, I clean up kitchen work on the wash and try to get some school work in there too. Within an hour to an hour and a half someone is up. Change them, snack and get them ready for pick up. Once the kids have gone home for the day, which is by 5:30 then I need to make dinner, get my family fed, so I can head off to class at 6:30. I'm home from school around 9:30/10:00 and I usually come home to kids toys all over the place, so clean that up, check on dishwasher and washing machine/dryer incase hubby didn't get to that. If I am lucky I am in bed by midnight, as I try to study for an hour or so as the kids are in bed and I have the house to myself. Crawl into bed, don't forget to set the alarm and try to fall asleep before 1 am.
Beep, Beep it's 5:15 again and the day starts all over.

Now don't get me wrong, I love being a SAHM, but let me tell you this, it's not for everyone to do. I hope that I shed some light onto the subject for you that being a stay at home mom, isn't all about eating, watching tv and doing nothing.