My Life As A Stay At Home Mom

So a while ago I was talking to an old friend and he asked me what I was up to. I told him that I'd been married for 8 years, had three kids, went to school full time and stayed at home being a mommy. His reply: "So that's ALL you do? You just stay at home? Okay". WHAT!?! That's ALL I do!!! I will have you know that there is a lot to ALL of what I do. Here is a typical day in our house:

6:30am: Get up and say goodbye to Jame as he's going out the door to work. I don't usually know how long of a day it's going to be, so I do like to say goodbye to my husband before he leaves. Between now 7:00 I try to get myself ready to go for the day. My day can consist of a number of things, so I do actually try to get dressed. I am not a person that is comfortable going out of my house (unless it's just to run to the car) in my pajamas, so I try to look somewhat presentable.

7:00am: I get Ashlyn and Breckin up and going for the day. Usually Addy will wake up with them and I have yet another little person to get dressed for the day. I usually try to lay out the kids' clothes the night before, so I don't have to try to sift through clean laundry and try to find something that they can wear. I then proceed to get them some breakfast. This will be Breckin's first breakfast as he has breakfast again at school, but sometimes he doesn't like what they are having so I want to make sure that he has something in his tummy. Then I try to get the beds made and things picked up a little bit.

8:00am: We're out the door. All three kids with coats, hats, gloves and the two older ones with backpacks. Ashlyn has to be at school at 8:10, so I usually get there at about 5 after and walk her up to her door. Sometimes I'll stand there with her for a minute and some of her classmates will have me put on their gloves and zip their coats. So, I have another round of being a mom to other kids! Then Breckin has to be at school at 8:30. We usually wait in the car for a minute before we go in and then I drop him off and say goodbye to him. Addy and I then begin running errands for the day.

9:00am: Addy and I run some errands. On Tuesday's she stays with Grandma Kelley while I go volunteer in Ashlyn's class from 8:30 til about 10. We usually go to the grocery store or go to the library. Some days we'll just go home and start on chores for the day.

9:30am-12:00pm: I usually work on school work while I am doing laundry, giving Addy a nap, or paying bills online. Then I will wash the dishes, wipe the counters off and sweep the floor. I'll also start getting stuff ready for dinner that night. At least twice a week, I clean the bathroom. I have two boys in my house and one of them doesn't have very good aim. Then the other one makes a mess when he shaves. I am constantly picking up after one of them in the bathroom!! This includes, cleaning the counters, the toilet, the floor, and the shower. I then move on to the kids' rooms. I finish making beds and clean up toys that were left out before bedtime. Once a week I try to wash all of the bedding in the house. Finally, it's time to get Breckin.

12:00pm: I go pick Breckin up, talk to his teachers and find out what things are going on at the school that I need to be aware of. Once a month we have a parent meeting so that the parents can know about any upcoming activities or programs that they can help with. Then, if Jame's lunch isn't ready when he leaves, we usually go up there and drop it off and say hello to him because, again, we don't know how late of a day it could be.

1:00-3:00pm: I usually start on a snack for Ashlyn and Breckin to have when she comes home from school. Sometimes it's cookies, homemade bread, or something else that I've made. Other times it's just something like yogurt and fruit or popcorn or something simple, but I usually like to make something homemade. On Fridays she gets out at 1:30, so I go and pick her up then. Otherwise, I continue cleaning the house and trying to catch up on the never ending laundry!

3:00pm: We all load up again to go get Ashlyn from school. I go up to her door so that her teacher can see that she's with who she should be with and then we walk back to the car and I ask her about her day. After we get home, the kids get a snack and I try to put Addy down for another nap. Then the kids and I will read books or play or just relax and watch Spongebob.

4:00-7:00pm: Jame usually gets off of work within this time window, and since we only have one vehicle, we all go pick him up from work around now. Sometimes, we have to stop and do some errands for him, otherwise we just all go home. We relax and play together for a little while until it's time to make dinner. I usually like to try to have dinner at 6:30 at the very latest. The kids are very enthusiastic about being in the kitchen to help me when I make dinner, so sometimes it takes longer than if I were to just do it myself. We usually sit around the table together and talk about our day.

7:00pm: It's bath time for all of the kids, which means that Addy usually takes either a quick shower or a little bath. Then Ashlyn and Breckin have their bath and it's time to put on pajamas.

8:00pm: Now it's time to get the kids settled into their beds and get them thinking about getting sleepy. We usually read scriptures, say prayers and read a library book together. Sometimes I have to pat Breckin on the back for a little while, but he's usually pretty good about going to sleep. All of the kids are usually asleep by 8:30.

8:30-10:00pm: Now I'm just being generous to myself. I usually don't make it until 10:00. In fact, last night I started to drift off at 9. It was kind of amusing. Anyway, Jame and I try to catch up on things for the day and just enjoy some quiet time together. It's good for us because some people say that we have trouble communicating, you know who you are :) I have also been known to completely ignore him if I have a good book that I want to read, so sometimes he's left to his own devices and that usually includes the X-Box. Finally, I crash and think about doing it all over again tomorrow.

So for that ignorant (and yes, I'm getting THAT mean) individual that belittled my existence as a stay-at-home mom. I would like you to take a look at my day and see if you are able to accomplish even half of what I do. I would also like you to realize that on top of these things, I have a church calling, family obligations and every once in a while I've been known to help my neighbors and friends if they need it. I am very proud of what I do, even if you don't understand it. I am grateful for a hard-working husband who believes that the most important job that I can do is within the walls of my own home. And just for a little food for thought, if I did have a professional job title it would be this: chef, chauffeur, psychologist, housekeeper, nurse, teacher, bookkeeper, receptionist, personal assistant, and coach. On top of that, if you really need to have a monetary value on what I do, according to Fox News I'm worth $117,000 a year and according to MSN Money I'm worth $138,095 a year. But I'm willing to do this job for the satisfaction of being able to be with my children and make a house a home for my family.