What Do You Do All Day?

I am not a stay-at-home-mom, but most of the week I am privileged to stay at home with my son.  Every morning that I get to stay at home I wake up with high hopes and dreams of all that I will accomplish throughout the day.  It looks a little something like this:

• Get dressed, wear makeup, and actually do my hair
• Feed the child a nutritious breakfast, lunch, and dinner
• Read books, play games, and teach the munchkin something new
• Take the babe for a walk or to the park
• Put the sleepy boy down for a nice, long nap in his bed
• Do the laundry, dust the house, do the dishes and wipe down the appliances
• Pay the bills
• Write thank you notes
• Take the little one to the doctor
• Sweep the floors
• Make phone calls about overcharges, cancellations, and to all those who should have done their jobs but didn't
• Have dinner on the table when hubby gets home
• Exercise for 30 minutes
• Enjoy a tv show with the hubby
• Bath the babe
• Take a long, luxurious bubble bath all by myself
• Get the child into bed before 9 so mommy and daddy can have some alone time

Despite my efforts, my typical day looks nothing like that.  Every day I wake up with these crazy dreams, and go to bed disappointed.  And then society consistently asks the question, "What do you do all day?"  Realistically, this is what we mothers do:

• Try to get dressed.  No makeup.  Hair in a ponytail.

Living with kids, toddlers in particular, teaches you that it only takes seconds for all hell to break loose.  If there is a classy outfit laid out on the bed ready to throw on, I might get dressed before the child starts wreaking havoc.  But more than likely, I only have enough time to throw on the pair of yoga pants and the t-shirt left laying on the floor from the previous two days, with the hope of changing clothes and getting dressed during nap time. 

• The child ate.  Sort of.

The toddler ate a cheerio off the floor.  That counts as breakfast.  Then he got into the fridge and dumped the leftovers on his head and proceeded to lick the tasty lasagna off his fingers and toes.  I believe that counts as lunch.   Well, I know the little guy got dinner.  Kind of.

•  Bath time happened. Over and over again.

The child is clean.  This I am sure.  He got a bath after the lasagna mishap, after the afternoon blowout, and after he found my tube of lipgloss.

• We played, sang and took a walk.

Well, I sang songs to drown out the screams while cleaning up the blowout.  The babe played in the tub.  And I took many-a-walk around the house looking for the munchkin who is learning how to play hide and seek.

• I did four loads of laundry.

 You wouldn't know it though, since I accumulated another two loads as a result of all of the day's catastrophes.

• The little one swept the floor.

...With his bum as he scooted across the floor chasing the dog.


And to quickly summarize the rest of the day:

• I called poison control and the doctor's office because the babe got into the dog food.
• I had the hubby pick up some take-out for dinner.
• No need to exercise after the day I've had.
• No need to bathe, since I was the recipient of residual splashing during the munchkin's three baths.
• I fell asleep on the floor during the t.v. show.
• Daddy carried baby and mommy to bed around 10:30PM.

Society isn't the only one asking the question, "What do you do all day?"  I ask myself this question a lot!  What did I do?  As I sat pondering this question last night, I realized a lot of what I do is not easily written down in the form of a list, or checked off at the end of the day.  But if forced to do so, it might look a little something like this:

• I woke up and intended on cleaning the kitchen, but then I saw my sweet boy sleeping.  I watched him for a few minutes, and then picked his sleepy little body up in my arms and rocked him for the next hour.
• I changed his bum... a lot.  And every time I did, I pinched his little bum cheeks making him smile, and told him how much his mommy loves him.
• We watched his favorite movie together, Beauty and the Beast, and laughed at all of the silly things Gaston does.
• We snuggled up side by side on his little Brobee pillow pet and took a nap together.  His hand was wrapped tightly around my finger.
• We turned on Christmas music in October and danced around the living room singing carols.
• We made a mess during feeding time.  The little guy tried some new foods, and we played in his yogurt.  He smeared it all over my face, and I helped him lick his fingers.
• The babe helped sweep the floor with his bum, as I pulled him around the kitchen floor making him giggle.
• Sure enough, there were three baths today.  The first from a blowout, the second after a messy feeding time, and the third just because mommy and baby wanted to bathe together and play in the bubbles.
• We ate leftovers when Daddy got home, and all watched reruns of Boy Meets World while taking turns smothering our sweet boy in kisses and cuddles.
• We all went to bed way too late because we were too busy enjoying our time as a family.

The things I do all day may not mean a lot to society, but they mean everything to me and my little boy.  The laundry will be there tomorrow.  Nap time can be delayed.  The household chores can wait.  I choose to take advantage of every opportunity to make memories with my family.  And I don't believe that is a choice I will ever regret.