[mom2justynsarah]

I am a fulltime working mom to my two children. My daughter is 19 months, and my son is seven. I have been working since my son was 3 months old & my daughter was 5 months old. (taking into consideration maternity/fmla leave).

I always thought I wanted to be a SAHM. But to tell you the truth, I am not cut out for that. lol. I give you SAHM's a lot of credit. It is HARD work being home. In fact, I personally think it's harder being at home, than working.

Fortunately, I have worked for companies where the culture was very family friendly. I have been able to take time off when my kids were sick, or for doctor's appt's, etc. If it had not been the case, I would have a huge ulcer by now. lol. It is great to have your company that supports working moms.

So tell me moms, what is a typical day for you? For me, I wake up at 7am. My husband & I are a tag team. He makes their lunches, gets their bags ready, takes the dogs out etc. I get my kids dressed. I make sure they are clean, have brushed their teeth, have eaten breakfast, etc.

Then by 8am, we are all out the door. At 5pm, I pick the kids up. They are both starving and cranky at this time. So it's a lovely drive home. But fortunately we are less than 10 minutes from their camp/school.

Then it's the mad rush of making them dinner, getting their bath's going, playtime, cuddle time etc. By now it's 9pm. They finally go to sleep. I collapse on my bed and fall asleep by 10pm.

Then before I know it, the alarm goes off at 7am...It's time for another day! How about you?

[Mommy2amiracle]

Another WOH Mom here! My sons are 3yo and 7.5 months. I know what you mean about the hectic evenings!! I was only able to take a month off w/ds #1 and 6 weeks w/ds #2.

[hotspice58]

Working mom: foster/adopt. I have 2 boys: 11 and 8. Get up at 6:30; we all get ready. Mom takes 8 yo to daycare; I catch the train and 11 yo gets picked up for camp. Get home at 7; eat, read, talk to each one, bathe and get ready for bed. I try to fit the gym in bit it ain't easy!!

[srusse24]

I will be a working mom (baby's due in August). I am a teacher so I have great working hours and time off during holidays and summer. I applaud SAHM's, but it is just not for me.

[dragonfly1234]

Hi everyone!

I am a SAHM. I was a career woman for almost 20 years before having children. So it was very difficult in the beginning to stop thinking about work. After having our first son I called work everyday for over 3 weeks. My husband finally said no more. As I got more busy with my son getting older it got easier.

After a 3 month maternity leave my dh and I made the decision that I would stay home. I work very part time at my same job just in a more limited responsiblity. I still get to use my brain, think and talk to other adults.

Now I would NEVER change my decision. I have had opportunities to go back, but I enjoy staying home and watching my (now have 2 sons) boys grow.

This by no means takes away from everyone else who must work or enjoy working.

Life can be just as hectic staying home as working. Just different.

Michelle

[traceyk]

I have been a SAHM for 10 years now and LOVE it. Before that my DH worked nights and was here during the day to take care of the girls.

[Fran27]

I'll be a SAHM... But again if I had a good job I might have been a working mom. I half expect to get crazy, lol, but at the same time I want to spend as much time as possible with the children (necessary anyway as I want them to be bilingual and I'm the only one speaking French).

[HBV]

Working. We get up at 5:30 so we can shower and get ready before baby wakes up around 6:15. Then we tag team between baby and dogs until the nanny comes at 7:30. A little transition and we're out the door by 7:50 or so. Usually one of us comes home for lunch to play w/ him. Someone (usually me) is home between 5:30 and 6.

I liked my time at home during maternity leave, but I don't know if I could do it full time. I'm pretty happy with the way this worked out. Our nanny's absolutely wonderful, like a part of our family, and I have a pretty fair amount of control over my schedule. When I need to I can even work from home.

[NJNative]

I have been a working mom, a WAHM (Working at Home Mom), a stay at home mom and now once again, a working mom.

Our days start early. I'm up at 6, wake the 15 yo at 6:15, his bus leaves at 7. I then go to work shortly before 8.

My son arrives home around 4 p.m. and I get home around 5:30. I get a half hour of downtime -- which is a cold drink and the last half hour of Dr. Phil. Then it's dinner, homework, the usual.

To everyone who has young kids who are starving by 5 -- I suggest a mini-snack for in the car. Some carrot sticks, celery sticks, a small bag of grapes. Something to make them less starved. I used to do that when my son was young. I also used to make dinners in advance -- still do -- to make dinners simpler and quicker. It's easy when making a meatloaf on a Sunday afternoon to just make 2 of them. One for today, one for next week (they freeze fine) Or I will make a turkey breast, homemade soup, etc. on a weekend day, with enough for twice.

I'm looking forward to the day when I don't need to get up with my son, but we are not there yet, even at 15. He's not a morning person and still needs me up to make sure he's up and moving. So I lose that extra hour of sleep.

Robin

[momraine]

I a sahm and I love it. Now that it's summer our typical day is very different. We usually sleep in a little, like till 8. I have a teen who sleeps a little later often. We have breakfast and then do chores. (my youngest is almost 7 and we are adopting another six year old) Usually that is done pretty fast, an our at the most. Then the kids have some free time. They choose what they want to do. We have an inflateable pool out back and a trampoline, or they might play ball. Inside they might watch a video or TV for a little while (I do try to limit it and sometimes we have NO TV days) they like to play board games together, or build forts in the living room when it's really hot outside. My daughter loves crafts and will do them with me for hours at a time. (she doesn't know it but this is also therapy!) We also read a lot. So we take trips to the library often. We also do trips to movies (0ur town has a very old theater that has been running for almost 100 years and everytime we go we know everyone, it's a small town so it's a social thing to go) We might go to a park or a lake or a zoo or museum or to a friends house or a friend might come to our house. We just had two from our old neighborhood come and spend a week. Miniature golf and bumper boats are fun too.
When my kids were small, we had (with two of them) various therapies during the day, PT and OT each once a week and daily excersizes and those wonderful naps! I miss those! We also try to keep up our school skills during the summer, lots of reading and if they go to the store with me, we take a long time because I make them calculate which brand is cheaper on some things. They help plan menus and write them and my lists for me. (writing practice!) They also write letters to relatives. Our evenings are pretty calm. Dinner is usually ready when my husband gets home (at least in summer, last year during school it seemed we had something every evening, so we either ate on the go or it was in the crock pot) we have dinner and then dad and the kids like to watch one show on TV (America's funniest home videos reruns, they love that show) and then we start getting everyone showered and ready for bed and then dad reads to them for about an hour. Right now he is reading a book called Eragon. While he reads I get stuff ready for the next day and clean up supper. Having special needs kids, I just don't know how I would do it if I had to also go to work. I have enough with the volunteer stuff I do at church and school.
Lorraine

[ocracoke]

I will be a working mom when my daughter comes home. Really no choice in the matter -- I am single. Well, I guess I could start playing the lottery and that might give me a choice. I think each family needs to find their own groove. What works for some is a disaster for others.

Samantha

[intladoptionblog]

I'm both, I guess. I "stay at home" and work. My office is at home, as are my kids, 3 1/2 and 15 months. I can't let my schedule get too flexible, or I get nothing done, so I go into my office at 6am, before the kids are up, then do the morning thing with them, then go back into my office at 8:30 when my assistant gets in. (Don't even want to think about doing all I do without help! I've done it for months at a time between employees, and it's not fun...and I can't get nearly as much work done.)
The baby goes down for a nap in a bed next to my desk at about 9 and sleeps for an hour while I work.
I finish at about 1pm, do a couple of hours of homeschooling and projects with my oldest.
My husband gets home about 6:30. We do dinner and family time, then I usually work for another hour or so after the kids go to bed.
Good thing I love what I do!

[tjb52]

I am a working mom, We have a 4 year old boy and will be adopting an infant hopefully within a year. I worked part time until my son was 3 and plan to go part time again when we adopt. For me working part time is the best of both worlds. I get my adult time and still plenty of kid time!

My typical day would be waking up around 6:30, I get me ready to go and then wake up my son around 7 we are out the door by 7:45 and I work until 5. Then it is dinner, playtime and bedtime. My husband has an odd schedule and usually he picks up our son by 3 in the afternoon. He also is off 2-3 weekdays every week so are lucky in that we only need daycare 2-3 days a week.

This has worked great for us and It gives our son a lot of one on one time with dad every week - which he absolutely loves.

[MommyBear]

I will be a WOHM but only because in the area we live (DC metro area) it is just not feasible for me to stay home. Frankly, I'm tired of the corporate rat race and would LOVE the opportunity to stay home and bust my butt being a mom and a competent housekeeper for my family - I know its hard work, but the rewards would far outweigh the money (if only it wasn't for those pesky bills). But until we move to TN (which is very much in the plans) I'll be working.

[claschober]

I guess I am both a SAHM and a Working Mom....I teach, so right now I am at home, but next month it's back to work...A day during the school year starts at 5:30 with me getting ready while dH wakes the boys up and gets them ready...we are out of the door by 6:30 and get home around 5ish...we play outside for a little bit, eat dinner, play a little more then off to bed around 8pm...during the summer the schedule is much more relaxed!

I feel very blessed to enjoy teaching and have my weekends and summers off...the boys were placed with us last summer, so it made the transition time great because I had two months off! This summer is so much more different than last summer with both boys being much more active. (Last summer the oldest was in his honeymoon phase and on his "best" behavior while the youngest wasn't crawling and into everything yet...LOL)