An Uncomplicated Life Blog: MM: The Perks of Being a SAHM

Monday, February 9, 2015

MM: The Perks of Being a SAHM

You've seen me talk a lot about the challenges of motherhood, the frustrations of staying home with a baby and the struggle accepting a post-baby body. But I haven't gone into what's awesome about it.

It's not all struggles, bad thoughts and gloom, I promise! At least I think I promise... Nah, I promise.



There are some fantastic things about being a stay at home mom (SAHM). For starters, I sleep until 7-7:30 and stay in my jammies until 9am. When I was working, I had to leave the house by 7:30, and was up around 5:30. Ugghhh, that was e-a-r-l-y, and I'm no morning person.

I take my time in the morning now, play games with Henry as I sip coffee (and mircowave it over and over and over), then we roll out mid-morning for the day's activities. All at a leisurely pace. Most days anyway... Sometimes *someone* vomits/poops/melts down and it turns into SAHM-rush-hour.

Speaking of, I never have to drive in rush hour. That's a huge plus when you live in a large city!

The best days include meeting up with my mom group, or grabbing lunch with a girlfriend. I can order a glass of wine at lunch if I so choose. Day drinking is a definite plus of the SAHM role! It can also be a very necessary one, if your day is set to the soundtrack of constant crying. Sometimes the wine gets cracked open at 3pm, y'all.



Our weekends are enjoyable. Since I've been home all week, there aren't piles of laundry to be done (lies, sometimes there are), the Target run was already accomplished and there's food in the pantry (also lies, I usually shop solo on the weekend. But it's a good theory, right?).

Bottom line: We get to spend quality time doing fun things - or even just relaxing - as opposed to rushing through the weekend to "get everything done." That is definitely true, especially compared to my working-mom friends.

The biggest perk for me being a SAHM is that I hit the gym/yoga/barre studio five to six times a week. It's an opportunity for us to get out of the house, I get to socialize with some other SAHM's whom I love, Henry gets to makes friends in the daycare... Oh, and mom gets to stay fit. Boom.

Dream job.

Being a SAHM is NOT easy; you don't get breaks. You microwave your coffee 14 times each morning. Your meals are interrupted by cries, and you mastered the art of eating with one hand months ago. Most of it ends up on your shirt. Your day ranges from tummy time to play time to diaper time, and lacks excitement.

But there are definite perks to the job. I suppose that makes it just about like any other profession: good days, bad days, fun tasks, mundane tasks. There is one major difference, however: I don't have to deal with any a-hole coworkers. And that's worth it's weight in gold.


23 comments:

  1. hahaa love this post!! and every bit of it is so true, I was a SAHM until my little one went to kindergarten, and now that he is in the first going on second grade this year, I am desperately look forward to being a SAHM again whenever we get a new bun in this oven. I miss my yoga pants and sex in the city binging. smelly diapers and teething babes..ennhh not so much..but totally still game

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    1. Haha! See, I'm so looking forward to the days my littles will start school so that I can go back to work part-time. You're right though... I'll miss my nonstop yoga pants :)

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  2. This is great. :)
    I hope one day I'm able to stay at home with our kiddos, too! And then you'll have to come over and pop open a bottle of wine with me to keep me sane.

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    1. Yes yes yes! Just make sure to pick Dallas over Austin (dumb choice, I know) and we'll get right on that.

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  3. I think it's so great you're a SAHM...not missing out on those little moments has to be one of the best perks! xo, Biana - BlovedBoston

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    1. Aww, thank you! Yes, that's also another perk I forgot to mention: I don't miss much of anything Henry does, and it's so fun to watch him learn to do new things!

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  4. the coworkers would be a huge plus lol. i dont drink coffee so no microwaving for me, and i hope i can find a gym with a daycare by the time i have kids cause that would be awesome!

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    1. I can't even tell you how big of a plus not having loser, complain-y, gossipy coworkers is! Many gyms have daycares, so I'm sure you'll find something that works for you.

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  5. Seriously can I just move to Dallas and we can hang out every day? Barre class, lunch with wine and baby play dates.....lots of snapping pictures of people in their slippers. Like my patient the other day I couldn't snap the pic because that would have been a little too obvious ;-)

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    1. Ummm, this is my dream. Please start packing now, k?

      Slippers all day, err'day! Lol ;)

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  6. What I would give to not have to commute... Even without a kid, getting everything done on the weekends is hard. There's blog stuff, general house/errand stuff, getting time with friends/family, personal time, etc. It's tough to get it all in sometimes. That last e-card? That's my life goal. ;)

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    1. When I was in Minneapolis, my commute was 8 miles at the longest, usually between 10 blocks and 2 miles. When we moved here it turned into a half hour drive, and I went crazy! And I had one of the shortest commutes in my office. I hear you on the commute... Boy, do I hear you!

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  7. This is hilarious! Your choice of ecards is awesome. Love this post! xx

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    1. Well, my life can be rather hilarious at times. At least I think? Meh, I choose to laugh at it! :)

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  8. I'm new to following you and so glad I am! This post is GREAT! So True!

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    1. Yay! Welcome Alicia! I'm so glad to have you. I post MWF, and Monday is all about being a mom, with the other two days more lifestyle focused. Happy reading!

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  9. This is why I want to be a SAHM. I mean, don't get me wrong, working PT has it's advantages, and I really enjoy the adult time, but I so badly want to be home with baby girl. And yes, sleeping in is the BEST perk I say! My days off I sleep so much later and I LOVE it!

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    1. Sleeping, FTW!! I don't think there's a way to describe the sleep deprivation to people who aren't parents. I could sleep for a year and still not be fully rested at this point!

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  10. Id like to call myself a SAHM too even though really Im just on maternity leave. Did you know in Canada the govt pays you 1 year Maternity leave!! :) That's one thing I love for sure. So I have 10 months of SAHM fun, 3pm wine drinking, waking up at 10am, and all those amazing childhood moments that are such a blessing to witness and enjoy.

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    1. Yay for a year maternity leave! That's amazing. It'd never fly here, though. Enjoy it while it lasts! (Your maternity leave sounds far better than my SAHM role... I don't sleep til 10 and get no pay! Boo. Sign me up for your job, lol)

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  11. As a newly SAHM this is all soo accurate. Except this morning I think I microwaved my coffee 15 times. oops. lol. I find myself much happier now that I'm not scrambling to clean all weekend.

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    1. I want to say my record for a single cup of coffee is around 20 times, lol! It seems like the baby knows when it's hot and fresh out of the microwave... And decides to have a melt down or some other issue that demands immediate attention!

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  12. I loved this post. I concur with all things SAHM except my girls are in school now and I work from home under a corporate umbrella that I love at the moment. Without the kids I still forget about the coffee in the microwave a million times because the whisper in my headset from an angry customer derails my steps to the mircrowave hahahaa

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