The Best Job in the World

My direct supervisors, Boss Benjamin and Chief Calliope

If there's one thing a stay-at-home mom hates being asked, it's, "So what do you do all day?" What don't we do all day?? It's 11 am, and this is a list of things that I've done so far:

• Gotten up before everyone else to finish a sewing project
• Put away the laundry
• Dressed the kids
• Fed the pug
• Fed Benjamin
• Nursed Calliope three times (and a fourth as I type)
• Made a grocery list
• Started a load of diaper laundry
• Allowed Benjamin to watch TV so I could clean up the kitchen and drink a cup of coffee while browsing Etsy
• Built and dismantled about twenty Magna-Tiles structures with Benjamin
• Attempted to explain to Benjamin why crayon goes on paper
• Scrubbed crayon off of the walls
• Taken Benjamin to the potty and wiped his tushie three times
• Wiped Benjamin's runny nose three dozen times
• Gone to the bank
• Made a trip to the doc's office for an ear infection (Benjamin's)
• Changed four diapers (Calliope's)
• Picked up several pairs of dirty socks (the Dirty Sock Fairy's)
• Hopped on the computer to do some writing and reclaim some sanity (mine)

Being a full-time mom is a full-time job, and a thankless one at that. At least when you have a "real" job (meaning a job for which you receive a W-2), a paycheck quantifies your efforts. You're entitled to a lunch break, and you get to go to the bathroom whenever you need to. I usually squeeze in brunch at around 2 pm, and I've mastered the art of the Ten-Second Potty Break - while nursing a baby and yelling at a toddler at the same time. Don't worry - hand-washing takes up most of that ten seconds.

So the other morning when, bleary-eyed from being up with Calliope all night and attempting to feed oatmeal to a tantruming Benjamin, I heard my husband say to me, "You're not looking forward to going to your job today?", I nearly fainted. Finally, I was getting what that every SAHM craves: the acknowledgement that what I do every day is a job! If I wasn't already weeping from exhaustion, I would have wept with joy.

There is, however, one very important thing that this job has that no other can offer. Make that two very important things:

.Sure makes the long hours, the lack of sick time, or the absence of year-end bonuses seem like a small potatoes. I could go on, but right now, I have to run. The bosses are calling.