SAHMs...

[GrayMatterWife]

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

How do y'all do this, every day?!?!

I have to be home from work today because DS ran a fever yesterday (fever gets you bounced out of daycare for 24 hours). He's under-the-weather, but not too sick...so just sick enough to be grouchy but not sick enough to be still.

I HAVE TO WORK TODAY. I can't just not do my work because I am working from home. We've got a tons of things going on in the next two weeks, and it's docket day tomorrow (we have hearings).

I have been working for two hours, and have accomplished about twenty minutes of work. Every two seconds, it's an interruption. I am going to put him in his room for "Quiet Play Time" shortly, but I can't penned him up for the next eight hours.

How do you get ANYTHING done during the day?!?!

(It is pretty much a rhetorical question, I realize, but I just wanted to complain for a second and blow off steam...)

[Momo]

Re: SAHMs...

How do I do it?
Thank God I found a good housekeeper.

[samssugarmomma]

Re: SAHMs...

The times when I've been stuck at home with a sick kid, I've had to cram all of my productive work time into her nap time and then stayed up after she went to bed for the night. It pretty much sucked!

It's so hard to be a working mom! I've never found a way to balance the "mommy loves you and wants to take care of you" with the "mommy needs to do this because mommy needs this job and can't get fired" (that wouldn't really happen - but not getting done what you need to get done today just makes tomorrow all the more stressful....).

Good luck and hopefully he'll take a nice long nap today!

[GrayMatterWife]

Re: SAHMs...

DS is really funny on the weekends. A couple of Saturdays or Sundays a month, I need to go into the office for a couple of hours, usually, and DS always comes with me. He LOVES it (weirdo!--I think he just likes endless office supplies). I have a cool office in Chambers (just a result of pure luck, not talent or accomplishment) that overlooks Busch Stadium. I have a small additional desk off to one side, which really just holds an extra lamp and the security call-box. DS sits at that desk, looking out the window at the people, and "writes orders for the Judge." He just talks to himself, calling himself a "busy busy law clerk, not a neuorsurgeon today" and scribbling on yellow stick-it notes. It will keep him occupied FOREVER.

I can't believe I am more productive when trying to work with him at the office than when trying to work with him at home!

(Of course, getting off iMSN would probably help, too!)

[samssugarmomma]

Re: SAHMs...

That is so cute Abigail! Can you sneak into the office today so he can play at "his" desk?

[rainbabies]

Re: SAHMs...

quite the contrary...how do working moms do it? i dont think i could get up everyday and out the door with my kids..go to work, pick up the kids, run errands, do chores, play house wife, make dinner, put kids to bed, do my thing, do my husband and then do it again the next day.

you...working moms, are awesome!

[GrayMatterWife]

Re: SAHMs...

That is so cute Abigail! Can you sneak into the office today so he can play at "his" desk?

We may have to go into the office, after business hours. I don't want to put anyone in the awkward situation of being exposed to a snot-filled, fever-producing child. I'll be villified as the person who risked everyone's health...

I will have to do this, anyway, tomorrow morning, if he's still running a fever. We've got dockets at 9 AM and 11 AM. Luckily, both are short. I can take him in, close my office door and let him play (set up with juice and Cheerios, of course) while I am on in the courtroom...

Did you ever have a day when you just wanted YOUR mommy??

[GrayMatterWife]

Re: SAHMs...

Low expectations supplemented with wine as needed.

If I didn't have to work from home today, I'd be halfway through a bottle of Shiraz right now...

[DCJenn]

Re: SAHMs...

The afternoon pours happened kinda early at my house during my SAHM days. I lasted 15 months and had him in daycare before I found a job once we moved.

I don't know how they do it, either. I'm glad I did it...but there's NO WAY I could do it again. and more than one child? Nuh uh...no way, not me.

It was the hardest job I ever had for the least amount of respect and pay. I suppose one could argue that Nikolai is the better for it. He may beg to differ though.

Jenn

[GrayMatterWife]

Re: SAHMs...

quite the contrary...how do working moms do it?

I think it must be about what you're used to doing. I do my office work at work, my house work at home, etc. Everything is neatly compartmentalized. But clearly, if that nice little routine is shattered and you put me at home for the day to be productive, I am totally overwhelmed. Not a dish has been done, not a piece of clothes has been laundered...I finally gave up trying to watch him and allowed him to pull out every pot in the kitchen to "cook" with. So the kitchen is a disaster, but at least he was occupied.

I have managed to get some of this project for work done (thankfully). I had to throw DS in the shower after he got completely covered in sticky elixir (see my plea for advice in "Ground Rounds"). So that freed me up. I can hear him down the hall now, singing about the rain in the shower.

Re: SAHMs...

I can totally emphatize with you. I think working moms have it much harder, although it is nice to be appreciated for cleaning, cooking, running errands, teacher conferences, laundry, etc dragging 3 kiddos along 24 hrs a day as a SAHM. I wouldn't trade being a SAHM for going back to work for anything.

I do so painfully remember being called to pick up a sick child and having to take him/her back to my classroom and make them lay on a blanket on the floor behind my desk and then try to teach a completely distracted classroom of 7th graders. What was worse was taking them to my office, which they viewed as a giant playground of office products. You're right, the post-its as well as the dry erase markers are like magic.

No answers here, just a "hang in there!"

Re: SAHMs...

Low expectations supplemented with wine as needed.

or pastry. I'm trying to switch to wine. I hear it's good for your heart.

[planet]

Re: SAHMs...

I'm sorry the poor guy is sick. We've done the double duty before too and I'll second going with another liqiud flavor. I have one who likes cherry and one who likes orange.

As far as the SAHM difficulty rating. I think what you, Abigail, are talking about IS harder. That is, trying to get work done while being SAHM. I find my current job quite pleasant when nothing needs to be accomplished. But making business calls?? Paperwork that, heaven forfend, needs attention to detail?? Way harder with little hands and big voices around. And naturally, in the process of being put off, these little buggers create ten fold the housework to do....

Re: SAHMs...

I switched to wine and it's done wonders for my coping skills.

[MDPhDWife]

Re: SAHMs...

quite the contrary...how do working moms do it? i dont think i could get up everyday and out the door with my kids..go to work, pick up the kids, run errands, do chores, play house wife, make dinner, put kids to bed, do my thing, do my husband and then do it again the next day.

you...working moms, are awesome!