10 Truths About My New Stay at Home Mom Life

10 Truths About My New Stay at Home Mom Life

(with 4 kids in elementary & middle school)

Disclaimer: This is a totally different existence than staying at home with preschoolers in your house all day. I’ve waited 12 years for this.

#1. I had this ENORMOUS lists of things I thought I’d accomplish once all my kids finally started school.

I called it my “Back to School Bucket List.” You can read it if you like, but I will warn you. That list is so very me. How? Well, I had about 20 different things I thought I was going to accomplish. It’s a highly ambitious and idealistic list because that is simply how I roll. There’s no fixing it.

…..And instead I mostly blog and go to the grocery store.

Seriously. I do an outing. Collapse on the sofa. Do the chores  some of the chores. Collapse on the sofa. It’s all over surprisingly quickly.

#2. I’m relishing this quiet house.

All I can hear is the air conditioner (because this is the summer that never ends… Die summer, die) and the sound of my fingers typing.

Is it as wonderful as I thought it would be? Oh yes, honey, that part is heavenly. Literally I could take a nap right this second.

#3. Somehow someone needs something from the store every single day.

I’m not actually going to the store every day, but there are enough needs/wants/requests that I could. I told Alan this morning, “Look, I can’t keep buying groceries 3 times a week. The budget can’t take that.”

There has to be a way to streamline the store thing. Inevitably, I always miscalculate just how much we eat.

#4. There are no more excuses to not exercise.

This part is irritating. Not a single excuse will do. No one is distracting me. I do have the time. It was raining today, but I have a small collection of workout DVDs as well as YouTube. We even have a free gym membership on post.

There’s just no excuse at all. Except “no energy.”  But the sad thing is that you have to give energy to get energy, so again, no excuse at all.

Does that mean I exercised today? Well, according to my Fitbit I got 25 minutes of cardio in already by going to the grocery store. That probably won’t work for most of you though. It only worked for me today because I forgot to take my heart pill, and when I do that my heart beats too fast, convincing my Fitbit that I’m in “cardio.”

#5. I cannot tell a lie. My sofa is seeing a lot more of me than it used to.

I like to sit here and use my computer. Maybe I need to drink more coffee and sleep more so I can make myself do less of this. But I’ve waited 12 years for this!!!

#6. My kitchen and living room are still tidier just because they get a 7 hour break from the children.

It still doesn’t look perfect. I mean my entertainment center hasn’t been dusted in a few weeks, and there are already stains on this rug that was brand new in May, but guess what. There are no stacks! Say what!

Okay there’s still stacks downstairs on the desk, but it doesn’t count because #6 is about the kitchen and the living room.

Yes, there are bags of groceries sitting in the kitchen at this moment. I put up all the cold stuff. The rest can wait until my next energy arrives.

#7. I do need to get more social interaction.

The hermit thing that I do sometimes is starting to happen. I’ve had multiple people in the neighborhood say to me, “Hey! You’re out! I never see you.”

I DO want to see my friends, but John David (my 5-year-old) always insists that I leave every social function early. Plus, I’m lazy about initiating outings. Add this item to my back to school bucket list: go see friends.

#8. You would think I would be cooking and baking more.

That’s another thing perhaps I don’t have an excuse with. Why am I not cooking more? I don’t know the answer to that. It gets in the way of my blogging time on my couch?

#9. I haven’t gone into town even once yet.

I said I was going to ride the train into town and explore D.C. on my own, and it was going to be such a fun adventure. Four weeks later, and I mostly only go to the Commissary or Target.

Sometimes I have to get up from the left side (my favorite spot) of the sofa and go sit on the right side because that’s where my computer charger is. That’s my level of adventure this week.

#10. Walking the kids to school and back is my best exercise, and it’s exhausting and sometimes impossible.

I am a serious advocate of walking or biking to school when you live with a school right in your neighborhood. It’s the best. According to my Fitbit, I now log about 300 active minutes a week. Back when we lived in Georgia, I was only logging 50-100.

It’s healthy for the kids too, so we enjoy doing it. If only the weather would cooperate!! Yes, I’m whining here when I say this, but 90 degrees has been the average temperature at 3:15pm for the past 4 weeks, and it has been BRUTAL. Most days I needed to change clothes 3 times and take 2 showers a day. I didn’t actually take 2 showers a day, but it was bad enough that I could have.

When it wasn’t scorching it was raining, and our house is 0.75 miles from the school, going at a kindergarten walking pace because I do have a kindergartener.

So here’s what a typical day actually looks like.

-Oversleep.

-Get the boys ready for school, complete with snacks, one lunch box for Daniel (who saves me so much money), 3 water bottles, and all papers signed.

-Put John David’s shoes on for him because 4th babies are insanely spoiled.

-Spend 3 minutes standing in the yard deciding if we can handle the walk in this weather today.

-Pick up a friend on the way to school.

-Arrive at school 20 minutes later. Convince John David to walk into the school building.

-Walk home.

-Collapse on the sofa.

-Read my Bible. Answer emails.

-Pinterest time.

-Do the dishes.

-Brush teeth and put on my contacts.

-Sweep a room.

-Collapse on the sofa.

-Blog.

-What! It’s 3pm already!?

-Rush out the door to get kids.

And that’s my truth. Tell me I’m not alone. Ha! This phase is far easier than those years of preschoolers. Man, those years were hard core. Yet, I still never feel like I’m doing enough (a lie from the devil).

I do miss cuddling with babies. So much!!  I miss babies, but at the same time I’m okay, you know? This phase is just a different kind of good.