Friday, November 22, 2013

Today, My Kid Made Me Proud

I took my kids to the park, and when we arrived there was a small group o girls sitting in a circle under the playground. Miss B. ran over and was accepted in the group. The girls was laughing and giggling when the lone little boy at the park approached and was promptly rebuffed by the oldest looking girl in the group, and probably the ring leader. 

"There is no one else here to play with" he told the girl.
"Then go play with your mommy." she told him.

Part of me wanted to interject, and make Miss B play with the little boy. There has been so many times that we have been there and no one would play with her. I wanted to remind her of how she feels when that happens to her.

But I didn't. I won't always be able to be there to help her make the right decision and it felt like a pivotal moment in her life. She didn't know I was watching. 

She looked at the boy, and I could see it in her face. The dilemma. She knew what the right thing to do was, but she didn't want to give up her acceptance in the group of girls.

Then, she stood up and said, "I'll play with you."

Today, my kid made me proud.

Thursday, November 14, 2013

From SAHM to WAHM

In May I started a new job doing search engine evaluations from home. It's not that I had never planned on working again, I just thought it wouldn't be until the kids were older, and in school full time.

But we all know how plans go in the hood (motherhood that is).

The Big Kid works full time and goes to school. In the past he has kept two jobs, but that just wasn't a possibilty with his school. The whole point of him going to school is so that he can get a better job, but finding the time and funding was proving to be really hard. Plus we wanted to be able to afford things for the kids.

So, I started looking for work. Most everything I could find seemed to scammy I didn't want to sell anything, and since I needed a job for financial reasons, anything that required an "investment" was out. The biggest NO WAY was phone jobs. I can't even talk to my sister for five minutes without one of the kids screaming, much less do some sort of customer service. Uh-Uh-NO-WAY.

I finally stumble across the search engine evaluator thing, applied, and got the gig. I was so excited. I had dreams, goals...PLANS.

Remember what we said about plans?

I never imagined how HARD working at home with kids could be. I mean, I should've known, because just going pee without their help is a challenge, but still. Some delusional part of me imagined I would be able to sit down at my computer for four to six hours a day and earn some valuable income for my family.

This is how it really goes:

I get up a 5:30 in the morning to work before they get up. At six The Big Kid gets up, an insist on talking to me and asking me to find his things.

By 6:30 Dimples is awake, and saying "mamma" which is his word for food. Yes, my son says mamma only when he's hungry.

Miss B. get up at 6:45 and because she's four, jumps out of bed at full speed and stays that way until she drops. There is no slow waking up period for her. So she's usually running circles around me while I'm trying to feed her brother.

By 7:30 everybody's fed and if it's a school day, Miss B. is getting dressed for school.

Sometime in the late morning, early afternoon I sit down again to try and work. I can get about 30 minutes in before one or both of the kids needs me to get up for one reason or another. 

Then there's chores, the animals, dinner, baths, and before I know it it's 10 o'clock and I've managed to work an hour MAYBE two.

At this point my choice is to stay up late, or give up and try again tomorrow.

It's harder than I thought it would be, finding the time. Since Miss B has started school three days a week, I hope to be able to get more in. Twice now Dimples has napped while she's at school and I know I should use that time to work, but I can't help enjoying the quiet for myself (like blogging instead of working). But even two hours a day is better than nothing. I'm lucky to have found something with that kind of flexibility, and so I will make it work...... somehow.




By the way....

If mommas out there need some extra income and are interested in trying it from home, check out Leapforce. They are hiring in the US and internationally and the flexibility is great for trying to work around kids! https://www.leapforceathome.com/qrp/public/jobs/list?uref=d584821c010e8bcbffb9bf9a1fe35e7f

Saturday, November 9, 2013

Poor Daddy

Miss B is popular with the boys....every daddy's worse nightmare

She informed us the other day that one of the little boys in her karate class was her boyfriend, and the little boy's mother commented that he had told her that Miss B was his girlfriend. Of course when you're four that doesn't mean anything, but this is where is starts.


Yesterday at Karate the instructor had to separate two boys at the beginning of class who were fighting over who got to sit next to her, and when I picked her up from pre-k the teacher tells me "she's no trouble, but the boys fight over who's going to sit by her in circle time." 

I think it's kind of funny, and cute, but poor Daddy is not amused.

Monday, November 4, 2013

It Sure Is Quiet Around Here

Well, today was the big day...Miss B. started pre-k. 

She was so excited. She woke up at 4:45 am, wanting to get dressed. She also wanted to wear the biggest, fanciest dress in her closet. It took me twenty minutes to talk her into play clothes.

And when I got home from dropping her off, after I shed a few tears, Dimples laid down for his morning nap. The Big Kid is at work and the dog is asleep on the couch. The bunny doesn't make much noise no matter what's going on.

I spent the first twenty minutes trying to decide what to do first! It's been so long since I had this kind of time to myself. 

So here I am, using my time, to blog about it :)