I work from home now. Well, I am not sure what you call what I do.
When Bug was born in 2003 I was walking that typical modern day Mom line. I returned to work when he was 8 weeks old. I worked for an aerospace company as a Program Manager and 60 hour weeks were the norm. It was rough. To the delight of my boss I pumped every two hours and raced to the day care center at lunch everyday to nurse.
When Peanut was born in 2006 I had the same job. I got admitted to the hospital at 32 weeks and worked everyday from my hospital bed. I had work delivered and picked up every day. After Peanut was born I managed to stretch my leave to 4 months and then went back 3 days a week using vacation hours I had saved for years. To my boss’s delight again I pumped.
When Peanut was 3 I knew things had to change. So I bought an online business and decided to try to make it work. I worked days in aerospace and nights on my store that sells eco-friendly products for babies and moms. I LOVED it and am passionate about it. In the spring of 2010 I could feel things changing at my day job and finally made the jump to WAHM in June 2010. My online store was not enough so I did (an do) independent contract work for different companies.
In 2013 our family was completed with Froggie. I was working while being prepped for my C-section. I took about 8 hours off.
Now I have 4 jobs. My online business plus 3 other jobs. I work all. the. time. And I never work. Yep, you read that right. I am constantly working…or not. Maybe we could say that I work at trying to work. I have 3 special needs kids so that means 3 sets of therapies. Some times more therapy than others. A typical day starts with me taking Bug and Peanut to school. I rush home and grab a bit to eat and try to move Froggie and my computer to my office where I will try to get an hour or two of work in before Froggie’s therapy. Sometimes this happens, and sometimes it doesn’t. It depends on Froggie’s mood. After therapy I rush out for appointments, errands and to pick up kids. Then home and while we do homework I am trying to get some work done. Every time my bum hits the chair a kid needs something or a kid hit someone :). At the end of the day I realize that I spent more time running around doing errands and breaking up fights then I did working.
The end of my day usually ends up with me on the bed working while the kids sleep, hopefully. Tomorrow it will start all over again.
Thank God! Yes, thank God. I am so grateful for my messed up crazy life. Somehow I manage to get enough work done to fool everyone and I get to be there to break up fights. I get to nurse Froggie on demand. I get to yell at Bug about his iPad. I get to have Peanut sit on my lap. When I think back to my Program Manager days and my 60 hour weeks I am so incredibly grateful that I am home. Even if this doesn’t last much longer, I cherish the days that I get tell Peanut to GET OFF THE BABY for the 100th time.
Not to be cliché but before I know it there will be no more babies. The house will be quiet because they will all be off doing their own things. Then what will I do?
Bug, Peanut, Froggie and the cousin!
Tags: balancing work and kids, wahm