Confessions From a Summertime SAHM

I spend 9 months out of the year as a working-mom.  I choose to spend my days with 13 and 14 year old teens.  (I really should start recording people's reactions when I tell them this...I get some doozies!)  Each year in May I get a 3 month "break" as I become a Summertime Stay-At-Home-Mom.

PS...did you know SAHM stood for Stay At Home Mom?  I just learned that!

Here's how that went.

I started the summer with a goal of organizing and cleaning out each room in the house.  I gave myself a realistic timeline of one room per week.  I did really good at the beginning and knocked off the master bedroom, kitchen, girls rooms, and master bathroom.  That's when productivity dropped off...  Looking back, I should have started with the basement toy area, office, and storage room.  I sorta half-assed the toy area and just tried to avoid the other rooms downstairs.  I like to think of it as...if I don't look at it, it's not there.

Jackie enjoyed her gymnastics class and it seems to be doing exactly what I wanted.  She has progressed to letting me watch outside the glass with the other parents.  Although we still struggle with following the "obstacle course" on her own, she is getting better.  A bribe of popcorn if she listens to her teachers has worked well!

Katerina has not yet figured out the "bribing" technique.  Either she's just not realized the reward for doing what she's told, or she's just not going to be motivated that way.  I really hope she catches on soon.  The bribe is the only tool in my "Mommy of toddlers" tool belt.  I really don't want to have to read any parenting books for other techniques.

I read more books this summer (not parenting ones) than I have in the last two years combined.  I don't regret a single nap time spent with my nose in a book.

I took my kids to the Y almost everyday so I could drop them off at the Kid Zone for two hours while I walked, read, worked on school stuff, or just ate a granola bar with out the little ones pleading and screaming for a bite.

I experienced the paradox that is sand.  I love how it keeps my girls entertained for hours and I loath the bath tub when trying to get it out of their hair and diaper...

Toddler girls have stinky toots.  It helps when I need someone to blame mine on... (I can't be the only mom who does this.)

The hot summer days call for chilled white wine after the kids go to bed.  This summer Ethan and I enjoyed trying different brands to cool off with.

We don't use our oven from May to September...I'm ready for some gooey casseroles and cheesy enchiladas!

If I could figure out how to keep the housework caught up during the school year as I well as I do during the summer I would write one of those parenting/mommy books.