Hardest job you'll ever love, eh? Let's see.....
Description-Must be able to multi-task, extreme flexibility needed, irregular and sometimes, non-existent breaks, must handle bodily waste, irritable customers, must be able to lift heavy objects (and they only get heavier)
Hours-all of them
Salary-volunteership (who needs cash?!)
Benefits-watching the fruits of labor develop into a wonderful contribution to society.
In case you're confused, this is the description for the latest job that I've taken--I'm staying home with our two young kids. Don't get me wrong, the Peace Corp is a wonderful program that allows folks to spend a few years sunning themselves in the Pacific, fishing and catching up on 20 years worth of reading. But as the title of this post says, this job has its own brand of unique challanges. Nevertheless, I'm thrilled to be here and don't have any plans currently to leave this post. The decision to do this came after we added Baby Paige to the stable that already includes Baxter (22 months). For the past 14 months, Jennie and I have run in the rat-race known by many.
6am, wake, throw some food in Baxters cage, er, I mean crib.
6:30, get Baxter dressed for daycare
7am, breakfast for the rest of us, make lunches.
7:45-drive to daycare, maybe pick up diapers on the way and a 4th cup of coffee.
8:30-5 work (blah, blah).
5:15-pick up Baxter, race home.
5:45-make nutritious dinner while fending off a ravenous Baxter.
6:45-15 minutes of play, then up to the bath.
8pm-Baxter in bed, clean up kitchen.
9pm-plans for gym are scraped, retire to couch with bowl of favorite B&J's.
You know the Jerry Greenfield saying? "If it's not fun, why do it?" I worked at Ben & Jerrys and this resonated with our situation. Anyway, you get the idea.....I'm now the chief household manager.
I'll leave you with this.....my research of stay at home dads revealed that we (the dads) don't really like the moniker "Mr Mom". While this doesn't personally offend yours truely, I feel good knowing that someone is watching my back in defense of insensitive nicknames.
See you on the playground!
2 comments:
i'm so excited to get to read about the dirty details of the ins and outs of your days. i think it's awesome that you're staying home with B and Baby Paige. You are the glue D.
hee hee, this was funny and informative! i think being a stay at home parent sounds fabulous! i envy you!
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