My Unlikely WAHM Story
I never imagined myself being more a stay-at-home than work-at-an-office mom. But, here I am. Mostly taking care of the kids, working when I can in the spare minutes during nap, preschool, and after bedtime.
This is where I talk about how leaving work helped me to slow down (and why I continue to work on Slow Motherhood), doing my best to create harmony with all of it, and often not doing it all that well.
It is part work advice, part me trying to figure it out as I write, and part work-at-home mom lifestyle. It is also a place for me to commiserate with other WAH, SAH, WAO (work-at-office), PT, FT, Step, and every other type of mom.
If I can give you a little advice to help you slow down, manage your work-at-home life, or help decide if it’s right for you, then I am excited. If I can make you feel better about your messy house, your recent breakdown, or the time you stress ate an entire box of cookies while at Target with your toddler, then I know I am doing something right.
A little about me…My house is almost always a mess, and my hair is almost always messier. We are usually barefoot (thank goodness for long Southern California summers). And we love nothing more than to laugh together.
I do my best to let my little ones lead and to sit in stillness and watch them. I do my best to put it all away so I can focus on them.
I struggle to say no so that I can live a fuller, easier, slower life. I struggle daily with patience (it is the thing I work on the most). I also struggle with presence, and it is at the heart of slow motherhood.
I wanted a girl more than anything (those matching outfits on Instagram just have my heart), but now that I have my two little guys, I couldn’t imagine anything better. My first little guy, Bug, is super smart (he talks like he is running a PR firm), super funny, and the person I most want to take a road trip with. My second little guy, Bob (short for Bobcat) has a huge heart and an even bigger smile. He is super squishy and the kind of baby that makes you want to have four more. We won’t.
I am a bit of a crunchy mama, so you might see a little of that here. We do attachment parenting-lite. I swore I would never let my kids watch TV or eat added sugar when it wasn’t a special occasion, but we eat a cookie every day after school and watch TV while I cook most evenings. There are other things I swore I would never do, but I don’t know you that well. Yet.
Of course, I am going to present the lighter, brighter side of all this here. But you can be sure, there are tough days. Days with multiple tantrums (not just from the kids), tears, and all night work sessions. There are days when I go to bed feeling like I have ruined my kids for life, and days when I reach for a glass of wine a little too early. But despite all of that, there is nothing I would rather be doing more right now than working at home with my two guys.
This is my Unlikely WAHM story. I hope you’ll stick around.