the life of a stay-at-home mom and blogger

yesterday was take your daughter (child) to work day. did you participate? we ended up with a divide-and-conquer approach for our three school aged kiddos—not planned, but it worked out that way.

miss ava headed off to work with my brother. his big ole company had a full day planned for kids who came in with a family member. i got texts throughout the day saying things like “she’s impossible to spoil!” …poor 29 year old who doesn’t know how to relate to his 7 year old niece. ;) i told him he probably should have read my blog first.

harrison went to work with daddy. i think he thought it would be a day of  lazing around—playing on the computer and watching tv in the office while daddy slaved away making furniture in the shop. custom furniture building isn’t exactly child’s work (ha!). but his pop had other plans—he turned it into take your grandson to work day, and set harrison to work in the office. the blessings of a family business. ;)

meanwhile, guinevere stayed home with me. a small (and not totally accurate) taste of the life of this homemaker domestic engineer and sometimes blogger. we made sure to hit the high points: coffee to start the day, a trip to target, and laundry.

yup. that, folks, is what it’s all about.

oh—and poopy diapers. lots and lots of poopy diapers.

guinevere had to conduct an interview with the parent she spent the day with. therefore, i am pleased to present to you, in it’s entirety, my daughter’s first blog post/interview.

The Life of a Stay-At-Home Mom and Blogger

by Guinevere Kline

  April 26 is bring your child to work day. So, I decided to go to work with my mom, a stay-at-home mom and blogger. This may not seem exactly like a job, but it is. It is a very hard job too. I stayed home with her all day and did everything with her like she does on a normal day. To help you understand her life, I prepared a little interview with her. Be ready to learn how a stay-at-home mom and blogger does exactly what she does.

1. What is the name of your blog and what do you “blog” about?

my blog is called “googiemomma”. i write about day to day life with kids, my sewing projects, sometimes recipes, sometimes photography…anything and everything i think would be an interesting post!

2. Which of your 5 children stay home with you during the day and how old are they?

gigi (3 years old) and elliot (11 months) are with me all day.

3. What are some necessities’ you need to go through the day?

hmmm…if you’re asking what i think you’re asking, well, i NEED my coffee. i try to keep it to my morning cup, but sometimes a 2nd cup is required on tough days! also, my phone is pretty important—it’s my calendar, organizer, point and shoot camera, alarm clock, oh—and phone. and one of the biggest things i think i need as a mommy—alone time. even if it’s just 1/2 hour of quiet, i need a few minutes everyday to just breath. it makes me a better person all around.

4. What does your basic day consist of?

well, after i get up and get the older three off to school, i usually come home and nurse the baby and feed everyone breakfast. i usually throw in a load of laundry, and after that it depends—sewing, cleaning, shopping, errand running, post writing…it can be any or all of these things! i try to keep a list going of daily goals and long term goals. i fill in with taking care of the little girls, playing with them, cooking…there’s always something that needs doing!

5. What are some the hardest things to do?

if you mean physically—chore wise i absolutely DETEST putting away the laundry. i don’t mind washing, sorting, folding…but putting it away is the pits.

mentally—well, i hate having to yell! haha! really though, when things get out of hand and i feel overwhelmed (which can happen a lot and very easily) i have a hard time getting myself on top of it all. i kind of want to just curl up and go to sleep.

it’s also hard to make sure i feel like all my kiddos are getting individual attention. five kids is a lot. sometimes it feels like one or another can get lost in the shuffle, especially when the baby and gigi are just inherently more demanding. so i try to make sure everyone gets a slice of mommy at some point ;)

6. What are some the easiest thing to do?

well, vacuuming is super easy now that we have rosie the roomba! ;) but some of the best “easy” things are sitting around on the couch playing and laughing with the family. i love those times—when we have nowhere to be and nothing scheduled. it’s hard to carve out the time, but when we do i love sitting around together.

7. Do you ever get to relax at home, or are you always busy doing something?

haha! i think i just answered that! yes, i do get to relax at home. but there is always something that i could be busy doing somewhere. so i have to make the conscious choice to just embrace the moment and let something slide.

8. Was there anything or anyone who made you decide to become a blogger?

well, i’ve been sewing for years. since i’m pretty much self-taught, i started turning to the internet when there was a certain skill i wanted to learn about. there i found tons of awesome blogs—women just like me who were sewing and sharing what they’d done. it looked like fun! i also wanted to start an online shop for the baby name signs i made. so i started the blog and shop together. the shop is shut down right now—i just don’t have time at the moment. but the blog is going strong!

9. Do you enjoy your “job”?

not really.

ha! kidding! i LOVE it! although, i don’t appreciate the use of quotation marks around the word job. >:~( as a little girl i always knew there were three things that called to me: art, writing and motherhood. my children made me a mother, and my blog allows me to write, and my sewing and photography let me express my artistic side. what’s not to love about that?

10. Is there anything else you think people should know about being a mom/blogger?

not that i can think of! you asked good questions!

  Shannon is the best mom in the whole world [and best blogger.] I enjoyed spending the day with my mom and seeing exactly what she does while I’m at school all day. I even hope to do the same thing as her someday.

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so, did any of you take your kiddos to work yesterday? how’d it go?