Working Mom?

Some people say that I don't work.

I beg to differ.

My job begins at 6 am every day. No, I don't get dressed up (hell, most of the time I don't get out of my pj's), but I show up every single day bright eyed and bushy tailed. I don't get an hour to get ready, take a shower and have breakfast before I go to work. I sometimes even am required to show up early. I then proceed to feed my daughter breakfast (and occasionally eat some of my own) and keep her occupied while I iron my husband's work clothes so that he may go to his office looking semi professional. We play and watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse until 9:30, when Liara goes down for her first nap. Occasionally, if the night before has been rough (meaning she got up more than 3 times...) I'll take her nap with her, but most of the time I put her down, and then continue to do some housework. This may include the dishes, laundry, or picking up the house. Her morning nap lasts from 9:30-10:30 ish. We then read for about 30 minutes, and then play some more until about 11:30 (every other day I bathe Liara since her skin can't do every day... so our bath time is this time as well), when I make lunch before Nic comes home from work. I'll also finish off the dishes if there were any left over (usually there are...). While Nic is home for lunch, Liara has her lunch as well. I'll eat my lunch once she's finished eating. After Nic leaves for lunch, I clean up from lunch time and play with Liara for another 20 minutes or so. At 2, it is Liara's afternoon naptime. I usually take this nap with her, and it lasts from 2-4. If I don't take it with her, it's only an hour like the morning nap... she doesn't sleep as well. At 4, I do some more housework (usually laundry and picking up the house again and vacuuming the floor so that Li doesn't eat anything). We then play some more, and if it's nice, go for a walk outside and visit the horses. We start getting ready for dinner time at 6 or so... right about the time that Nic gets home from work. Nic usually watches Li for the 15 minutes or so that it takes to finish up dinner, and then we eat. Liara eats as well. After dinner, we play some more until 8. At 8, we put on Liara's pj's and she and I go upstairs. We read books, she breastfeeds one more time (she still breastfeeds every 2 or so hours throughout the day), and rock and sing in the rocking chair. Then I put her to sleep at about 9. Lately (since we've been back from our trip to the US actually) she hasn't been sleeping well at night. She used to sleep through the night like a champ, but now wakes up usually around 9:30, then again at 10, then again at 11. She normally is pretty easy to get back down to sleep those times, but she'll wake up again at like 12:30 and fight it like crazy, so when she wakes up again at like 2- I'll bring her in to bed with me. Anyway, at 9, I go downstairs, pick up the living room and put all her toys away and spend some time with Nic. I've been working on our stockings recently though, so I work on those until about 11:30 or 12, then go to bed.

That's what I do every day. I don't get Saturdays or Sundays off... I don't get public holidays either. I've done that same thing pretty much every day (with the exception of days we have doctor's appointments or whatever) since Liara was born. It may not bring in a paycheck, but it is tiring. VERY rewarding, but tiring. I'm sick of people telling me that I don't do anything. I do a ton... I keep my house going and I educate my daughter. I am teaching her how to play and what the different colors are. We talk about shapes and read together. We learn about the area around us and we talk about the weather. We interact and learn what to do in different social situations. If I didn't "work", there would be no clean clothes, no clean dishes, the house would be a mess and there would be no food on the table.

So, for those of you who disagree that what I do IS work (though it may be the best job in the world!)... pbthththth. I didn't ask for your opinion!

Thanks for letting me vent.