Working Mom Stay at home mom.

So... There have been several articles being shared on FB lately about stay at home moms. I need to vent on this subject a bit because ... Well I do. I will start with I have done both, I stayed home for four years, I have been back to work for the past four years. Every situation is going to vary to whether being home is harder or working is harder. In my opinion it is much harder to be a working mom. IN MY SITUATION. 

Take today. 

I woke up at 5:30 showered

5:45 woke girls up to eat, I got dressed and did my hair

6:15 showers for the girls, I packed lunches. 

6:35 Girls hair

6:50 Teeth

7:00 start car feed dog

7:15 leave drive to the bank, then  to school.

7:30 drop off at school

7:45 arrive at work

8:00 room first patient and have coffee

12:00 Room last patient out the door

12:15 arrive at school for concert

1:00 Leave school, head toWalmart 

1:45 head home

2:15 Make mud buddies 

3:30 get girls off bus

3:50 start bagging mud buddies 

4:30 get girls ready for cheer

4:45 leave to go to the school

5:03 get back home finish school snacks, valentines

5:45 clean kitchen

6:00 Blog

6:15 Back to school to get kids

6:35 Make something to eat. 

7:00 Brush teeth stories 

7:30 bed for girls clean house

8:00 supposed to run. 

8:45 pick up kitchen, laundry, whatever else needs cleaning 

9:30 crash. 

Stay at home moms have a huge plate no doubt but I haven't take  anything off that plate now that I'm working. The guilt of not being there for your kids is awful. Sending your kid to school when they should be home because you have no vacation time is awful. Being home with the kids has its own struggles like repetition... You can't help provide and sometimes you talk to random strangers. Being a working mom is hard because I always feel guilt on the work end or the mom end. Everyday isn't like today. Some are worse and some are better but in my case it would be easier to be home.  I always thought it would be easier when they are in school but wow these kids schedules are BUSY! Keep in mind I had two infants at once, Chris worked 12 hour nights when they were born, I did it ALL myself. When i was a stay at home mom there were times where I didn't have a vehicle, we shared.  I was home for days on end by myself.  I feel its harder now.  Maybe because I don't make enough money to make it worth it. If I made more money it probably wouldn't bother me as much.  Neither option is easy for sure but my effort and struggles to stay employed are overwhelming at times.

Oh, Ryleighs face is broken out again. Her whole face is splotchy red AND I can't have it looked at because I don't have vacation time. 

So stinkin' tired

Yup, it's 7:30 at night and I'm laying in bed. I just put the girls to bed and I'm done. Luckily I hurried through some chores when I got home.  I worked until 5:00 tonight, the last 2 plus hours I was in a meeting. I have felt like crap all week long. Horrible sore throat, my lymph nodes are so swollen. To top it off Chris was on night shifts the last 4 nights. I sleep like crap when he's not here. EVERY little noise brings me out of a deep sleep and I lay awake. The girls are off to a sleep over at Randi's tomorrow night. I'm hopefully doing my taxes... That's IF my W2's are in my hands tomorrow. So far I haven't received them. According to work they were mailed on the 31st. Ya, right. Six business days to get from Rockport to Warren? There are several of us waiting. So glad this week is almost over. Looking forward to dinner with Chris tomorrow, cheer for my girls on Sat, relaxing Sunday and to be able to swallow without swallowing my tonsils. All in all not too bad of a week could be worse. 

Little Vacationers

As I plan some fun for us in the upcoming months I find myself thinking about all the opportunities the girls have already had. They are pretty blessed! 

Each of our vacations are special in their own way. So many happy memories. For some reason I feel the need to have several get always in their youth. I guess it's the feeling of escaping life to have fun and really enjoy precious moments with my little girls. I never want to look back and think, I wish I had focused more on my kids when they were little. They are obviously the center of my world. They know right from wrong, we don't sugarcoat life's lessons. When they hit the real world they will be well rounded, respectful and determined. Gosh I love them. 

Already haves: 

First trip- Sesame Place in Langhorn PA So fun, the girls, daddy and I went on this trip. We went for three nights and spent two days at sesame place. I highly recommend this park. Very clean. The street parade at the end of the day was the best. The "street" looks like a scene from Sesame Street. The girls were Three on this trip. 

Next up- FL, the girls were just five, this was the winter before they were in Kindergarten.  Just the girls and I went to Sarasota FL for seven days. Daddy wasn't able to get time off at the time when plane tickets were at their cheapest. We stayed with Karen and Bill, it was a blast. First plane ride for my girls and they handled it like champs. We went to the ocean, played in the pool, rode bikes, ate summer food and made wonderful memories. 

Vaca # 3- Aurora Maine. Camping with Sean Crystal and the kids. We had a two story camp directly on Spectical pond. Add canoes, camp fires, little ones splashing and playing on the sandy beach <3 This trip was awesome. We explored, the beach, the pond, the cabin, and woods. There may have been some fresh blueberries stolen from the Wyman Blueberry fields for pancakes. This was the summer before Kindergarten.  

NH, white Mountain tent camping. We were at a family friendly campsite that Chris's fathers family goes to yearly. We spent two nights. This was the girls first trip to Story Land. We drove on the Kangamangus highway, the scenery is beautiful. Check out Lower Falls if you find yourself in the white mountains.  This was the same summer we went to Aurora. 

Next up- Back to Aurora the following summer. The girls had just finished Kindergarten. This time the four of us went with Sean, Crystal and their family. Such a wonderful time. We remembered all of the familiar things we discovered the year before. This year we took the Kayaks, Crystal the girls and I paddled out to a huge rock in the middle if the pond to jump off and swim. My brave little girls. 

Our latest trip- NH with Sami, the boys, and her sister. We had a whole mess of kids, eight to be exact. We stayed at the Attitash Mountain resort. We had a close encounter with a black bear. Played In the pool and chased kids in every direction ;) Story Land was on our agenda! This was the girls second time going. This was a very exhausting trip. We squeezed a lot in, in two days. We saw so much that we wished to explore. This was the summer after 1st grade!

This upcoming summer we have our NH trip booked already. Crystal, Randi and I, oh and our kids ;) We learned from the year before to go longer than two days and a day or two to just explore. We are going for four night! 

We will also be going back to Aurora this year <3 it's been a year since we have been there. I can't wait to make new memories and remember old memories. The kids have grown so much! 

We may throw in a trip to FL to see Karen and Bill this year. That is if we can find plane tickets at a reasonable price. 

This list does not include half the fun we have had, small day trips packed with adventure. Being a Mom is the very best thing that ever happened to me. 

I am so thankful for all the opportunities we have had. I am one lucky lady. 

Phone dump and plans in the works.

Time to delete pictures off the ol' phone. I take so many pictures both on my phone and with my camera and never do anything with them. I need to get better about this! 

In the works: first, we are booking our NH trip this week :) this year it's Randi, Cody, Hailey, crystal, Julian, Sophia, the girls and I! 

Heading out in mid June 

We are pumped! Looks like we are going for four nights. Story Land, pool, outdoor adventures and more. The men won't be coming along due to busy schedules. Good thing we can handle a whole mess of kids without them. We are staying at the Attitash Mountain Village Resort. It's a two bedroom, two full baths, full kitchen, laundry, fire place, indoor pool, outdoor pool awesome place! Last year a black bear walked right into our parking lot looking at us like, nothing to see here. I can't wait for the trip! 

A FL trip may be in the works as well. My Aunt and Uncle live in a resort in Sarasota FL that is packed with fun, other than leaving to go to the beach there is no need to leave the resort. We pay for plane tickets and we have a vacation! We shall see! Chris mentioned driving but it takes so much time and my vacation time is limited. 

Come on spring! Woot woot! 

Oh I have to mention that I'm snuggling my Devan on the couch while she plays DJ, her favorite song right now, My Home Town. She loves when it says get together at the Pizza Hut. So cute.  

Weekend in review

Saturday morning the girls cheered at their first basketball game. They are so cute, they giggled with each other the whole time. They have a few sidelines cheers down, they are almost always looking to their peers on their side to make sure they are doing the correct moves.

After cheer we drove to Sean and Crystals for the night. We started off with ice creams for the kids. The girls LOVE their cousins so much, they love our visits and hate when they end. 

Ryleigh and uncle Sean 

Devan and Sophia 

Today was pretty boring. I made chopsuey with venison and the girls chilled. Back to reality tomorrow. Blah