There are only 24 hours in a day. And most of those, for me, are spent at work and sleeping. After some serious "Mommy Guilt", I confidently decided that I will make the most of the time I do have with Piper. It's obvious that I will have to work for the foreseeable future, so I must focus on quality time over quantity of time. One advantage, for me, of being a working mom is that since I am away from my daughter all day, it is an exciting event when we see each other at the end of the day. She gets so excited, and it takes every ounce of her not to run to me when I walk into her school. She has gotten better at using her "walking feet," as her teachers call it, but I usually make elaborate gestures to let her know how excited I am to see her.
Thus begins our school/work evenings.
For a while, I was exhausting myself trying to cram 48 hours into one day, and then came some clarity. So it was decided (by me) that some stuff just had to go. I have been experimenting with once a month cooking (or OAMC as the cool kids call it), and it has helped tremendously. Also, I decided I would allow myself one chore a night (how am I still single?!). Suddenly, I was able to ballet dance with Piper or sit in my favorite chair and relax (which means reading Harry Potter) while Piper draws. Piper is going to sleep earlier. I am going to sleep earlier. I am not running (as) late in the mornings.
Sometimes I have to learn lessons the hard way.
I usually cook on Sunday nights, and on my Mondays off (every other Monday), I freezer cook for about a week or two. Since Piper and I eat the equivalent of one grown person, this process doesn't really take long and I can usually make two or three meals out of one recipe, creating quite the stock pile of food in my freezer. So, when we get home in the evenings, I pop a pre-prepared meal in the oven, which leaves little clean up, leftovers for lunch the next day, a happy toddler and a happy mama.
My freezer...let's just hope that there isn't a power outage.
I'm very self-conscious of my cooking. I don't really have that knack for cooking that some do (maybe that's why I'm still single?!), but I can follow a recipe (for the most part!). Here is a OAMC recipe I tried the other day, and I was impressed - Green Chile Chicken Enchiladas.
I feel the same way Tricia! And you've just inspired me. I was feeling a little overwhelmed this week and I asked myself why I stay home part time. Because if you ask my kids i'm sure they'd tell you that mommy stays home two days a week to cook and clean. my mommy guilt kicked my butt this week. my priority on my days off should be playing with my daughters, not cooking and cleaning. i'm trying to reprioritize my life, so thank you for showing me that it can be done!!!! you are so impressive to me!
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