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Are you a stay at home mom, or a work at home mom??
I am and I have to say no matter how hard the trying times are enjoy every little moment as you take parenting one step at a time!
Life as an Early Childhood teacher
I had only been working a couple months at a new job when I found out I was pregnant. I had been hired on as a lead teacher for an infant room at a local childcare center. At the time that was my dream job so being a stay at home mom never crossed my mind. I was also working towards my associates in early childhood education.
Entering motherhood
My little one was born in August of 2015 and after six weeks I returned to work. When I returned to work I continued my same position as the infant room teacher. Teaching in the infant room meant my daughter was in the same room as me. This made working so much easier as I didn’t have to leave her with anyone.
The promotion
I had recently received my associates, became director certified and was working towards my bachelors degree when I got some great new. May of 2016 I received a promotion to be a site director at a new center. It was a difficult transition and I hated not being with her everyday. After being promoted I worked that position for little over a year before I became a Stay at Home Mom.
After working and having a job for 8 years the transition to being a stay at home mom was a huge change. I loved my job and my career but I was excited for this new adventure of being a stay at home mom.
They Stay at Home Mom Life Begins…
The first moth or so was easy and laid back. I enjoyed not having to wake up by a certain time everyday and go to work. I lounged around all day in my comfy clothes not even thinking about doing anything productive.
After that phase was over I went into a very strong depressed state. I was struggling with the whole staying home thing. My boyfriend works long hours along with working graveyards so he is asleep all day.. I had very little adult interaction. I was struggling and I started considering going back to work.
A could months in
After a while I started to get the hang of a routine that I found worked pretty well and I just started focusing more on my daughter and it helped to pull me out of the slump I had fallen into.
Now
I would not change being a mom for anything. It has been the best thing I have ever done and my little girl has taught me so much. I have now been a stay at home mom for over a year. Avalynn and I have connected so much more. She is my mini me! Yes I still go crazy being home all the time but I am adjusting to life at home.
A Typical Day
A typical day in our house consists of:
waking up, eating breakfast, playing with toys, doing school activities, spending time out side, and lunch. This is the basics of our normal routine. I have a Schedule of what we do that is available for you guys here. Now keep in mind my daughter sleeps in till around 9 or so but you can always change the schedule around to fit your family times.
During our down times (while she is eating or if she decides to actually take a nap that day which is rare) is when I catch up with my blog, house work or my schooling.
Things to do with your little one at home
There are many different things you can do with your little one to help your days at home go smoother. I have different articles through out my blog that talks about different ideas of things to do. Set aside a time to do a craft or an activity with you little one. My daughter loves cooking activities and anything to do with art. Do a school lesson with your child, it doesn’t have to be anything to hard just simple things like the calendar, time, numbers, letters and such, or just sit and enjoy time sitting and playing with your little one.
Here is a great calendar activity board that does the calendar weather and a couple other things. We love this activity chart and we use it daily! This calendar board comes with a responsibility chart that is also a great way to help your child with doing house chores.
Outside adventures
One activity that we do together that benefits both of us is going for a walk. We enjoy walking around our neighborhood talking about the different things we see. I feel this is a good learning setting where I can teach my daughter about different things. What is a stop sign, what colors do you see, the sounds of the animals we see (normally birds, insects and the occasional deer.)
For the schooling activity we do each day ,like I mentioned, doesn’t have to be anything big and fancy. You could even do it while on a walk. Count cars that you see, talk about letters on license plates or the numbers on houses. They could count their steps or the lines in the sidewalk. Work on getting their energy out have them jump over the cracks in the cement, hop on one foot.
Screen Time
At our house we limit screen time just because we have found that the behavior problems go down when there is less TV but I am a strong believe in technology teaches children very well. This would be another great thing to do is turn a show on and have your child sit down and watch it while you get things done. We do allow TV that is normally shows with nursery rhymes, or some type of learning show.
House Work
Aside from spending most of your time with your little one make sure to set time aside to get your things done. Don’t let the house work suffer by putting all your time towards the little one. Set side about an hour or so each day to do something for the house or for you. Create a daily cleaning list. (Here is my list) You can always include your child in the house cleaning chores too. Give them a broom and have them sweep the kitchen floor. They could also help you carry the laundry to the washer ect. I found a very cute responsibility charts that I use and they work very well with my daughter.
Thoughts that come up when being a stay at home mom
Many moms have asked me of how my family works through the different parts of me staying home. The big thing I am asked about is how we survive on one income. Other questions I get are what do you do all day, how do you deal with stress when you see your husband gone at work all day with a get away and your with your little one all day. Another popular question is what do you do with your self all day there is only so much cleaning you can do. I understand all these questions and I have been in the same position. I hope I can help you guys to over come all these and feel like a better parent.
Life on one income
Going from having two incomes being used to support the living expenses for a family of two and you go down to one income and a family of three it can change your everyday life routine. I know for us it was a big wake up call. We realized how much we were spending on extra things that we really did not need. We had to learn to balance the expenses and focus on what was the important necessities.Budgeting is the number one thing to do to stay on the right track.
Make some money while staying home
While staying home there are different ways you could try to make an income to help where you can. Direct sales are something many go to and it can help if your willing to work towards it. I sell Scentsy and it helps me to buy things here and there. Another option you can do is make items to sell, I sale home-made items such as children items on Etsy. There are different sites available to sale your home-made items on some of these include Etsy, Facebook market, Shopify, eBay or even on Amazon.
Not much into direct sales and you’re not very creative? No worries there are many different ways to earn money from home. No it won’t be a lot but anything helps. There are websites that allow you to do surveys and simple tasks to earn money. A few of these Websites that I have used include Swagbucks and InboxDollars. Along with survey apps there are apps that help you save when shopping. The app I use that I absolutely love is Ibotta. They give you rebates for everyday items. Another great shopping rebate app for online shopping is Ebates. Another great way to try to make money from home is to start your own blog. Check out how to start your won mom blog.
Check out my recommendations page for more ways to make money at home
Stress from staying home with the little ones
For the first couple months of staying home I really struggled with stress. My daughter is three going on 16 so her attitude at times is crazy. There are days I feel that there is not enough time in the day to get everything done that needed done. Times like that made me feel like I was not accomplishing anything. This made me feel that I had made the biggest mistake ever.
Being a stay at home mom our duties are looked over. It is not recognized as what we really do everyday. . Our days consist of chasing around the little ones, changing diapers every time you turn around, picking up toys as your child goes to something else oh and if your lucky you will sit down for thirty seconds before your being pulled to your next task. I have found that if you implement a schedule that it can help with the chaos. No that wont save you from running around like crazy but trust me it helps.
Being a stay at home mom is harder than any job I have had. Yet it is the most rewarding job that I have had. With some support and being pushed in the right direction you will survive being a stay at home mom.
