A Day in the Life of a Stay at Home Mom

Is anyone else having trouble catching up after the holiday weekend? I tell you what, today has been rough. We usually put the kids to bed at 7:00 pm, but we all stayed up way too late last night doing fireworks for the 4th of July. It didn't get dark outside till about 8:30 pm so by the time we got started with fire works, it was already an hour and a half past our kid's bedtime. It was so much fun, but we have definitely been paying for it today. Tired kids really means, cranky, irrational, emotional kids.

As I sit down at the end of the day to write this, I take in a deep breath and sip my lemon water. Now that the kids are both asleep, it is time to unwind from the chaos that was my life today. I am not complaining, because I truly love my job as a Stay at Home Mom. I am telling this story because I want you to know that I am human. I make mistakes, lose my patience, get behind on housework, and let my kids watch TV etc. Hopefully as you read this you will be able to relate.

Let me take you through a day in the life of a stay at home mom:

The baby is crying, It's morning already? Wow I am tired! I better go nurse her. I'm going to run to the restroom real quick first. Oh good, Anthony (my husband) is going to get her. Hopefully he was quick enough and her crying didn't wake up her big brother. I rock her back and forth as she nurses. I hope she goes back to sleep, I am still exhausted. I'll just close my eyes for a minute while she eats. Zzzzzz.....

Now she is done nursing and bright and smiling! It doesn't look like she will go back to sleep, but how could I not love that face?

Wait, is my shirt wet? Oh man! I'll change her diaper then put her in bed with Anthony while I change my shirt. Awe they look so cute cuddling over there in the bed. I want to cuddle too! I hear footsteps! Sounds like big brother is awake. Anthony gets up with the kids and takes them downstairs and lets me lay down for a little longer. I have the best husband! Maybe I will just check Instagram for a minute and post some cute pictures from yesterday. Wow look at the time! It has already been a half hour! Ooops, I better get dressed and get things rolling.

Where are all my clothes? I have nothing to wear! I need to work out more and get this baby weight off. I feel like nothing fits anymore! Maybe I just need to do some laundry, I know some of my clothes fit. How can there be more laundry to do when I already have three clean baskets of laundry waiting to be folded at the side of the bed? Oh well, I will just get another load started real quick, then get dressed.

Wait, there's a bunch of dirty clothes in our suitcase from this weekend. I better unpack so that I can get those clothes in the laundry too. Oh and there is laundry in the kids rooms, and some on the stairs.

Okay all the laundry is gathered from all parts of the house, and is now sorted. I'm all ready to start a load. Is there still laundry in the dryer? How did I forget about that? Okay its in a basket, headed to join the other three baskets of clean laundry. Wait, the laundry basket wont fit next to the others until I clean up all these empty water bottles on the floor. I better gather those and toss them in the trash. Okay, now the trash is overflowing. I might as well take out all of the trash upstairs.

I hear my husband say that the oatmeal is ready. Eeeek! "Okay I will be down in a minute!" I have the best husband. I don't know how I would have gotten all this done without his help with the kids and breakfast. I better gather the trash quickly and get dressed. There's some yoga pants I just unpacked from the suitcase, I will just throw those on. A mom bun is going to have to do today. Thank goodness for my Creaseless Hair Ties.

Okay, time for some breakfast after I take the trash to the dumpster.

"You even fed the baby? I love you! Thanks honey! Thanks for making me breakfast too! I've got the kids now so you can go get ready for work. Thanks for all your help."

Wow our floor is dirty! I better sweep and mop in between bites so that the baby doesn't eat everything that is on the floor.

Why is it such a fight to get toddlers to eat? "Please eat three more bites before you clear your bowl."He gets up an walks away."Please don't leave the table until you are done eating."

The baby starts whining. "Sorry baby girl, I am almost done mopping, then you can get down from your highchair and explore."

The toddler eats his food. "Good job! You took three more bites! What a good eater!"

The baby whines some more "Oh don't cry, I am almost done I promise! Here are some yogurt puffs to eat while you are waiting. I love you!"

"Thank you for taking your bowl to the sink! What an obedient boy!" I say with a crazy smile as he tracks oatmeal across the freshly mopped floor from the table to the sink. Sometimes it is more work to have him help out, but I know it is good for him, so I'll just smile through it so he can't see my frustration. Sometimes we just have to laugh so we don't cry.

"Mom, can I watch a show?"

"If you unload the kid dishes from the dishwasher and get dressed for the day, you can watch one show, then we are going to do an activity!"

"Sorry sweet girl, I will get you out of your highchair as soon as I get this oatmeal cleaned up!"

Okay, the floor is finally clean. "Do you want on the floor to explore, or are you too cranky now? Why don't you come cuddle with my while I search online for an activity for your brother."

"Mom can I watch a show now?"

"Yes! You did such a good job with the dishes and getting dressed! "His shirt is on backwards, but I don't care, cause he is so proud of himself for getting dressed on his own.

"Okay baby girl, you are getting tired, let me print this out real quick before we put you down for a nap, I don't want the printer waking you up."

"Okay bud, I am going to go upstairs to feed the baby and put her down for a nap. You can watch one more episode and then we will do an activity when I come back down."

The washer is done running. I better forward the laundry real quick so I don't disturb her while she is sleeping.

Finally nursing and cuddling. This is the best! I wish I could just rock you all day. "Sorry It has been such a crazy morning, lets cuddle for a while and sing some songs while you fall asleep."

"Okay bud, the baby is asleep, lets do an activity. Today we are going to learn about the months of the year, and the days of the week etc. Once he had heard enough, I set him up with some crayons. "Okay here is a coloring page for the month of July for you to color While I do the dishes."

"Mom I am hungry!"

"Okay, why don't you finish your drawing while I finish loading the dishes, then we can make some lunch together." He breaks down crying irrationally. "I don't want lunch, I want a snack!"

"Sorry honey, It is about time for lunch, so we aren't going to have a snack. Why don't you put away your crayons, and then we can make some lunch together." He calms down and cleans up. We make and eat lunch with out much fuss.

"Mom, what is after lunch? "Things are going pretty smoothly now, maybe we can do another project together before the baby wakes up. He had so much fun counting down for the 4th of July with our Scripture Straw Rocket Activity. I bet he would love to make a paper chain to count down to his birthday next month. I could have him paint some paper for the chain.  "After you clear your plate, maybe we can paint!"

Click here to read more about this activity.

"Okay, I am done!" He clears his plate and helps me get the paint all set up. We decide to use celery pieces as stamps for the paint. He is having such a good time. I feel like a good mom, we are having some good quality time.

"Mom, can I use my hands to paint?" "Ummm, are you done with the celery? You wont be able to use the celery very well after you us your hands because the paint might get mixed together." "I'm done with the celery." He starts mixing all the colors together with his hands and putting finger prints and hand prints on his papers. He is having such a good time.

"Mom, I want more paint." "You already have a lot of paint, just use what you have." Then the crying began. "Mom, it is too hard!" Trying to understand what a tired toddler wants is one of the hardest things. Emotions are exaggerated and it's hard for them to communicate what they want. I finally figure out. He wants to separate the colors from each other again so he can stamp with the celery again, but it is "too hard". It's a hard lesson to learn. "The colors won't separate once they are mixed. I don't want to get any more paint out when you already have so much on your plate. You can either use the paint you have, or we can be all done." After a complete meltdown, he decides to do some more finger painting with the remaining paint. Just as he is about to finish the baby wakes up.

What a tender mercy that she slept through all of that. "Okay, lets wash up real quick so we can go get baby sister." We wash up and get her out of her bed. "Oh wait, you can't cuddle her yet, you need to take off your paint shirt so you don't get her dirty!" Another melt down... five minutes later I have forwarded the laundry and his paint shirt is in the wash with some other clothes. I pick up the baby again and she has blown out! Wow! Now both kids are crying! I feel like crying too! I think it is time for some more cartoons while we all calm down.

After she has been changed and nursed, we get some good cuddles and playing in. I cannot believe how brave she is getting. She is using everything in sight to stand up, and starting to let go! She is having a good time so I let her play independently while I finish our every dollar budget for July and pay some bills.

My husband gets home from work and plays with the kids while I finish up the budget. It is 5:00 already? Time to get dinner going! What should we have for dinner? We have no bread or milk. I really need to go grocery shopping. I will have to go tomorrow. There is no more time today. We have some over ripe bananas, peanut butter and eggs. Lets make some Gluten Free Peanut Butter Banana Pancakes and turkey bacon."Where is my big helper? Lets make pancakes!"

Thats right, there was only one fried egg. We all shared it. I really needed to go to the grocery store!

Dad finishes loading the dishes that I never got back to, and my son and I make dinner. Sweet baby girl just bounces away in her jumper watching us work. On crazy days like today, it sure is nice to all come together for dinner.

After dinner we all work together to make my son's birthday countdown chain. It really is nice to spend time together as a family every night before the kids go to bed.

Then it's up the stairs for family prayer. Time for bed! What a day! I have a billion baskets of laundry waiting to be folded, but I think I will just work on the blog to help me unwind.

A day in the life of a stay at home mom. The most monotonous, peaceful, chaotic, loving, frustrating, fun, boring, yet exciting day all in one. All this and we didn't even leave the house! At least I get to do my work with the people I love most. I wouldn't trade it for anything.

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Originally Posted on July 6, 2016