To celebrate the different expressions of how moms work, the KCMB series “The Way Moms Work” follows the many ways we work in a single day. We hope this series will champion all of the work moms do, both in and out of the home, and encourage our readers to find meaning in their own work as well.
It’s summertime and you know what that means – whether you’re a working mom or a SAHM – you’re working harder these days. Or, at least I’m assuming you’re doing so, because I’m a little bit of both and I’m always working harder in the summertime. The kids are home which means more of everything. More laundry. More cooking. More cleaning. More activities. More stress. More fun. More friends. More fighting. More daylight hours. More money being spent. More. More. More. Ultimately this translates to more demands from Mom.
I’m a busy mom of five. My life is filled with “more” already! So, imagine what my summers are like – more MORE! Because of this, I am finding it hard to find any sort of routine.
I consider myself to be a SAHM who also works from home part-time. I am a nurse and also a photographer, which has been a blessing as I seem to have been especially busy with it in the last two years – since I stepped down from nursing when my husband got a new job. (It’s funny how life works sometimes, isn’t it?) So, I’m a mom first and foremost – which takes up almost all of my time – and when I can fit it in, I “shoot” people with my camera!
Most of my time is spent here at the house. Honestly, the majority of my time here at the house is spent doing the effing laundry. Whether it’s because we have damp towels and swimming suits from the pool, or because the kids decided to make mud puddles in the backyard with the hose before thinking to change out of their clothes and into swimming trunks, or because the 2-year-old has “decided” to regress in her potty training, so I am literally cleaning up @#%! at least once a day… I am doing laundry all day long. There is always a pile to be washed. Always a piles to be dried. Always a pile to be folded and put away.
And if I’m not doing the laundry, I’m picking up the house. I like a tidy house, and since it’s summertime, it seems like there is always something to be tidied up. Of course I enlist my kids in this, and they are excellent helpers, but they are excellent little destroyers, too – especially the 2-year-old. Some days it’s a futile effort, and those are the days I’ve learned to let it go.
When I’m not doing the laundry or cleaning up, I’m feeding my children – because they always want to eat! I got smart, though, this summer! Anticipating the boredom eating, and the my-brother-has-a-snack-so-I-have-to-have-a-snack-too eating, and every other reason you can think of that kids want to eat and get into the pantry… I decided to create a “kitchen’s open/closed” schedule and posted the times where they could see. This helped with the constant asking for food, yet, they are still “so hungry” all of the time, it seems!
I will usually get a moment to sit down at the computer in the afternoons – whether it’s because the kids are outside playing at a neighbor’s house or because the toddler has miraculously taken a random nap – so I squeeze in a little photography work. I do this whenever I can, because I’d rather do it in these down times during the day, rather than late at night. Some days that means plugging them into screens, and some days that means paying my oldest a couple of bucks to babysit so I can get some work done.
In the off chance that things wind down and I find myself caught up on everything I want to get done, or maybe when I just feel so overwhelmed that I need a distraction from all of the things I should be doing, I keep busy by making or creating by doing one of my various other hobbies or interests. One thing I absolutely love to do – between harvesting from our own garden and going berry picking from local farms – is canning! I love canning. All things mason jars! This year I’m doing pickles – I totally feel like an old grandma…
I’m also doing my best to prevent the “summer slide” and attempt to work with the kids daily on school work. But, in all of the work we do, we also play a lot – especially during the summer! More activities, fun, and friends, remember? This summer has been packed with activities already (which is one of the reasons why our routine was blown to bits!)
To finish up our days, we spend a lot of our summer evenings at the pool when the sun isn’t blaring and the crowds aren’t as numerous. Sometimes we even have the whole pool to ourselves. Because with all of the more that comes with how moms work during the summer, sometimes this mom could use a little less!
