What does a WAHM do?

So, I often hear comments such as:
"Man, you have it so easy."
"I wish I could work from home with my kids."
"What I would give to not have this commute."
"What all did you do today (read the house is still a mess)?"
"How does she work if she went out for coffee?"
"How can she work if she is traveling?"
Well, I think these are all good questions, but let me give you an insight to my day starting at 12:00 am. This a pretty typical day...

1:30am
Charles wakes up with night terrors, Seth and I spend 30 minutes comforting him and getting him back to sleep. 2:00am Seth drops off to sleep in 1 second, I lay awake for another 30 minutes to an hour winding down from the heart racing moments of hearing your baby scream. 5:00am Seth's alarm goes off for the first time. I wake up and go back to sleep. 6:15am Seth's alarm goes off again. I wake up and go back to sleep. 6:25am Seth's alarm goes off again. I wake up and go back to sleep. 6:37am The door to the house slams. I wake up and go back to sleep. 7:15am Charles wakes up for the first time. This week, I put him back into the crib since he is crawling out of the bed and still tired. He falls back asleep. I get up and throw on some clothes (literally) and pull back my hair. Note: I didn't brush my hair or teeth and I didn't shower (ewww...yes I know) 7:45am Charles is up for good. I go and get him out of the crib and change his diaper and clothes. Today his sheets are wet because he took off his diaper in middle of the night, so I have to find some time to wash them. I put his clothes on him while he is getting irritated that he can't go straight to the kitchen to eat. 8:00am We both go to the kitchen and I put him in his chair since he fell of the bar stool last week. He complains as I am fixing breakfast of course because it is never fast enough for a two year old. I get his milk ready and cereal. I realize I need to wash the tray to his chair-crumbs still remain from last night. 8:15am I sit down to check my email from Campbell and Hotmail. Charles finishes the cereal and is still hungry. I fix him a banana. 8:25am I sit down again to check my email from Campbell since I have 14 new emails mostly from students that waited until Sunday to try and submit an assignment and are panicking because I do not take calls after 9pm. Charles is done with his banana and wants down. 8:35am The living room WAS clean. Well not anymore. Charles has taken almost every toy and put it in a different place. Ahhh total chaos but this is a few minutes that I can definitely devote to the computer because he is so busy tearing up the living room. 9:ooam My Campbell email is finally checked and approximately 75% responded to. I finally check my Hotmail. YES! I made two sales! I will need to find time today to make those and mail them. Charles falls off his rocking horse and bites his lip. It is bleeding. He wants to be cuddled and hugged so we do until he says, "all done." 10:00am Charles starts announcing, "Emmo TB pease" and "Emmo potty pease." I figure well if this is all of the TV he watches today, not a big deal. Perhaps I can get some work done. I put on the DVD and start Campbell work. I manage to grade an entire assignment (gasp) before noticing that Charles is standing on the back of the love seat. I panic. Oh my goodness! I am such a bad mom. I run to "rescue" him all the while he laughs. I scold him for scaring me and put him back on the love seat and give him a pillow and blanket, crossing my fingers and hoping that he will sit still for 15 to 30 more minutes. 11:00am I have another assignment completely graded. Oh my students will be thrilled. I am hungry and just realized I haven't eaten breakfast. No wonder! Well, I can't eat anything at this point in front of Charles as he will start crying no fair. So I fix Charles a snack. I heat up some Chicken Ramen noodles minus the flavor packet. Ahh, I was starved! (Not really if you have ever seen me in person, but I sure felt like it.) 11:25am Snack time is over. Hoping Charles will start to exhibit the rubbing of the eyes soon so that we can start nap time. Elmo is over and he wants to watch it again. I don't think that is a good idea. We go and play blocks for a few and then switch to play kitchen and cook some blocks for a change. 11:50am YAY! The eye rubbing has begun. Not too much longer before nap time. 12:15pm I put Charles down for a nap. Ah peace. Up-not yet. Charles has climbed out of his bed. Ick. Go put him back. 12:30pm No noise from his room. I need to start working on the General Deasil sales. I need to make a Tush Rinse and a batch of lip balm. Ah yes you ask. I do make everything the day of usually. It is just better that way. I make up the Tush Rinse and then I start melting the beeswax for the lip balm (not the vegan balm-no worries). It takes a little while to melt all the ingredients to the correct temperature but in the end, the product is far superior to anything you can buy at the store. I package the items, print some labels, calculate postage, print some postage labels, and take the items to the mailbox. 1:45pm I need to start working on the summer classes that I am teaching. Let me start with BADM 300. I pull up my templates and start working. I actually like this part most of the time. It involves me figuring out the best way to arrange the materials, reading all the materials, finding the supplemental links and resources that I want the students to read, designing assignments, and creating a syllabus. Shoot, I think I hear Charles... 2:20pm I would have liked to have gotten farther but Charles woke up. Uh I forgot to think of what I can cook him for lunch. Uh I forgot to clean up his tray after breakfast. Lets try the bar. Ok. I sit Charles at the bar and cook him some microwave meal. He looks at it like it is poop or something. I struggle to find something he will eat. I am thinking will he starve if he doesn't eat. Shouldn't he be hungry by now? 2:45pm Charles announces, "all done." Ok done with lunch. "Emmo potty pease." Ugh...I am so tired of hearing this. I think I hear Charley (the neighbor's three year old) outside. Yep, so we go outside and play for a while. Hey I get a break too right? Oh well so we get eatin by skeeters and dirty from collecting sticks, rocks, and grass. I am tired. Gosh why am I so tired. I don't feel like I have gotten anything done today. 3:45pm We come inside. I worry about Charles getting burnt. Worry worry worry. I guess it is my job. Charles wants to watch Elmo. I give in. After all, it is only his second time for the day. Maybe I can get some work done and cook some dinner. Ahhh I do get some work done. Did I mention I am also donating some items to the local Relay for Life? Yeah I forgot. I need to get those ready before tomorrow morning when I have to drop them off at the coffee shop. 4:30pm Seth calls and he is off of work! Praise God. I am tired and I still have a million things to do and the house is an utter wreck. I make a half attempt to re-pick up all of the toys while Charles finishes Elmo, sweep the floors, and vacuum...Ugh the sink is a wreck! Oh well that is going to have to wait. Charles is wanting something to eat. No surprise. He didn't eat much lunch. Oh what to do...Seth wants to talk while he drives, Charles is screaming in my ear. Sigh...where is the peace and quiet? I need to get some work done!!! 5:15pm I start dinner. Charles is screaming because is thinks he should eat now. I don't bend rules for those that refuse to eat lunch. He will learn but in the mean time I have a headache from it. 5:30pm Dinner is ready and Seth walks in the door. He drops off the mail and heads to the bedroom to change and take care of business. Charles continues to scream. I get his plate ready and realize the tray is dirty and so is the bar...Geeeeezeee...so I clean both so I will have something for him to sit at tomorrow. Charles is on the floor hitting his head (yep this is typical). I serve Charles before we get dinner. I serve my plate, then Seth's. I cram my food as fast as I can. I have stuff to do. I am tired. I am irritable. Go figure. 6:00pm I am done eating. The kitchen is a mess. Charles is whining. Why? Well because I ate fast, I haven't cleaned up and as far as I can tell just because he can. I run water in the dishes and try to put away the left overs. I send Charles to play with Seth. I have to get some work done. 6:30pm I guess we should go work out. After all I am growing, and it ain't taller. Sigh, I feel like I have been up forever...I change clothes and pack a bag for Charles. I check my Campbell mail again. I realize I haven't responded within the 24 hours that I committed to. I have to do this before we leave. 7:00pm We leave for the gym. I can't focus on working out hard. I have a million things at home that need doing. I worry that Charles isn't having a good time in the nursery. I am walking on the treadmill and Seth is running. I am jealous that I am too out of shape and fat to run. I say in my head, one day I will be able to again. I think about all that I am needing to get done for the Dean, for my classes in progress, grading, website design work, finishing the kitchen, what to do to meet with friends to make sure I don't go insane this week...I look up at the clock...Oh goodness. 7:45pm We get ready to leave. Child care ends at 8:00pm. We get back to the house. Time to give Charles a bath. Seth does this hoping to give me some time to catch up. I get about 10 minutes before having to get his diaper, pajamas and bed (oh my I forgot I have to change his sheets). Honey run some more water. I change the sheets and get all of the above ready. My dear son is a prune. We go to the living room and play a bit to get some final energy out. 9:00pm Charles is in bed! YAY! Or so we think...we will have to listen to make sure he doesn't escape again. Time to do work. Seth is read to take over the desktop so I am going to get out my laptop and work on the couch. Always a bad idea since I always find something more interesting than work on TV. I stay up until 11:30 working on school stuff and fall asleep on the couch. Seth is still up at the computer. 12:00am Seth gets me and says it is time to go to bed. I go in the bathroom, brush my teeth, change clothes and hop in bed...yep no typos here...I still haven't showered. I will do that tomorrow. I hope. I look forward to tomorrow when I think I will have more time to complete my work.


So yes this post is boring, but it is a typical day at Kat's house as I attempt to work from home, take care of my son, remodel my house, and start my own business. It is a very hard job to do and while I am very blessed to be able to enjoy the extra time with my son, I also miss the friendship of colleagues, the motivation to get ready in the morning, and getting out of the house. I am fortunate to be able to work from home but it is 100 times harder than anything I have ever done outside the house. Sometimes I even feel like the time I spend with Charles isn't true quality time. I know he thinks otherwise but still very easy to doubt yourself. It is true that I have no commute, and I don't have to get ready in the morning, but there are trade offs. For me, I need some alone time to be able to do work and to revamp so I am a better mother. I am thankful that my mother in law is able to watch him two days a week so I can be a better mother. Tuesdays and Thursdays are a bit different since I do try and get out of the house for at least an hour. I make sure that I engage with several friends on Tuesday mornings at the coffee house and then I work from there for a change of pace on Tuesdays since they have WIFI. On Thursdays, I might meet friends in Charlotte for dinner. They are always so nice to pick a spot with WIFI so I can work before dinner. Sometimes getting out of the house means I will get more work done. I hope that helps folks understand what exactly I do as a WAHM and why my house isn't always spic and span, why my work gets done at odd hours, why my kitchen is still not finished, why I always have soap supplies on my counters, and why I look like I haven't kept up my appearances...Yes one day, I will put myself on that to do list, but for the time being, my baby comes first.