So, Stay at Home Mom, Where Do You Work?

If you follow me on social media, you know that I recently had to do my duty as an American citizen and sit in a room of about 60 other people from 8:00 am – 4:00 pm and wait for my juror number to never be called. Thankfully. But what a waste of time! They didn’t even have Wi-Fi so I couldn’t even be on social media all day. So that forced me to talk to the other 59 people or so around me. And I seemed to have been asked the same question by everyone: So, where do you work?

As someone who has spent thousands of dollars earning a bachelor’s and a master’s degree, and was in the “real” workforce prior to having kids, it does pain me a bit to say I am a stay at home mom. But as soon as I answer the question, I think to myself, “but you could never afford me” because let’s face it, the salary of a stay at home mom is EXPENSIVE!

My job never ends and I rarely get breaks. When I was breastfeeding, I was awake all hours of the night pretending to be a cow. Luckily now that Cam doesn’t need to eat 24/7, I have a husband who will get up in the middle of the night when necessary, but that doesn’t mean I sleep until 10:00 am every day.

I am the maid. I clean up toys constantly. I do dishes. I vacuum the floors. I washed windows the other day and I hate doing that. I do laundry (although the hubby does help with this because I tend to forget about it). But if it weren’t for me, dust bunnies would literally be running rampid in my home.

I am the chef. Whose name does Capri yell for when she’s hungry? ::raises hand:: That would be me, stay at home mom. And who doesn’t just serve her crap (everyday). Me. I make sure my kids eat healthy, and I actually cook dinner for them. I really do try to have dinner on the table every night when the hubby gets home too, but truth is, by 7:00 pm, the kids are miserable and the last thing I want to do is cook so, sorry hubby. Maybe tomorrow.

I am the teacher. Want to know who taught Capri her ABC’s, 123’s, colors, shapes, etc.? Yup, again, it was me, stay at home mom.

The chauffeur. Want to go to the playground? OK, hop in mommy’s car. Want to go get ice cream? Mom will drive. I kind of can’t wait until they are old enough to drive, but that will just be a whole new stress.

I am the nurse. If my kid is sick, I am the one wiping his or her runny nose, I am the one serving up their medicine and I am the one disinfecting EVERYTHING to get the germs away!

You name it, I probably do it. And again, I am lucky to have my hubby helping out, but he doesn’t like to feed Cam messy food so poor Cam would never get to eat spaghetti. And Capri would know EVERY hockey player’s name…not just Kris Letang (looooove him) and Sidney Crosby’s instead of her ABC’s and 123’s if dad was home all day.

So why do I feel bad saying I am a stay at home mom, raising 2 kids, from morning to night? Because it is not a “job” that people really give me credit for. It was fun saying that I worked for a huge security company in their marketing and communications offices before I had kids. I did have a pretty legit job. People knew about the company and thought what I did was cool. But now, yoga pants with spit on them and no makeup on, my job isn’t so cool to them anymore.

But you know what? You couldn’t pay me enough money to give up my job right now. But let’s talk in 5 to 10 years!