My Life as a SAHM

       SAHM. In case you're not hip to the lingo, that stands for Stay at Home Mom. It's been my title for a little over two months now, so that pretty much makes me an expert on the topic. I thought it was high time that I share my two sense on this job, and break down my new life for you.

- Being a SAHM is much harder then working for an actual paycheck. Much.

-I'm a list person. I always have been. Each day I jot down a list of chores/errands/activities that will make up our day. Without a list, I feel like I get nothing done.  Checking off small things throughout the day helps give me structure, organization, and some kind of feeling of accomplishment. We have our standard go-to activities, like our  weekly trip to the library, walks to the park, or visit to the community center but I also try to mix it up and do something special each week.

Nolan and I paying a visit to Jon at his station in Reno a couple of weeks ago.

-We have to leave the house everyday, or else a certain toddler (and myself) will have a breakdown. We try to get out the door by 10:00am, because I've found that to be Nolan's bewitching hour. If we stay in the house past 10, you can find him literally bouncing off of the walls and probably beating up on the cat and/or dog. I don't blame him.  Cabin fever- it's a legitimate illness.

- We take a lot of walks. Like A LOT. It's cheap, it tires out the toddler, and it may just help me fit back into my pants a bit sooner.

Some instagram pics of our numerous lakeside daily walks.

- Nap time is sacred time. I'm lucky that Nolan still goes down at 1:00 pm and naps for 2-3 hours. While he's napping, I try to spend some quiet time with Quincy, read, get a few things done online, and tackle some chores.

- With each kid, my coffee intake has increased exponentially. When the kids rest, I caffeinate.

- Confession: Sometimes I don't brush my teeth until the afternoon...or evening.

-We practically live at the public park.  It's free, it doesn't involve packing up the car, and I can go there looking like total hell, and the other parents don't even bat an eye.

 Here's Buzz getting his shovel on at the park.

- Playdates are really for the moms, not for the kids. I love them.  I look forward to them.  I try to schedule them as often as I can. It's nice to talk with someone that won't throw their food at you or ask you "why" thirty times in an hour. I'm soooo fortunate that every female that I know within a 30 mile radius of us, is currently pregnant or has small kids. That makes it easy to find people to meet up with, and who don't mind talking about potty training strategies or the fact that your house looks like a bomb went off in it. And you just cleaned it. It's giving me a chance to spend lots of valuable time with other mommies and friends, and that, I love. 

- Aside from nap time my favorite time of the day is wine-o'clock. It happens around 5:00 pm and involves me and a glass of chardonnay. At times I've been tempted to start wine-o'clock a bit earlier in the day, but I've resisted. Most of the time.

- In the two months since I've had Quincy, I can actually count the times I've styled my hair on one hand. Probably on just three fingers, actually. Now that's not to say that I don't brush my hair every once and a while, but actually cleaned it, dried it, and curled it, goodness just the thought is exhausting. If I do the math, that's an average of once every 2.5 weeks. Lovely.

- I now have conversations with total strangers at the playground on topics like potty training, toddler constipation, tantrums, etc. etc. Disclosing too much? Probably.

- You know that old saying "My house was clean, sorry you missed it". That pretty much sums up our homestead. I spend the greater part of my day, cleaning, picking up, and tidying, and our house is still a constant disaster zone. I'm talking spit up on the ottoman, cheerios ground into the carpet,  toys in the dogs water bowl, and piles of laundry. At a certain point you develop the ability to just ignore it. 

- Confession: I haven't eaten a meal sitting down in two months. I look at is as a way to burn calories while I eat.

-The amount of laundry that has to be done is preposterous. I have no idea how the addition of one kiddo, that is all of 10 lbs. and 23 in. long, can increase our laundry piles by so much, but it has. Even with the load of laundry that I do each day, all of my clothes are still spotted with spit up.

- Some people may think that Jon's schedule makes staying at home easier. I've come to the conclusion that it doesn't make it easier or harder, it's just different. Jon is gone three days a week. That means, three days a week, I have no help in the morning (after nights of little sleep), or in the evening when an extra hand at 6:00 pm would be oh so nice. It means that during the night, when both kids are up crying AT THE SAME time, I have to juggle it on my own (Just imagine it for a minute. It's not pretty). But it does mean that four days a week, I have help with breakfast, lunch and dinner, and even get to leave the house for a workout or grocery shopping WITHOUT CHILDREN.

- When I talk to Jon on the phone at night (which doesn't always happen), or when he arrives home after a 48 hour shift I tend to Talk. His. Ear. Off. I think it stems from being stuck without adult contact for two days. And you can bet that he just loves hearing the very riveting details on how Nolan's bath time went or which mom I talked to at the park that day. Oh yeah, after spending 2 days hanging out with the guys at the station, learning about the color of Quincy's latest poop really piques his interest.

-If you can't multi-task, you won't survive. I've even found myself breastfeeding and unloading the groceries from the car (in the driveway), at the same time.

- I don't know if I got the mothering gene. The jury is still out. 

Quincy just turned two months old and I'll have some pictures to share next!