April 23, 2019

5 Tips for the Stay at Home Working Mom

Deciding if you are going to be a “working mom”, “stay at home’ mom or even “working/SAHM” is such a hard decision and oftentimes, I know many moms don’t even have an option. I remember so vividly dreading the drive to drop off Brooke at her little daycare school for the first time as I headed back to work. The whole drive I struggled with guilt and worry about if I was doing the right thing for our family. I knew that I loved my job and that I wanted her to have a great school experience, but the worry still came.

Fast forward to Little Kevin, I decided to take the risk and be a SAHM/Working mom. I was excited and felt extremely blessed. One week into my new gig, and I quickly found out that it was the hardest job I have ever had. Over the next year, I would learn so many lessons the hard way so today, I’m sharing 5 Tips for the Stay at Home Working Mom

Grocery Pick Up

I remember feeling cooped up in the house and just wanting to get out – even if it meant a trip to the grocery story. I loaded up my little wiggly toddler and new baby. We drove to the store, I wrapped Baby Kevin to my body then got Brooke out of her seat and headed inside. The sentence might sound easy, but it was no easy task. It was 95 degrees out, I was sweating, babies were crying and I was exhausted already.

As we walked through the aisles, everything just kept going wrong. I finally gave in and let Brooke snack on blueberries. Within a minute, as I opened the door to the frozen pizzas, she dropped the entire package of blueberries all over the floor. 200+ blueberries rolled down the frozen food aisle. I stood there, with a baby wrapped to me (so I couldn’t bend down really) and almost cried. This was the last time I went to the grocery store with 2 under 2 and my very first lesson that grocery pick up was going to be my new best friend.

Its free or practically free ($5 for a three hour assistant is not a bad gig) so take advantage of it! Every week, I place our order online, it saves our favorites which makes it even easier, then we go pick up our groceries without any issues. This saves me so much time and sanity!

Routine

Kids thrive on routine and let’s face it, so do I! I love a routine and everything just moves so much smoother for us when we are sticking to one. For us, our routine has changed with our kids ages, but right now we have a daily routine for when we are home all day, and a base weekly routine. Mondays are our “reset” days – we do any cleaning or pick up from the weekend, I plan the rest of our week, and we just chill. Tuesdays and Thursdays, my kids go to school and I work. Wednesdays, we typically have a photoshoot in the morning on a normal week and then church that night and Fridays are fun days where we try to mix it up.

On days when we are home all day, we typically go by the same “routine”. I wake up about 30-45 minutes before the kids and start my day in my emails. The kids then wake up about 7-7:30 and want breakfast immediately. We eat breakfast while watching cartoons then the kids play together until lunch. They play all things ranging from in our play kitchen, to basketball, to playing with figurines, to doing puzzles. Then we have lunch around 11-11:30 and Baby Kevin lays down for his nap about 12-12:30. During Baby Kevin’s nap, Brooke has quiet time with her iPad, reads books or does crafts while I work. Then once Baby Kevin wakes up, we take a walk to get the mail and all play together until Daddy gets home.

Mother’s Morning Out

I mentioned it briefly above but our kids go to school Tuesdays and Thursdays. When I first started staying home and working, I felt like I should be able to handle it all. However, I was so wrong, I needed some time to myself to work and my kids needed time away from me, with other kids. We started with actually one morning a week at Mother’s morning out, and then registered them both for school this past year. Next year, we are going to three days of school since Brooke is going to PreK.

Overall, I highly recommend even one morning of mother’s day out. This gives you, “you time” and lets your kids learn how to play with others in a great learning environment.

Outside Time

Get outside. We craft a little outside time in our days, because kids need sunshine. They need time to run, play and enjoy being outdoors. My kids love walking to our mailbox and going to the park. They have so much fun with their outside toys and just enjoy being outside. This is important for mamas too – soak up the sunshine and get a change of scenery.

Grown Up Time

I briefly touched on this with the Mother’s Morning out, but you need time for you! I try to get up 30-45 minutes before my kids each day to have “me time”. For me, this is typically starting my day with my emails at zero. I take those precious minutes before they wake up to clear my email and set myself up for a successful day. I also take time for myself while my kids are playing together in the mornings to do my devotional or have some reading time. Then, at night, once we put the kids to bed, my husband and I have “us time” and catch up on our shows or conversations. You NEED this!

I hope that these 5 tips really help you! I know that they have done wonders for our life and really made such a big difference. Are you a SAHM and work from home? I would love to hear your favorite tips! Comment below. Also, don’t forget, this post is a part of Mom Talk Tuesday and these great mamas below are also writing about their experiences!

Mom Talk Tuesday

When you become a mom, no one really talks about the community of support you will have. While I firmly believe that you are not a perfect parent, but the perfect parent for your child – I also believe in seeking help from other moms along the way. There are times in parenting when you need opinions, you need ideas, you need to learn and I am so excited to announce that the last Tuesday of each month, I will be participating in “Mom Talk Tuesday”. Each of the hosts and guest hosts will share about a topic related to motherhood or parenting in hopes to help you along the way.

I cannot tell you how excited I am about this, because every child is different. I remember walking through potty training with Brooke and reading article after article of different methods. Seeing that different things worked for different moms, not only gave me hope that we wouldn’t just give up all together, but also gave me IDEAS to try for ourself.

So, here we go! Below are the hosts for this month! Go check them out and give them a follow.

Our topic this month is: Working/SAHM – how you balance it!