Paid Job

As I was driving home, with two screaming kids, thinking about how I should get paid to do my job (i.e. being a mother), I realized something....

Yes...I've seen a million of those feel-good-about-yourself-stay-at-home-mommy emails, which detail all the work the mother does and then usually end with some kind of "I want a wife too" sentiment, but it never really hit me.

When you're a stay at home mom, there really is a lot to do.

You have to clean the house, while the kids come behind and mess it all up again.

You have to have important conversations on the phone and keep your voice calm when your kids are: hitting each other, crying uncontrollably, incessantly asking "Who's that Mommy?", begging for a snack, etc., etc., etc. Plus...you have to keep track of what you are hearing on the other end of the phone.

You have to figure out something fun to do everyday even when you don't feel very fun.

You have to wake up early because your one year old likes waking up early & then you have to go to bed late because your four year old keeps getting up and saying, "I can't sleep," and you still have a lot of 'other' work to do before you can retire for the night.

You have to cook an amazing meal one handed because when it's time to work on getting dinner ready, your one year old will not be consoled by anything other than his mother.

You have to be crafty...that's just a requirement. It's one that I struggle with...A LOT!

You have to plan birthday parties for your children and try to ignore the ridiculously out of control birthday party they just attended for a friend.

You have to smile when you are sad and cry when you are happy.

And you have to answer the question...Do you work? without getting snappy. Because yes you work...you work so hard you fall asleep if you ever sit still for more than 5 minutes, but all that work doesn't really 'count' because you are not being paid for it.

So...I have come to the conclusion...I should get paid to do what I do.

Wait a minute...I guess I do.

When the kids give you such big hugs it takes your breath away.

When you pick up your kids from preschool and they run into your arms saying, "Mommy, Mommy!"

When you get to pretend you are Snow White or the Handsome Prince.

When you realize that your little one just figured out how to do something for the first time and you were there to see it...That's the best kind of payment money can't buy.