Stay at Home Mums

Yesterday, Mark's colleague and his wife came over to visit, with their 9 month old son. His wife is a recent stay at home mum and we got to talking about getting help for her own sanity. Listening to her reminded me of the seven months I had taking care of Alison on my own, with no maid. And totally understanding that it ain't easy man!

This is a job only for certain types of very strong people! Like Erin said, when her son napped for his typical half hour, she always has to think real hard what she wants to do - eat or bathe, because after he wakes up, there is going to be no time to do anything else till Dad gets back at 730pm. It's not so much that a lot of productive work has to be done, much of the time is spent sitting by the kid's side playing games ( by the way it is very hard to entertain young babies for hours on end, I get bored!)or watching him crawl around. You can't really do much on your own because he'll wail if you leave him in the playpen or even so much as turn your back to him.

So, because the kid refuses to be cooped up in a safe area, and will crawl around and get himself into trouble, all of your own chores have to be done in extra quick time. Forget about cooking (instant noodles will do), and doing anything else. I remember many days when Mark came home at 7pm and I had not even showered the whole day. But even more difficult was having to wake up at 630 am everyday- Ally is an early bird and tend to her feeding, bathing, nap and play needs. I have only become a "fake" early bird rising at 7am everyday since I became a mom. Actually, I reverted back to my 10am days till Angie came along and Mark said in no uncertain terms that I could no longer do that if I wanted to juggle babies, myself and my business.

Anyway, I'm sure things get better after the stay at home mum gets the hang of things. Sometimes, you just have to go with the flow, and not think so much about how "unproductive" time seems to be. It's all a matter of perception since who is to say that time spent with your child is unproductive?! Hmm, although I can understand when time drones on and you've not really engaged your child in productive play because you're too damn tired!

So now I am a work at home mum, which brings along with it a whole new set of challenges( will write about my experience another time) And this has been a bit of a rambling post which doesn't seem to end nicely ( Ha) but just wanted to share my thoughts so that the stay at home mum is better understood.