Work-From-Home / Stay-at-home Mommy Scheduling. Is there such a thing?

So first off I have to say it cracks me up that I'm even writing a blog.  I HATE reading blogs in general because there are so many out there that it's impossible to pick up on one that you truly enjoy.  So it amazes me in and of itself that I feel the need to write one.  I never thought I wanted to write a book, but I'm a true believer in things that come to you when you need them and things come out of you when you need them to.  This is what Guilt-Ridden Mommy is all about.


One reason I get frustrated reading blogs is because they don't get to the point quick enough for me.  This occurs with a lot of reading I do, also.  If I can't figure out the point of what I'm reading before I read it, then I lose interest quite quickly.  I want to know the catch before I spend my time reading what the person has to say.  I'm not necessarily here to give you any advice either.  Advice for one person doesn't work for others.  It's like recommending a book to someone that touched your soul and has zero meaning to the person you recommended it to.  These blogs are more about discussion.


So, from now on I'm going to let you know "The Catch" first, so you can decide for yourself if it's something you want to spend your time reading.  This blog is about how we spend our times as mom's scheduling our day.  If you don't care and feel your time is no issue, then this blog post probably won't interest you.


So, We just got our first mommy blogger and I am so happy to see that!!!  Reading her blog felt relieving to me as I went through many of the same situations when I went back to work with my daughter.  It's always nice to know we are all probably thinking the same things, but just too afraid to share them.  Kuddo's to her for being brave enough to share!!!!


So, I wanted to write this out yesterday and I had the grandiose plan that I'm going to get a precise schedule set in place as a stay-at-home mom.  I woke up at 5:30am started getting ready (kids are already up of course) and took my shower and my "schedule" went haywire from there.  What the heck was I ever thinking I can schedule my day as a stay-at-home mom???  I've gone through this before plenty of times and it just isn't feasible.  I set this plan in motion, time and time again and it never sticks because the kids are the ones who set the schedule, not me.  I set a schedule in place and before I know it two day's later (or as in the case of yesterday, 20 minutes later) it has no use as our lives.  Because as stay-at-home mommies the schedule changes daily or even minute by minute depending on what the kids need, what they did, or what the mood is in the household.


I used to get bored with the monotony of working out of the house.  Same thing every day.  I always referred to it as Ground Hog Day, like the movie.  Now sometimes I crave that monotony.  I can't seem to schedule a bathroom break let alone time to sit down and write.  Sometimes I think I knew I needed to go to the bathroom an hour ago and I completely forgot and now I'm dying to go to the bathroom, but there is no time because I'm off to rush here or there.  But if there is one thing I've learned if you want it bad enough, you can get it through sure will power.  And for me that comes in the shear enjoyment of writing you all.  


So, right now I'm taking my so called "lunch break" at 1:30pm.  This is when I'm back from dropping my daughter off at school and my son takes a nap (if he so desires, and falls asleep when I want him to).   If he doesn't desire the nap, then there is no lunch break for me.  Lucky for me this is one of the day's I get my lunch break.  Lucky for me, I'm also a fast typer and I have no problem spewing my thoughts onto paper, so here you go!


 I've also decided that if I am going to be working from home (I work from home P.T., mostly because I like it and have found a little of my bliss in social media) that it's going take me getting up at 5 in the morning to get the day started.  This amazes me as a stay at home mom because I have no place I usually need to be until usually 9 or 10 o'clock.  I never even got up this early when I worked.  Well, only when I needed to be at work at 6am.  Even then, I went to work with my hair wet and didn't need to look presentable because all I was doing was putting on scrubs.  


I can't believe how long it takes to get kids dressed, fed, you dressed and get some hours (I try to do at least 2 hours) of work in before 8:30am.  I've been doing it the multi-tasking way and I'm starting to feel myself running ragged if I want to do 4 things at the same times it's probably not the most beneficial!  So, I'm thinking to myself, do I need to get up at 4?  Ugh.  That sounds horrific!!


I do this so the kids can have their classes and most start around 9 or 10.  I enjoy these classes, too, and it brings me back into why I wanted to stay at home with my kids.  It's a fun bonding experience for all.


So, once these classes, or play dates are done, we are home eating lunch where I'm multi-tasking again making lunch and catching up on a few more work related things.


I'm thinking throwing another baby into the mix of this with all the nursing sounds nutty.  How do you mom's do that????


Then we are off to school.


But I know realize this is going to change too.  My neighbor just told me Kindergarten starts at 7:50am next year!!! Oh my!!


I've been a stay-at-home mom for almost 4 years now and I'm just now putting two and two together that this IS way more scheduling than I ever had to do before when I was working out of the house.  I'm back at where I started when I was working, but my work or myself isn't creating my schedule, MY KIDS ARE.


I can't believe how many times I have made breakfast in a 20 minutes period because the dog got on the table or the kid knocked it over.


My husband get so confused where I am half the time he finally put a calendar on our phones just so we can know who's where, when.  I can't just say I'm at work.  I'm driving to class, I'm driving to play date, I'm driving to school, cooking this or that, snacks, reading them books, library, bolting home to get kids down for naps, chasing down the grocery store cart as it fly's through the parking lot, scraping the cranky kid off the parking lot as I'm trying to chase his shoe that he kicked off 5 feet away all to get to pick up the other kid who is at school.  I'm definitely spending much more on gas then I thought I ever would being at home.


Yes, we could stay home and just stay home.  But, that's not enjoyable to me as a stay-at-home mom.  As nutty as our day's get I do enjoy the chaos of it all and I do know the kids enjoy being on the go.  We do have 3 or so quiet times during the day, morning, after school and after dinner.  Those are always on the schedule.


I think OK, Monday's will be this kind of day, Tuesday's will be for this, ect.... And it kinda works out to that degree, but they are never the same.....  Even when I wasn't working P.T. from home or wanting to talk to all of you on blog world, I still was up to my eyeballs in tasks undone.  Thus, the reason I was still washing shorts that I wore over the summer just the other day.


So,  Here's to all the chaos that goes on with working mom's, stay-at-home mom's and working-from-home mom's.  I know we all try to get some type of schedule under our belts, but here's to being flexible!!!  Lucky for me I'm as flexible as they come.  Literally.  You should see how far I can reach past my toes!!! ;o) .  I hope you can too! I know we all need it.


OK, my goal for tonight is to try to type out some type of actual schedule.... NOT!!!  As long as my kids get to school on time, I think we are A-OK.  Actually we are always the first ones there, so my daughter has even mentioned to me I'm a little nutty about wanting to be on time.