Nonexistent

Did you know that a Stay-at-Home Mom actually is a combination of 10 individual jobs? I believe it, because I'm that person!! Salary.com computed a study to try and figure out what the "price of Mom" is.  Don't worry Stay-at-Home Dad's we recognize this goes for you too. The job descriptions that Mom (or Dad) perform on a daily basis are, housekeeper, day care center teacher, cook, computer operator, laundry machine operator, janitor, facilities manager, van driver, CEO and psychologist. In addition, she works plenty of overtime (52 Hours worth - 92 hour work weeks), has no breaks, and lastly receives no pay (at least nothing that begins with a dollar sign). She relies on that one smile or snuggle she gets every so often for payment. Not only that, but aside from the 10 individual jobs that a Stay-at-home Mom participates in she often completes them with a crying baby in the background. Or if anyone has a son/daughter similar to Eli, completes them while constantly looking for the toddler to make sure they aren't getting into anything. It's exhausting.  

Just for the sake of closure; in conclusion Salary.com surveyed 40,000 mom's and logged their hours per job description. By calculating the median salary for each position they came up with a $138,095 salary for Mom. Yikes!


And still, when Dad comes home, Mom is seemingly nonexistent to baby and acts like the day has been perfect.
This happened to me today, (although it's happened many times before) today is what encouraged me to write about it. Elijah woke up from his nap, and he was the epitome of the common phrase "waking up on the wrong side of the bed." It was almost bizarre how cranky he actually was. Joel had already informed me that he was going to be late coming home from work, so you can imagine my frustration that Eli woke up this way. Not thinking straight and hungry, I proceeded to continue and cook dinner. Eli cried the WHOLE time. Hanging on my legs, falling to the floor, whining. Then, he'd want to be held, then wanted to be put back down. I tried to feed him he threw it to the floor, I tried to distract him, and he wasn't having it. After a stressful dinner for 2 (and only because I was hungry did I put myself through actually eating dinner), I decided a walk might be helpful. He was completely serene on the walk and I felt a sense of relief. When we came home it started all over again. I found myself thinking, what the heck is this kids deal!?!?!?!  I figured a bath may do the trick; and then in walks in Dad...

...And so begins Mom's nonexistence.  Believe it or not, we have an Angel!! I'm not kidding, it was like night and day, a special act of perfect child and I couldn't believe what I was witnessing. Smiles, laughs, shrieks of excitement. Ugh. These  happy moments he was protruding were not directed towards me in the slightest bit. In fact I believe he didn't even care that I was in the room anymore. Talk about not receiving payment for a long days work.


We all have bad days. We all have off days. We all have days where we just want to scream, crawl under a rock and stay there. So, it's understandable that a One year old would also have these same off days. Although for them, it's most likely worse because they cannot communicate how they are feeling to us. COMPLETELY understandable. I am more than willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, and be there as much as I can for him to try to make him more comfortable. BUT if he pulls a 180 with his attitude and is perfectly fine when someone else enters the room I feel I have zero tolerance for this behavior.

Needless to say, a big glass of wine was needed tonight. I also decided Overtime was not an option. The dishes are still in the sink, laundry is still in the dryer, and the playroom is still a mess. These were the things that were on my "I have to do tonight" list. Lets not mention everything else that was put on hold.










MSN Money Staff (2007). The Price of Mom.http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/CollegeAndFamily/RaiseKids/ThePriceOfAMom.aspx