Working Moms vs. Stay at Home Moms

I know that most people say that stay at home moms have it easy and they don't really work. I got to be a stay at home mom twice, 3 months when I had Kie and 3 months when I had Taylor. Now when I had 3 months off with Kielyn it was pretty easy, I got to hang out with her and when she napped, which was a lot I did laundry, cooked and cleaned and was kind of bored a lot of the time. Now after I had Taylor and was on maternity leave there was no such thing as boredom. Not only did I have a new born (she really slept a lot and was really easy), but I had a 17 month old. There was no such thing as a break for me. While trying to feed Taylor and keep Kielyn entertained there wasn't a whole lot of time for laundry, cooking and cleaning. Thank God for frozen meals! I love my girls with everything that I have but after getting up at 7 am and being with them all day and not talking to or seeing another adult can grate on ones nerves. By the time Ben got home I was close to the edge of a melt down! Being the fantastic husband he is, he would let me have my 30 min me time. After this I felt human again.

I would venture to say that if you are a stay at home mom of one things are pretty easy and laid back, there is plenty of time to get things done during the day. But once you have 2 or more forget it! Now being a working mom is tough too. First off I have to leave my girls at daycare and fortunately for us we have a wonderful day care provider, and I get to go see them at lunch every day, but still.........I go to work and have to answer to other's demands, kind of like being a stay at home mom, except the "kids" are older. Once I get off work I have to pick the girls up, get them home, get Kielyn her snack, feed Taylor, think about what we should have for dinner, make dinner, try and get 2 loads of laundry done, clean up dinner, run the dishwasher, pick up the toys in the middle of the living room floor, get 2 kids in the bathtub, get Kie her milk, feed Taylor again, find the missing binky or blanket, get Kie in bed and try to get Taylor to sleep. And all of this gets done in a 4 hour time frame. And forget about the weekends! Most of the time Saturday is spent going to Wal-Mart and Safeway to stock up for the next week and thankfully Sunday is spent in our jammies playing.

I wouldn't trade my life for anything (well maybe a beach and a daquiri somedays) I enjoy being a mom first, a wife second and a professional third. I love my job and love what I do, but I would rather do it part time or do it once my girls go to school, but life isn't that easy. So after all of this I don't know which one is harder, being a stay at home mom or a working mom. All I can say is that I am thankful for the time I had at home with the girls, I am thankful for my job and truly thankful for my life!