There are so many upsides to continuing your career into the years of starting and growing a young family. The happiness of doing what you are supposed to do (or at least working in that direction) while also getting to love on your beautiful kids is a very fortunate opportunity.
But being a working mom is incredibly tough. Some days being a working mom kicks your butt. The list is sooo long, the to-dos are overwhelming, the deadlines are lurking.
Today I sit, cold cup of coffee in one hand and laptop keyboard in the other with three overflowing email inboxes staring back at me. I have a notepad next to my laptop and on it I jot my list of to-dos. My colleague is out of town so I’m picking up slack, I owe a report to at least five different people and I can’t put another project on my assistant’s plate. People are starting to feel annoyed, I can sense it even if they’re not verbalizing it.
Some days it feels as though no matter how fast you’re going, you’re just not going fast enough. Pieces are slipping through – bank papers are due, annual checkups are late, dry cleaning pick ups missed, school documents need to be mailed – or maybe if you are on top of all of that, the piece missing is merely sanity. Someone has to manage the bills, shop insurance premiums, stay on top of immunizations, order the new door hardware, replace the broken vacuum, take the dog to the vet, get the oil changed, prepare tax documents, sort out where said missing documents drifted to, pay that parking ticket, prep the potluck meal, buy sneakers one size larger, return overdue library books and attend the PTA meeting.
Meanwhile I am peeling off (but also secretly enjoying) Taylor’s big hugs and snuggles as she asks for me to ‘come, come’ from the office into the front room with Marley and nanny. She’s never clingy, but today she’s extraordinarily clingy. It is both endearing and so frustrating because I don’t want her to cry but I so badly need to nip my morning project in the bud right. now. Marley needs to nurse, I need to pump for an upcoming trip. My nanny gave me her two week notice because she’s moving to Chicago – I am interviewing like crazy.
These are the sorts of days that I ‘unsubscribe’ to everything in my inbox.
But I keep telling myself to hang in there, momma, because it’s worth it. It’s all worth it.
Today is one of those days. Most days may tend to start as one of those days.
If you find yourself unraveling every now and again, I so relate to you.
You’ve got me in your corner.
And it’s all going to be okay.
Signing off and getting back to it. xo
Cheers for having such a massive repository of photos in my iPhoto account that I found a pretty cute one for today that matches this post so well. Instead of playing kitchen in this moment, T was playing mommy. working.
I started working from home so that I could potentially homeschool my daughter for a couple years (we live in a bad school district and I have Montessori training, but even working at one of the local Montessori schools would only get half of her tuition waived), but some weeks I think maybe I should send her to school so I can actually work! LOL.
Every once in a while, I wake up for a week with the feeling of regret of how much isn’t done, and it’s something I have to consciously dismiss, but it usually takes a couple of days. Today, I’m feeling overwhelmed and felt comforted by your post – I have clutter everywhere, literally 7k e-mails, and a mermaid birthday party to plan, lol. Oh and there’s that actual work.
Off to reheat my coffee!
I love the montessori system (it’s too expensive in our neighborhood, too) but being able to practice the lessons at home is so wonderful! I know how you feel about email – I am looking at a similar overgrown inbox. Good luck, momma – you’re doing great!
Hang in there Morgan! One way or another, life is bound to get better. I know that it can be incredibly difficult when responsibilities of parenting, work and the household all seem to double (or triple) at once. Overwhelming and exhausting don’t even begin to describe it, right? Just take it one day at a time and do the best you can. At some point things will fall into place for you, even if it’s not exactly how you imagined. In the meantime it’s better to have cold coffee than no coffee, right?
Some days feels so manageable, and some days just about kill you! Some days a cold cup of coffee is just what the doctor ordered, too :). You are so right!
I am SO thankful for this post! Not thankful for your rough day, but thankful for feeling like I’m not alone! I’ll be honest, these are my favorite “type” of your posts…I enjoy them all, but I don’t have many mom friends who work full time, let alone love what they do, like I do. But even loving what I do, I question (sometimes daily) whether I am ruining my children’s lives. It is SO hard and I’m thankful for hearing my own thoughts come out on your page. Hang in there mama! And keep the work/life/balance and working mom posts coming. I think you have a lot more figured out in that arena than I do, so I’m always reading hoping for a gem of wisdom that will make it all easier :/
Corrina, thank you so much for your comment. Sometimes I blast posts out to the nethersphere and hope, hope that it will find a home with someone. I’m grateful for your comment today! And equally happy that you appreciate these posts, especially when they feel so vulnerable for me :). You make me happy to write them.
I agree with both of you! Even when you feel you’ve made the right decision to continue working full time after baby, there are these days. I feel like I can’t often verbalize what you just said in this post because I want to appear put together for coworkers, or feel other friends with different work situations won’t understand. Sometimes I don’t even want to burden my husband with my emotions because his immediate reaction is to try to fix it. I’m learning, after 5 months into my journey as a working mom, that I will not often feel like I have to have it together and that i should savor the days that I do. The thought I’ve been having lately is how will I manage when I have more than one kid? Your posts give my inspiration and encouragement that I will he able to manage a second or third and still keep up my career that I love.
Right now I’m feeling exhausted by the thought of continuing to pump my breastmilk at work for the next 3 months until my little guy reaches the end of year one. It’s my goal to make it that long, I know I will, but I’m just so sick of pumping!
I agree with you and I feel that all of the time. I feel as though I can’t complain because I’ve made a choice and I don’t want to burden others with it (sometimes you feel as though you have to prove that you made the right choice – so no complaining). But then it bottles up and really becomes a challenge. You are AWESOME for your serious pumping skills! You go girl!