I had someone say to me, “Since you’re a stay at home Mommy, I guess your house is always clean.” The laughter that ensued after that remark left my sides somewhat sore, but the more I thought about it, I am sure this is a common misconception. I can understand where the confusion can start. After all, we are “home” all day long. We should be able to keep the house clean, right? WRONG!! I thought it might help this misconception for me to post my daily schedule for you, and the things that take place on a regular basis, so that you can read what I do all day… and maybe understand why it’s sometimes difficult for a stay home Mommy to keep a spotless home.
6:30 a.m. – This is what time my kids internal alarm clock screams, “GO MAKE SURE MOMMY IS UP!!” Which usually I am.
6:35 a.m. – This is when my kids tummy calls out to be nourished. So I am cooking breakfast, usually oatmeal, by now.
7:00 a.m. – The kids are fed and I am helping my husband get out the door. I’ve already made his coffee and his lunch and I am standing at the door with both in hand and trying to smile. Then put Neverland Pirates on for the kids!!
7:05 a.m. – I like to get myself ready before I dress the kids, it seems to help me function better. SO – I am getting dressed – clothes, makeup, hair, teeth brushed, contacts, jewelry YADA YADA YADA!!!
7:30 a.m. – Getting the kids dressed now - two sets of clothes, two sets of teeth, brushing his hair, styling her hair, putting on shoes and socks and cleaning out eyes and noses.
8:00 a.m. – Now I’m making my son’s lunch, signing his school folder and packing him up to head off to school.
8:15 a.m. – Time to load up for school!! Get the kids loaded up and we’re off. Round trip to take my son to school is about 35 minutes. Which has me back home about…..
8:50 a.m. – I’m back home!!! Now it’s time to clean up after breakfast!! Not to mention the fact that, during some of the time above, the kids were dragging out toys and games that now need to be put away.
9:20 a.m. – Okay, now the house is, somewhat, cleaned up. Now I’ll sit down with my daughter and play an educational game. (It’s not like we can ignore them all day – They ARE our job!!)
10:00 a.m. – My daughter says it’s SNACK TIME!! So off I go to make a snack!! Maybe some Ants on a Log for fun?!?! Okay!! Snack and juice time for my angel.
10:15 a.m. – Okay…. I’ll try to do 30 minutes of cleaning – GO!!
10:45 a.m. – Time to cook lunch and feed our faces!!
11:30 a.m. – Okay, we’re all fed and it’s nap time for my daughter. Gather the blankie, Molly the Monkey and her pillow pet and we’re off!!! Lay her down, kiss her and maybe sing a little song. (And pray that today isn’t one of those days it takes her an hour to go to sleep!!)
12:00 p.m. – Time to clean up after lunch and morning play time!!
12:30 p.m. – Okay it’s picked up… for now…. Now maybe I can get in another 30 minutes of deep cleaning…. GO!!!!
1:00 p.m. – The little angel is up and has already drug out so many toys it looks like Toys R Us threw up in our house. *Sigh*
1:30 p.m. – Time for some ABC’s and 123’s with my daughter!! Gotta get her ready for school. I am her teacher!!
2:00 p.m. – Time to go pick up my son!! YAY!!
2:35 p.m. – BACK HOME!!! Time for afternoon snack – Granola bars it is!!
2:45 p.m. - Clean up after snack time!!
3:00 p.m. - Time to go play outside!! (Yup, I kinda have to go too, since my daughter is only 2 – but they have to have time outdoors!!) So I will chase them around the yard until ….
4:00 p.m. – YIKES!! Round the kids up – it’s time to go inside!! Get them in, get shoes off and dumped out (this IS necessary) and hands and faces cleaned up.
4:30 p.m. – Put on Bubble Guppies for the kiddos, it’s time to start dinner!!!! COOKING……
5:30 p.m. – Hubby is home and it’s dinner time!! Stuff our faces and we’re out the door… Why??
6:00 p.m. – Because now it’s time for soccer practice!! GO TY!!
7:15 p.m. – Home from practice “Whew”. Get all unloaded and in the house.
7:30 p.m. – Bath time!! Get our baths, pajamas on, teeth brushed and hair combed.
8:00 p.m. – Time for a little play time with Daddy – I know Daddy wishes it would last longer… BUT…
8:15 p.m. – It’s story and prayer time. Tuck them into bed, and everything is quiet. Maybe I should relax… Yeah right!!!
8:30 p.m. – I never got the kitchen cleaned up after dinner!! I have to clean up!!
9:00 p.m. – The kitchen is as good as it’s going to get so I guess I’ll pick up all the toys and games that got drug out today – They’ll stay put, at least until 6:30 tomorrow morning.
9:30 p.m. – Collapse on the couch and try to spend some time with the hubby.
GO TO BED AFTER MY HUSBAND WAKES ME UP TO GET OFF THE COUCH!!
Let me just say that even this schedule of events does not touch what we do as stay at home Mommy’s. It’s not an “easy way out” if that’s what you’re looking for or a lazy person’s job. I know that working Mommy’s are busy too, and I have AMPLE amounts of respect for them; however, we are also working mothers. We are basically a day care. We have less amounts of kids, at times, and less help than a day care, but in essence we turned our homes and lives into a constant Child Care Factory when we decided to stay home with our babies. Imagine the amount of work it takes to keep a daycare clean and organized. You must ALWAYS be cleaning up after the kids, meal times and messes. It’s a never ending job, with no time off to go get my hair done or even a quick errand alone during a lunch break. The kids never leave THIS daycare, which can sometimes make cleanup and inventory an issue. We are constantly Mommy Do-It-All. It’s what we do and who we are. You should know that I LOVE my job!! I wouldn’t trade it for anything. I feel like I was made to do this at this point in my life. Some Mommy’s do not. It doesn’t make me any better or worse, just different. So, to the person who said to me, “Since you’re a stay at home Mommy, I guess your house is always clean.” – No. Even though I’m home all day, my house is not always clean. It’s filled with toys, sticky floors, snotty noses, dirty diapers, spilled snacks, screaming, whining, crying and laughing. It’s a classroom, a doctor’s office, a GIANT playroom and sometimes even an enormous jungle gym, but clean all the time, it is not. Maybe one day it will be. Then I will have mastered the art of being Mommy Do-It-All.
6:30 a.m. – This is what time my kids internal alarm clock screams, “GO MAKE SURE MOMMY IS UP!!” Which usually I am.
6:35 a.m. – This is when my kids tummy calls out to be nourished. So I am cooking breakfast, usually oatmeal, by now.
7:00 a.m. – The kids are fed and I am helping my husband get out the door. I’ve already made his coffee and his lunch and I am standing at the door with both in hand and trying to smile. Then put Neverland Pirates on for the kids!!
7:05 a.m. – I like to get myself ready before I dress the kids, it seems to help me function better. SO – I am getting dressed – clothes, makeup, hair, teeth brushed, contacts, jewelry YADA YADA YADA!!!
7:30 a.m. – Getting the kids dressed now - two sets of clothes, two sets of teeth, brushing his hair, styling her hair, putting on shoes and socks and cleaning out eyes and noses.
8:00 a.m. – Now I’m making my son’s lunch, signing his school folder and packing him up to head off to school.
8:15 a.m. – Time to load up for school!! Get the kids loaded up and we’re off. Round trip to take my son to school is about 35 minutes. Which has me back home about…..
8:50 a.m. – I’m back home!!! Now it’s time to clean up after breakfast!! Not to mention the fact that, during some of the time above, the kids were dragging out toys and games that now need to be put away.
9:20 a.m. – Okay, now the house is, somewhat, cleaned up. Now I’ll sit down with my daughter and play an educational game. (It’s not like we can ignore them all day – They ARE our job!!)
10:00 a.m. – My daughter says it’s SNACK TIME!! So off I go to make a snack!! Maybe some Ants on a Log for fun?!?! Okay!! Snack and juice time for my angel.
10:15 a.m. – Okay…. I’ll try to do 30 minutes of cleaning – GO!!
10:45 a.m. – Time to cook lunch and feed our faces!!
11:30 a.m. – Okay, we’re all fed and it’s nap time for my daughter. Gather the blankie, Molly the Monkey and her pillow pet and we’re off!!! Lay her down, kiss her and maybe sing a little song. (And pray that today isn’t one of those days it takes her an hour to go to sleep!!)
12:00 p.m. – Time to clean up after lunch and morning play time!!
12:30 p.m. – Okay it’s picked up… for now…. Now maybe I can get in another 30 minutes of deep cleaning…. GO!!!!
1:00 p.m. – The little angel is up and has already drug out so many toys it looks like Toys R Us threw up in our house. *Sigh*
1:30 p.m. – Time for some ABC’s and 123’s with my daughter!! Gotta get her ready for school. I am her teacher!!
2:00 p.m. – Time to go pick up my son!! YAY!!
2:35 p.m. – BACK HOME!!! Time for afternoon snack – Granola bars it is!!
2:45 p.m. - Clean up after snack time!!
3:00 p.m. - Time to go play outside!! (Yup, I kinda have to go too, since my daughter is only 2 – but they have to have time outdoors!!) So I will chase them around the yard until ….
4:00 p.m. – YIKES!! Round the kids up – it’s time to go inside!! Get them in, get shoes off and dumped out (this IS necessary) and hands and faces cleaned up.
4:30 p.m. – Put on Bubble Guppies for the kiddos, it’s time to start dinner!!!! COOKING……
5:30 p.m. – Hubby is home and it’s dinner time!! Stuff our faces and we’re out the door… Why??
6:00 p.m. – Because now it’s time for soccer practice!! GO TY!!
7:15 p.m. – Home from practice “Whew”. Get all unloaded and in the house.
7:30 p.m. – Bath time!! Get our baths, pajamas on, teeth brushed and hair combed.
8:00 p.m. – Time for a little play time with Daddy – I know Daddy wishes it would last longer… BUT…
8:15 p.m. – It’s story and prayer time. Tuck them into bed, and everything is quiet. Maybe I should relax… Yeah right!!!
8:30 p.m. – I never got the kitchen cleaned up after dinner!! I have to clean up!!
9:00 p.m. – The kitchen is as good as it’s going to get so I guess I’ll pick up all the toys and games that got drug out today – They’ll stay put, at least until 6:30 tomorrow morning.
9:30 p.m. – Collapse on the couch and try to spend some time with the hubby.
GO TO BED AFTER MY HUSBAND WAKES ME UP TO GET OFF THE COUCH!!
Let me just say that even this schedule of events does not touch what we do as stay at home Mommy’s. It’s not an “easy way out” if that’s what you’re looking for or a lazy person’s job. I know that working Mommy’s are busy too, and I have AMPLE amounts of respect for them; however, we are also working mothers. We are basically a day care. We have less amounts of kids, at times, and less help than a day care, but in essence we turned our homes and lives into a constant Child Care Factory when we decided to stay home with our babies. Imagine the amount of work it takes to keep a daycare clean and organized. You must ALWAYS be cleaning up after the kids, meal times and messes. It’s a never ending job, with no time off to go get my hair done or even a quick errand alone during a lunch break. The kids never leave THIS daycare, which can sometimes make cleanup and inventory an issue. We are constantly Mommy Do-It-All. It’s what we do and who we are. You should know that I LOVE my job!! I wouldn’t trade it for anything. I feel like I was made to do this at this point in my life. Some Mommy’s do not. It doesn’t make me any better or worse, just different. So, to the person who said to me, “Since you’re a stay at home Mommy, I guess your house is always clean.” – No. Even though I’m home all day, my house is not always clean. It’s filled with toys, sticky floors, snotty noses, dirty diapers, spilled snacks, screaming, whining, crying and laughing. It’s a classroom, a doctor’s office, a GIANT playroom and sometimes even an enormous jungle gym, but clean all the time, it is not. Maybe one day it will be. Then I will have mastered the art of being Mommy Do-It-All.
It's so much fun reading your blog.I am a fulltime mommy too,so I can totally relate! :)
ReplyDelete