You Know You Need to Vacuum when...

I just asked my son to stop laying on our dog as if she's a pillow and instead lay next to her on the rug and he told me, " I can't -- the floor's too dirty." Ahem.

He then went on to point out, " See, cracker, cracker, (Imagine his pudgy finger pointing to minuscule crumbs on the rug.) It's too yucky to sleep."

When I stopped laughing, I did have to admit that a week without a nanny, handling kids on my own and trying to work full days, had indeed done a number on the cleanliness of our house. But come on, Kid. We're not living in a shanty here.

The Guilt-Stricken Mom...

People always tell me how lucky I am to balance working from home with raising my kids. It's true -- I am. But those same people would be shocked to learn there are days I can't wait until those same precocious youngsters go to school. Truly and honestly, I find myself thinking, "Thank God, only two more years... "

I've always felt guilty about it. I mean, this is but a very small amount of time in their lives and I want to enjoy every moment. But here's the thing, the word "enjoy" doesn't exactly equate to what I'm feeling as my daughter screams at me across the room because "doggy" fell or my son indignantly informs me he doesn't want to (insert any word of your choosing here, because these days, he doesn't want to do anything.) I often feel perhaps if I could be one or the other - a stay at home mom or a working mom, perhaps I wouldn't feel the way I do.

So imagine my surprise, shock, utter relief to find out that a good SAHM friend of mine feels the SAME WAY and on a daily basis!! She shared with me recently she's counting the days until her young ones can be carted off in that lovely yellow bus. I felt like weeping.

My gift to you today is this -- moms, let's admit there are days we absolutely love being with our kids and other days... not so much. There are times when they light up our world and others when they throw us into such depths of exhaustion we can't see the light. Days when we want to freeze a point in time and hold it always... and then days when we count...and count.. and count the days until we can meet the school bus and the kids become someone else's world for a few hours.

How to Juggle a Blackberry in the ER

As I said in the previous post, I'm really taking some positive steps to get back to a peaceful work/life balance. My original goal when I began my agency was to be fulfilled in my career and yet have quality time for hubs and the kids. Ahem...

Fast forward to today, when my one year old, Emi, fell face first out of a chair and onto our hardwood floors. I'll spare you the details, but needless to say, we ended up in the ER where poor Em looked like a mini version of Rocky.

Did I hold the poor darling and coo to her lovingly while we waited for the Dr? Uh, no. I'm distraught to admit, I was emailing and making calls to clients (Oh, the horror of it) while in the waiting room. The convos went a little something like this:

Me: Hi {client}, I just wanted to follow up on...
(Insert loud clinical voice over loud speaker at a volume only dogs can hear)
Me: Sorry about that, as I was saying, I was calling to...
Three year old son: Mom, what's this do? (pointing to non-working toy in lobby as I try to sign "It's ancient and germy, leave it alone.")
Me: Aheh, sorry...again. I just wanted to talk to you about a change in our policy. You see, I need more of a life/work balance....
(Insert loud wail by daughter, pierced by a shrill beeping that I can only imagine is the "ER buzzer" we have received. )
Me: Uh, I'll need to call you later.

Kinda ironic that I'm trying to describe to a client why I'll need to cut ties with them in order to gain more time with my kids, as my kids run willy-nilly around the ER with apparently no parental supervision. Seriously, is this my life?