Show Us Your Life!- Working Moms

I'm linking up with Kelly today for her Show Us Your Life on working moms.

I became a working mom at the end of August when I went back to my teaching job after being on maternity leave since the beginning of May.  I was able to stay home with Sam until he was 14 weeks old thanks to five weeks of maternity leave and nine weeks of summer vacation.  


In my opinion, the past six months have gone very smoothly for our family.  If I have to be a working mom, I think being a teacher has been a good career choice for me.  Holidays, breaks, snow days (not a single one yet this year though!), and summer vacation allow me to have extra days off that many people in other professions don't get.  I love my boy more than anything in the world, but I also like seeing my friends at work and interacting with adults (and other kids!).  My ideal would be to work part-time (maybe three days a week), but in our school system, those types of jobs are few and far between.


A couple of things that have made this work for us are:


- Divide up the responsibilities.  I get up at 6:00 to shower and get ready for school.  Once Sam wakes up, Kurt gets him up, makes him a bottle, and gets him dressed for the day.  By the time I'm ready for school, Sam is also ready to head out the door.  


- Find a daycare program that works for you.  My parents lovingly and graciously come to our house to watch Sam two days a week.  The other three days a week, he goes to an amazing in-home daycare.  I feel like he's getting the best of both worlds.  My parents love spending time with him and I'm so glad he will really know his grandparents as he's growing up.  Then at daycare, he gets to interact with several other children, all who are older, but that doesn't hold him back!  He can hang with the big kids now!  I love, love, love seeing him interact and play with other kids.  It makes me melt!


- Plan ahead! Most days, I make sure Sam's outfit for the day is figured out the night before.  On Tuesday nights, I always pack his bag for daycare with the food, snacks, and other things he'll need for the week.  We send enough diapers, wipes, and formula for several weeks, and she just lets us know when things need replenished.  This has saved us a lot of time on Wednesday mornings.


- Give yourself extra time! In an effort to not be late to everything, I always try to give myself an extra 15-20 minutes to get any where.  Dirty diapers, clothing changes due to spit up, cranky baby...things come up!  It doesn't always work out, but I'm usually on time to places.


I can't wait to hear from other working moms and hear the tips and tricks that work for you!