The term ‘stay at home mom’ definitely doesn’t make you sound cool or awesome.

In fact, to the world, being a stay at home mom puts you on a lower level then the cool, sophisticated women with careers.

Have you ever thought about it though…

A Women With A Career…

1. Probably has training.
2. Get’s paid.
3. Has sensible working hours

A Mom…

1. Has no training.
2. Doesn’t get paid.
3. Is on duty 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Being a mom is definitely the hardest job I’ve ever done, and I jumped into it with no training.

In the mom career if you’re fed up with your clients, you can’t just walk out on them because you kind of committed to them for the rest of your life.

You can’t just hand the complicated matters or the ‘hard to deal with’ clients over to your boss because…

SURPRISE!!

You are the boss!

So you took on this mom career with no experience or training and then you also find yourself on duty all the time!

You can put up as many closed signs as you want and it still won’t stop these little clients of yours because if they decide they’re thirsty during the night, they know where you sleep!!

It is a full time job, I never get any time off because even if I have some time away from my kids, I find myself wondering if they are ok or I’m constantly thinking I should check on them before realizing, oh yes, I’m actually on my own right now.

They don’t even respect those 5 minute bathroom breaks you try to take… at least my kids don’t…

Every single time I close that bathroom door one of three things is almost guaranteed to happen.

1. I hear a loud crashing sound, followed by a wailing child.
2. I hear strange noises coming from strange places and I fear that they are up to no good. (those fears are very real and theres good reason for that, they are rarely unfounded.) 🙂
3. There is at least one (often two) kids pounding on the bathroom door hollering: “Are you done yet?!” Or, “Come out here again!!” (seriously do they think I’m never coming back again or what?!)

No, my bathroom breaks don’t last an hour, my children just have a strange fear of a closed door standing between them and me…

But hey, who knows what that bathroom might do to me!! 🙂

I read this quote recently and it seriously cracked me up because, well, because I get it!

If someone asks me what my hobbies are, I’m like: ‘Well, I don’t know… I’m a mom… I really enjoy going to the bathroom alone.’ 🙂

In the mom career we are on duty all day, every day and we don’t have a penny to show for it.

Are moms underpaid or what?

Actually, I can’t say that I am.

No amount of money could exceed the blessings that come from being a mom. The list is endless really, from slobbery kisses and strangling hugs to sweet baby grins and a determination to be exactly where I am at all times.

Like literally in the exact same spot I am.

Like on the exact same square foot of space.

I will say again though, I have never been more blessed in my life, no money-making job has ever left me feeling so fulfilled.

So you see…

Even though I have no experience with running a company, I will declare to anyone who cares (and to those who don’t 🙂 ) I am not just a stay at home mom.

I am the CEO of this house.

I don’t know wether that stands for ‘Chief Executive Officer’ Or ‘ Child’s Entertainment Officer, but I do know that I think it fits the mom life perfectly.

And it makes me sound pretty cool. 🙂

A Bit Of My Journey.

Where did I get this crazy idea that I might be a CEO?

I don’t know if you picked up on it through my blogs or not, but since I have two kids instead of just one, it’s been a bit of an uphill battle.

I often found myself with no time for myself because at least one of my kids was up at 6:00 most days, they rarely took naps at the same time and by the time they were asleep in the evening I was too exhausted to stay awake anymore.

Basically what happened is I was extremely overwhelmed, which seemed to lead to grumpy kids which then added even more stress to my life. It was kind of a vicious cycle it seemed.

I tried different things to stop the cycle and everything helped but I still felt that somehow, surely there was a way to have a home that ran smoother and was less chaotic.

Surely I could do this mom thing without getting so stressed about it.

I mean, I only have two kids!!

I felt like God was saying that I should treat my ‘stay at home mom life’ like I would a job.

I was kind of confused, what does that even look like?

The first thing I did was try to change my mindset, rather then getting up in the morning thinking about everything I plan on doing today, I try to think about how I’ll spend time my kids and anything I accomplish on top of that is a bonus.

Reading a story to them is after all more important then a spotless house.

I kinda floundered around with the idea though because I wasn’t sure what treating my ‘mom-life’ like a career was supposed to look like.

Then I read someone’s blog. I’m stealing their idea to share with you guys, because for me it was an answer to prayer.

(If you’re interested the blog sight it’s called: ‘Club31 Women, a passion for husband, home and family.’ Check it out, it’s one of my favorites.) 🙂

I took her advice and I started a daily schedule. a routine that we follow like clockwork, on days that we are at home.

For me, the reason it works is because with a schedule, it takes away a lot of mental stress, adds organization and gives your children stability, it gives them an idea of what to expect.

I basically took the schedule she had written down and started following that, then adjusted it to fit our family.

Here’s what our schedule looks like.

1. 7:30    Rise & Shine
2. 8:00    Breakfast
3. 8:30     Worship
4. 9:00     Mama Time
5. 9:30      Snack Time
6. 10:30    Quiet Time
7. 12:00    Lunch
8. 2:30     Snack Time
9. 3:30     Clean-up Time
10. 5:00     Supper
11. 7:00     Daddy Time
12. 7:30      Baths and stories
13. 8:00      Bedtime

I also created a weekly meal schedule for breakfast, lunch and snacks. I tried to only put each food on once because I use the same meal schedule every week, in other words every Monday we eat the same foods we did the Monday before.

I looked over the schedule and thought: ‘Wow, if I follow this I won’t get anything done in the morning.’

Let me tell you I get more things done in a day then I did before we had a schedule and this is why…

This schedule brings order to so many areas, for one it takes away frustration…

If the kids are hungry, I don’t need to stop what I’m doing to get them food, instead I tell them that right now it’s playtime and just soon its going to be snack time.

It takes away mental stress because I don’t need to think about what we are going to eat, I just look whats on the menu.

Kenzie is less clingy because I actually took time to play with her and kynaston. My goal for mama time is to pour into my kids through their love languages. Daddy time is half an hour where Checkers entertains the kids and I have a whole half hour to myself!! Imagine that! 🙂

It gives the kids stability. It didn’t take long before Kenzie’s questions changed from: ‘What can I eat?’ to ‘When is it snack time?’

I can tell that she loves the schedule, it seems to add excitement to her day or something. It’s kinda like: ‘Sure mom’s gonna work now instead of playing with us but that’s ok cuz its snack time now!’

Another valuable thing is the quiet time, when Kynaston goes down for his nap at 10:30, I get Kenzie to sit on the couch quietly with some books, and I take a break too. Even though the desire to get some things done is pretty strong, I have learned that having a quiet time helps a mamas brain to regroup. (another blog I read) 🙂

Also I slip odd jobs in wherever I can. For example a lot of the things listed are at half hour intervals but in reality only last 10-20 minutes.

After I started with a daily schedule, I realized that this is how I can treat ‘just being a mom’ like a job.

With a schedule I don’t get as wrapped up in the things that I want to do and accomplish today because my day is already planned out, my job is simple:

Execute that schedule.

I should add, this schedule only happens perfectly on days when we are home all day, other days I try to follow it as much as possible but the goal is to eliminate stress, so let’s not get stressed out over keeping a perfect schedule.

So, there you have it, another piece to my life puzzle of running an orderly home that stays focused on Jesus.

In 200 hundred years, very few people will even remember that I ever lived, so they definitely won’t remember how clean my house was or how beautiful my flowerbeds, but I can leave a lasting legacy through loving my children and giving them a Godly foundation to pass on for generations.

So let’s change Lancaster county and make people a priority over well-kept properties. 🙂 🙂 🙂