“Take Your Kids to Work Day”…Every Day. [guest post]
A dear friend, Mel, who i refer to as "my photographer" seems to juggle everything. No, no I mean everything. We were involved in umpteen clubs and projects in high school and her energy ran circles around me. She requires less sleep than I do, but I always wonder how in the world she is a full time photographer along with a separate birth photo business AND mama of a toddler and infant. I was exhausted after reading her day, but this explains why she is always up late and somehow seems to fit it all in & manage to be there for her family and friends (always) - props to you mama, you really need to learn to say NO to people though ha!
Thanks for sharing your day and schooling us that while being a SAHworkingM has it's rewards it certainly makes work hours quite nutty.
6am: Snort. Waaah. Sniffle, fart. (sounds a lot like a gremlin, remember those movies?) The lovely sounds of my newborn son telling me he’s awake and ready to suck the half awake life out of me. Go to the bathroom first, start to nurse.
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I am equally a big fan of brenda’s blog as she is of ours. She’s been so supportive over the years of our photography and it’s my pleasure to fill in for her as she focuses on that little star of hers. Thanks for asking Brenda! Love you long time. Peace, melanie.
6:30: Wake up with my boob still out, baby asleep next to me, milk all over my sheets. Damn, I fell back asleep while he was nursing. Great, he peed out too! Change his diaper/clothes. Outfit #1 of the day. he passes back out.
6:45am: Adam’s alarm sounds. He snoozes til I kick him so hard he falls out of bed, or til 7:20, whichever comes first. Back to sleep until Nori wakes up at 9:30. I bring her into our room for some cuddle time, read some books, talk about our day. the only time of the day she has my 100% attention all day. Respond to texts from people who like to break my “no texting before 9am rule” as I put clothes on.
10am: Take the dog outside, Nori runs one direction, Lilo runs the other. Awkwardly take Lilo out of the hands of my neighbor and try to avoid small talk as I stand there bra less, mascara all over my face, rats nest on my head, shoeless and freezing. Nori and I take a shower during which time it never fails that I “let down.” Get nori dressed while trying not to spray milk all over before I can get to Nico to feed him. 45 min later, we are all fed, dressed and happy. Dishwasher loaded and running. Sling Nico to my chest, where he spends a lot of his day.
10:45: Put in a load of laundry. Set up my work space, aka, place my butt on the couch, computer on lap, baby on chest, water on table next to me. Respond to a few emails, then open Photoshop to begin editing images for the day’s blog entry.
10:51: “Mommy, go to potty!” Put down baby, he wakes up, starts crying. Nori goes potty, make my way back to the couch. Pick up Nico, “Mommy, where did my milk go?” Put down finally calmed baby, get on hands and knees to find Nori’s cup. Brush the dust off cup from under the couch, hand it back to her, sit back down. Open an image, two steps into editing…farrrrrrt. Weeeet loong farrrrrrrt. Fart. Fart. Wet fart.
11am: Change his poopy diaper. Nonni calls in the middle and while talking to her, a friend texts to see if I can go to lunch. Balance the phone on my shoulder, pull up clean diaper to close it, he sharts out the side, there goes his 2nd outfit of the day. Awesome. Hang up the phone. Go get new clothes, change Nico, back on couch, finish first image I opened 10 minutes ago. Nori throws her cup for the 3rd time, milk everywhere, take her to the corner. Fight with her to stay put, something she refuses to do since Nico was born. Clean up milk spill.
11:45: Finished a handful of images. Washer chimes, laundry done. Head downstairs to switch the clothes. Respond to a handful of texts while I walk down the steps. Switch clothes, put in second load. Listen to Nori at the top of the stairs behind the closed door jiggle the knob, “Mommy read me frosty man book.” I have a flashback of when she was less than 18mths and locked me in the basement. Back up, start reading the first page. “No mommy, sing like daddy!” I sing her the whole book. In the meantime Nico starts fussing, “shush” him while trying to get back to work. That doesn’t work, stand up, swaddle, shush, and bounce him around the living room. Nori is following me around demanding to be held at the same time. Denying her sends her into a tantrum on the floor, kicking and screaming. Drag her in the corner. Walk out of room to find my phone, return to find Nori with her grimy paws on my laptop pushing as many buttons as she can before I can get to her.
12:15pm: Sit back down with Nico comfortably asleep in his bouncy seat. Try and figure out what the heck Nori did to my computer to make my screen look the way it does. Pray I saved the last image I photoshopped the hell out of to get all the snot & blemishes off the subject face, edit the background, and got it blog ready. Fail. Start image all over. Thanks Nori! Ughhhhhhh. Take a breather, respond to emails.
1: The living room looks like a bomb went off. As much as I hate the TV on, decided to turn on some cartoons to capture Nori’s attention. That lasts 90seonds. Take Nori to the potty again, she insists I read her a book while she poops. She doesn’t poop.
Back to work and Nico is ready to eat. Balance him on pillows small enough to allow me to still reach my keyboard to work. He falls asleep on the first boob. Pick him up to lay him on the pillow next to me. Pukes all over himself because I didn’t wake him to burp. Phone rings, ignore it. 3rd outfit of the day. Change him. Back to work.
2:45pm: Nori disappears into the kitchen and returns with a bag of chips and a granola bar from the cabinet. Oops, we forgot to eat lunch! Nurse Nico on second boob as I empty dishwasher, while food is cooking. Nori climbs onto booster, knocks my drink off the table on her way up. Clean up that mess, sigh at the new stain on the area rug. Burp nico, spit up runs down my back (which I don’t discover til changing for bed). Eat while working at the dining room table. Take Nori back to potty, go clear the table. She poops while I’m out of the room and wipes herself with half the roll of toilet paper. Great. Shredding little pieces all over floor.
3:15: Look at the clock and realize how little I’ve done but somehow, I’m exhausted. Change Nico, sling to my chest, falls right to sleep. Force Nori to lay next to me on the couch as I rub her head with my left arm and edit with my right. She falls asleep and now I’m tortured with the deep sighs of two sleeping children on top of me. Finally time to work uninterrupted.
3:25pm: Fedex rings doorbell, Lilo starts barking, wakes up both kids. Sign for package, calmly smile and bite my tongue as to not start a fight with the delivery guy for ruining my silence. Put kids back to sleep.
3:45: Finally! Time to work uninterr….phone rings. I only answer because it’s a number I don’t know and it could be a family member calling me from a stranger’s phone stranded somewhere needing help. (I have issues, I know!) Nope, It’s a new client inquiry. It’s the mother of the bride asking me to explain every package (already detailed out online, where she found my phone number) and question why I don’t have the same package as another photog she saw online. I really want to tell her I have two sleeping children on my lap and it’s a terrible time, but I don’t want to burn any bridges by being taken the wrong way. Hang up, question myself why I have my phone number listed anyway?
5:15pm: Nori wakes up, take her to potty. She’s already wet because I forgot to take her before nap. Ugh. Yell at myself for after a year of doing her business on the toilet, the kid still isn’t trained.
5:45: Adam comes home as I’m finishing up nursing. Throw the kids at him with a loud grunt. He asks what I’ve done all day, I give him the death stare. He takes over kids for a few hours while I continue to edit.
8:30pm: I start dinner which is frozen meal because I could give two shits about cooking a decent meal at the time. Continue working while food is cooking. Adam complains I work too much, I respond, “and when else would you like me to work?”
9: Eat dinner with one hand while nursing Nico. I know, “great mom award” for feeding my child dinner when most kids have been asleep for an hour. Finish eating. Beg adam to clear the table AND do the dishes. He gets distracted by Nori, I do both, then clean up the living room disaster. Wonder when was the last time I peed.
10pm: Back to the computer. By that time I had only finished about ¾ the images for one blog entry. Focus on work the best I can. Images processed and uploaded but blog not written, I’ll finish tomorrow.
11:45: Nurse Nico in our bedroom. Come out to living room to find Adam asleep with Nori on his chest. Put her in her crib, wake him up to go to bed.
3am. Wake up to pee. SonOfA!!, I never switched 2nd load of laundry! Downstairs to the washer. Snort, stretch, fart. growl. Waaaah. Nico is awake and hungry.
Repeat. Every. Day.
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Just for fun because my absolute favorite thing to hear someone say to me is, “wow, you have the best job! Get paid to have fun at weddings every weekend and be a stay at home mom all week! I want your job!” ahhheemmm, sorry I was just clearing my throat to stop the hate that was about to spew out of my mouth. Here is a little breakdown of how life as a photographer really works. (no, I didn’t make this nifty piechart, I stole it from a fb friendJ )
*I should mention during the busy months in the past, I sent nori to a sitter 6-7 days a week…I’m sure this year will be no exception, just adding a second a kid to the mix! Makes me terribly sad, but it’s what I have to do.
**also, I love being a mom. Annnnd I love my kids.
***and I really enjoy my job and am VERY blessed to be able to stay home with my kids while doing it. It’s just not easy, ever.
Comments
so much i left out too!