Friday, September 11, 2015

Straight Talk: Being a Stay At Home Mom (SAHM)


I absolutely love being able to stay home with my boys and be there for them all of the time, but that's also a drawback of being a SAHM! I often find myself needing an outlet. I want the best for my boys, but I also need the best for myself. We moved across country and don't have any family around so we have had to learn, even more, how to juggle being parents, husband and wife and individuals. We need our family time, date nights and our ME time. How do you manage when there's no one there to give you that time?


You have to be smart about your time. We haven't mastered anything, but we know that we can do our family time and once the kids go down we can have OUR time or Me time. Most of the time we choose Our time just because it is so scarce.

We have made a few friends here and have found a nice babysitter, but having her babysit often gets expensive and she's not always available. We've had to manage and adjust. We TRY to get out without the kids at least once a month, but even that gets difficult sometimes.

Being a SAHM, you have to deal with toddler meltdowns, mostly non stop! You have to be the caretaker all of the time and there are no off days. You have to be the taxi, the cook, you have to grocery shop, clean the house, wash and fold laundry,etc. all with needy little ones around.

And don't ever complain about being a SAHM, you will be judged and your frustrations will be given the side eye. No one will understand your frustrations unless they are or have been a stay at home mom. People think for some reason when you're a SAHM that you are only sitting down watching TV while the children are very good little beings and are sitting quietly next to you playing. You have nothing else to do as a SAHM, but cook and clean and you better not have a messy house, not even for one day. I laugh at those people. As a SAHM, we must be very patient! Patience! You must be patient and tolerant, organized and plan, plan, plan.



My husband does often say to me that he just doesn't know how I do it! I can appreciate that.There was a time in our lives when he thought all I did was sit around and twiddle my thumbs. He couldn't quite understand how a woman with an infant could get zero house chores done while he was at work. He soon realized what happens when you're home all day with children.
Once he put things into perspective, he understood what I did all day and how the house could look the way it did with just me and an infant at home alone. Throughout the years, many things have changed and the house work does get done. I'm just more organized and deliberate about it. I take advantage of nap time most days and sometimes I don't. Some times, I nap at nap time. Hey, it happens.

There are times when my oldest kids are home from school and we make it a Pajama day. They love those. We lay around the house in pjs and watch tv or movies and eat popcorn. We LOVE those days and need them sometimes. Days like that keep us sane.

Working moms have it just as difficult. I was once a working mom as well, but I gave it up to stay home and be mommy full time. This was my decision. I'm not debating motherhood on who has it best versus worse. Taking care of children and a household whether or not you work or are a SAHM is tough! Moms, mothers, Mamas, Mommies all have to stick together. We're all in this thing called life and we should be enjoying it! No stressing, ladies!! 

It is definitely a privilege to be able to stay home with my little ones and take care of them myself and not have to ship them off to daycare. I love being a mom full time and I wouldn't trade these years for any amount of money. I love my boys and my husband and I wouldn't want anyone else to have my life, it's not up for trade!

What are some fun things you do as a SAHM with your little ones on down/in days?

What are your thoughts? Let's chat in the comments below.



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4 comments:

  1. I have been a SAHM for 5 years now, it is hard! I am right there with you girl. We just moved about 3 months ago and it is a big adjustment! We still aren't fully adjusted yet. I will be blogging about that all real soon though!

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    1. Hopefully you'll get adjusted soon! It takes time. Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  2. Fortunately when raising my kids I had family to take over for those times I wanted to go out with hubby or for some me time, with sister in laws we would swap baby setting.

    Visiting from our Small Victories Party.
    Just pinned!!

    Now I would like to invite you to stop by and share links on my Friday Feature-Linky-Party
    Have a beautiful week, Karren

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    1. Yeah, we did too, until we moved across the country :-). I'l definitely check it out.
      Thanks for commenting!

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