Show & Tell Monday

I decided to do this Monday's link up because it is the perfect opportunity to tell you about my work transition from a working mom to a stay at home mom.

 This Weeks Questions: Careers/Your "Job"

Way back in January when I returned to work from maternity leave I started a post about my day as a Working Mom. That post never made it to publish.

This happened for a number of reasons the main reason being after lunch I kept forgetting to document my day via pictures. I didn't want to publish it as is because I like details- lots of details and I am a perfectionist of sorts.

So, this link up gives me the perfect opportunity to rectify my lack of post so to speak. Here goes...


1. Tell us what you studied in college. Is your job now related to what you studied?
I majored in Biology. My undergraduate story is actually a pretty interesting one. I was accepted into a pre-med program for undergrad minority students designed to aid us in excelling in the medical profession. The highlight of this program was that I was one of eight students accepted into medical school right out of high school. Yep, you read that right. So, why am I not a top notch surgeon saving lives?? Well, because in order to keep your seat in that freshman class you had to maintain certain criteria. I clearly did not keep my end of the bargain and therefore I'm not a full fledged physician. Honestly neither is ALL of the other 7 that was in the same program. 2 of them are, 2 are currently in med school after taking some time off to regroup their brains after such a grueling program and the other 3 I have no idea what they are doing.

So, my pretty little Bio degree has absolutely nothing to do with raising such a handsome little boy into a dapper young man :) And although I'm not doing what I said I intended to do at 17 I wouldn't change it because I wouldn't have my hubby nor baby.

2. Tell us what your everyday job looks like.
Well, I quit my day job as a financial aid counselor at a major private University to become a full time stay at home mom. That wasn't my intention but clearly I have issues putting plans into action (see second paragraph above). Now my job is one of my greatest accomplishments. Most days are like so...

9 am: I'm woken up my someone sticking a figure up my nose or in my ear, then he smiles at me.

9:30 am :we head downstairs for breakfast. Last week breakfast was a fight. He's normally a good eater so he may be bored with breakfast options or just doesn't feel like eating.

10 am: we bathe. Bathing is a big thing because I can't bathe alone. I know you think I'm weird but this child will scream his little head off if I try to keep him out the bathroom. Plus if I'm in the bathroom and he's not then I can't keep an eye on him. And if I'm in the shower and he's outside the shower then he's trying to climb into the shower because this boy LOVES to bathe. So- we shower together. Not showering is not an option for me and since the little guy likes to wear his breakfast in addition to eating it we get clean together.

11 am we clean up the bathroom. It gets messy in there. There's always toys and clothes everywhere so after we each get dried and dressed we must undo the damage, lol!

11:30 am we head outside for a walk. I try to walk anywhere from 2 to 3 miles daily (we'll talk about my need to get back in shape later). My little guy LOVES this. He looks at all the cars going by, the leaves on the trees, and anything and everything he can. Many people in our neighborhood has commented on how content he is in the stroller. We walk rain or shine... well light rain or shine because if we don't get out cabin fever sets in QUICK in this house. I'm not yet familiar enough with our surrounding to go driving around exploring in the rain so we do our best.

12:30 pm we head inside for lunch, unless my little guy happens to have fallen asleep in the stroller. This is really hit or miss. Sometimes he wakes up when I take him out, sometimes he doesn't. Sometimes he falls asleep on our walk sometimes he doesn't. It does make it really hard to structure a day but I do the best that I can. Lunch is normally leftover from dinner last night or something simple like grilled cheese.

1 pm I'm at a loss at this point. I usually set him loose to play with toys while I straighten up the house. You know make the beds, wash the breakfast and lunch dishes, put away toys that get taken right back out. He still too young to have an attention span past 3 minutes so TV isn't helpful ( and I'm 300% ok with that). I try to do some learning time with him. We have been going over body parts and numbers. He can properly identify his feet, nose, and ears when asked (sometimes reluctantly or downright no cooperation) and when asked he can show you how old he is. But I don't know what other things I can teach him. He doesn't have a huge vocabulary and no matter how much I try to get him to repeat after me he just doesn't. So from now until hubby comes home I have no idea what I'm doing.

2 pm If he hasn't taken a nap by now we fight. Yes fight. My boy is a horrible sleeper and it's all my fault. I was never happy with all the 'sleep training' techniques that I researched so we resulted to whatever gets him to sleep. Now, he's 13 months old and that's still what we do. I dread him taking naps as much as he does but I can't just let him stay awake because by now he's super whiny and super clingy. Even if I try to hold him he's unhappy and starts flailing and what not. It usually takes me about an hour to get him to go to sleep and he may sleep for about an hour or so.

3 pm. There are very few times where he's sleeping at this hour. Likely my 2 pm attempts have failed and I'm at my wits ends. Sometimes at this point I'll either start dinner or go in a corner and cry. I'm joking. If the babe has taken a nap earlier in the day during the stroller ride we usually keep playing. I look  forward to the 4 o'clock hour.

4:15 pm dad will be home soon and I cannot wait! I know this isn't a good feeling to have but this nap thing wears on me something terrible. If it's not raining I let him walk up and down the block while following closely behind. He loves this! He likes to watch all the cars go by and pick up leaves and other foreign objects.

4:40 pm Dad's home! And we are super excited to see him. If he's not home I'm super antsy but try not to text him because lets face it- he just got out of work 10 minutes ago.

5 pm Being a mom is a job that never ends even when they grow up, get married, and move out on their own- but life is a little bit easier when dad's hands are around to help :)

3. Do you have a picture of you at work? Show us.
Sure do! Gladly :)

This kid LOVES the swing!

This pic was an outtake that I like because of the sun glare :)

4. In 10 years, what do you see yourself doing? Same thing? More? Tell us.
Oooh this is a good question! It's such a good question that I don't know the answer to it. Am I really the only person who doesn't know what she wants to be when she grows up?!?!

I feel like I could maybe want to be a professional event coordinator. Over the summer I interned (that's so funny to say as an adult) with a pretty reputable company and I loved it! Except the hours kind of suck. This is precisely why I left the medical profession referenced in question #1

5. Tell us what you have learned, and what {if any} recommendations you may have for those looking to go into the field you are in.

I'm still learning! In fact if you have any recommendation on how to teach my son good sleeping habits starting at the age of 13 months puh-lease... pretty please comment below or email me- I'm desperate!

Bad sleeping habits aside, I think you should enjoy every moment you have as a mom. The good, the bad, and the indifferent. Learn from your old childhood and draw upon what you liked and didn't like. And don't forgot you are more than just (baby's name here)'s mom so set aside some time to do the things you like to do and get some "me" time. It helps you to regroup and refresh so that you come back ready to give motherhood your all! Oh, one last thing- take a gazillion pictures 'you don't get back the moment after it's gone'.