three cheers for moms that work!

i don't really like the title "working mom". aren't we ALL "working"? i don't know about you, but i "work" all day... and then into the night. i never...NEVER...feel bad about sitting down to relax during the kids naps. and, occasionally--not so much now that meggie is sleeping well at night, i'll sneak a quick snooze with them. don't feel bad about that either. b/c we all know that after nap comes play time, dinner, dinner clean up, play time, reading time, family stuff, bath time, bed time, finish-everything-you-can't-do-with-kids-climbing-on-you time.... you get it.

but i have a ....refreshed.... appreciation for moms that work. moms that have jobs outside/inside/part-time/full-time. a couple of weeks ago ... while the rest of the world was on vacation... i had two miniature part-time jobs. i love spring break. everyone leaves, and everyone leaves me their cars. :) this time i had my mom's mustang....SUGARY SWEETNESS.... that was fun! so, i got to do my playing around town. let me just tell you... grocery shopping in a mustang is NOT easy. getting kids into the back of a 'stang is NOT easy. but it is worth every minute for a week of fun! haha! ok, back to the issue at hand...

so, on occasion when my cousins go out of town, i work their paper route for them. they don't just have a normal paper route. they have the mother of all routes....multiple routes, in fact. i've come to enjoy it. i've learned most of the route, and that makes it a little easier. gramma knows the route and she has almost always been available to drive it for me. nathan has had a flexible enough schedule to help me run it most of the time. my dad has even helped me run it. and this year even connor was a big help. it's not massively time consuming. adding kids and nap times into the mix can be tricky, but it has always worked out to a bearable timeframe. meg has missed a couple naps, but she makes up for it when she falls asleep in the car while we drive the neighborhood.

i didn't get chased by any dogs this time. i didn't break any windows. gramma almost killed me twice. the usual. i think it's an easy job... except for the fact that twice a week it consumes my day. i have to figure out how i'm going to get my regular tasks done while i work around naps, meals, folding the papers and delivering the papers. i have to make sure my kids have games/tasks/snacks while i do all of the above. it adds JUST enough extra to make the day crazy. and inevitably, it's cold, windy, rainy at least one of the days we do it. this year i added a stiff neck and a nasty cold. delightful. don't get me wrong, i LOVE the challenge... and the money. :) but as you moms that work know, it adds a little more crazy into the mix.

i also picked up a short term cleaning job. again, i was thankful for the challenge and the moolah, but it was a couple days of serious crazy. i'm just so glad that my kids can come with me on both of those jobs. since they aren't in school yet, i'm yippy skippy praising the Lord that i've been able to do jobs from my home or jobs that allow them to come with me.

this summer i'll be babysitting again. thankfully, this is another job i can do from my home. and this one adds friends to the mix for my kids.

so, moms that work: here's to you, girls! you've managed to do it ... and to do it well.