Dear people who think staying at home with your children is "easy,"

I know you may think that your job is soooo hard & that us Mommies that are fortunate enough to stay home with our kids "have it easy." We have all this time on our hands and just sit around the house all day getting to do whatever it is that we choose. Well, guess again my friend.

I've lived the "working mommy" life & it's stressful! Having to get up extra early to get the kids ready for school or daycare & make yourself look half way decent so you can go work a full day to only come home and have to cook dinner, help with homework, rush the kids to their activities, give baths, cuddle, get the kiddos to sleep & give your husband attention on top of all that. Not my idea of a "Good life." Don't get me wrong, I know it's hard and has to be done in some situations. At that point in my life, that was the case & I just had to make the best of it. But I just prefer to stay home and raise my own children if at all possible. I try and make that possible by staying home and also making money.

Now, I'm THANKFUL to be living the "stay at home but still have to make money" life...which is still stressful not knowing your exact income that month! I don't have to wake up extra early to get to a corporate job anymore. But I do have to get up extra early to get three children fed and dressed for school & their day. I only have one child in school so that leaves me with two home & an extra one that I babysit. Count em' up and that makes three children to keep happy and entertained all day.

Yes, we get to take trips to Chuck-E-Cheese, pumpkin patches, grocery stores, & run errands during the day. But that doesn't make it fun or exactly "easy" to do those things with all the kids by myself. Some of them just need to be done...some of them I do for the kids because they've been good...and some of them I do to give the children experiences and chances to learn fun things outside of the house. ALL of them, I know how lucky I am to be able to do so! But NONE of them, I think is easy & I can't imagine that anyone would.

The fun actually starts when my oldest gets home from school & we have homework to do, and activities many nights of the week...so I'm kept on a pretty tight schedule which isn't all fun & games. Not to mention, I have a husband to keep happy so I plan and cook dinner (okay, not every night but most of the time, although he is the cook of the family :-) and try to keep the girls entertained some in the evening so he can also have some wind down time from his busy day at work.

And YES, I DO pay my own bills! I'm always coming up with new ways to try and make money...anywhere from running an in-home daycare to being a consultant for a home clothing company to making homemade goodies for my Etsy shop.

Yes, I have the most supportive husband on the planet but we have an agreement that I'll pay my bills...so I do. So even though I get to "stay at home," doesn't mean that I'm off scott free doing whatever I please during the day and not "working." Because I am. I make money to pay my bills. I watch my children and others all day and that is WORK. HARD WORK. And until you do it yourself, I don't want to hear comments about how "easy" I have it, or how much time I must have on my hands.

My "time" comes from staying up all night, doing what I love...which is blogging and making paper goods and crafts for my Etsy shop. And that's in between feeding my baby every 4 to 5 hours. So no, right now in my life...I don't get much sleep. Because If I didn't stay up late after the kids went to bed to have "my time," then I wouldn't get any, & that's just what I have to deal with right now.

So for the people who think that's "easy..." please keep your comments to yourself until you have lived that life. Then you can tell me how "easy" it is to be able to stay home. Having children is NOT easy! It's the life we've chosen and I LOVE IT!

And NO, I'm not taking away the "hard" life that you may have by working full time either because I've been there and know it's not easy. That's why I'm not making comments to you about it.

I usually don't rant and rave like this, I try to keep things positive...but it's been one of those days.

My mother-in-law just had surgery to remove a large tumor and I'm worried sick.

My daugher is NOT a morning person and hates waking up in the morning to get ready for school so mornings are always difficult.

My dogs just got back from "boot camp" for two weeks and now act like they haven't learned a thing.

I feel like my house is so cluttered right now and I need to organize but don't know where to start.

My head is splitting open...oh, what's that? I can't call in sick or go in late? Bummer...

I'm going to leave you with this article which I hope you read because it shows that we could make $134,121 with all of the things we do as SAHM's (which I've never actually considered myself, but I guess technically I am). Maybe that'll help you people understand!

Sincerely,

Your friendly "working SAHM"