It is days like today that I am pretty grateful not to be a working mom.
Right now it is 11:21 and all I hear is quiet. Thank God.
You see just a mere 30 minutes ago I was coming in from moving the sprinkler (some day I am going to sell my soul for a sprinkler system) and tromp, tromp, tromp....down the stairs come my two little angels, "Mom, we STILL can't sleep."
This was trip NINE since their original bedtime at 8:15. I sort of wanted to cry. Or maybe beat my fists against the wall in a furious temper tantrum. Instead I sighed and replied, "You guys are going to be a mess tomorrow if you don't hurry up and get yourselves to bed. You have swimming lessons in the morning and if you don't get sleep you are going to fall apart after lunch. Then I am going to be cranky and start yelling (see my previous admission to engaging in tornado siren imitations) and then Daddy is going to come home and he is going to start yelling that everyone is yelling...so PLEASE, just GO.....TO.....BED!"
11 o'clock came and the blissful silence finally fell.
Earlier today my little Starman started cutting his second bottom front tooth and he was busy yelling all day to express his displeasure with this turn of events. This kid skipped all of his naps today. He basically sustained himself on two, thirty-minute cat naps. Finally, after yelling his head off for over three hours, he passed out in his swing at 10:05.
Now, if I was a working mom I would just now be starting to prepare lunches for everyone, getting the diaper bag packed, making lists of everything I would have to do in the morning to make sure everyone had what they needed for the day. Then tomorrow I would stumble out of bed in search of coffee and cursing my children for robbing me not just of sleep, but of personal time before having to put my nose to the grindstone for another day.
Instead, I can stay up and write this blog because I can doze through swimming lessons tomorrow, put on a movie, and assuming Starman sleeps at some point, I can lay down and rest for a while. This would be something I would not get to do if I was working a normal 40 hour a week job.
The physical demands of child care combined with the severe sleep deprivation that accompanies small children can sometimes push into borderline torture. And yet working moms get up and push through it day after day. I honor and applaud you for your dedication whether by necessity or by desire. While most days I wouldn't mind joining those ranks, today? Today I am happy just to be me.
Sharing my two cents. A blog primarily about issues revolving around the work/family balance, but also prone to life anecdotes and adoption musings.
