{Am I Even a Mom Anymore?}

I'm honestly not so sure. I mean, I've got kids living in my house. I provide food and clothing for these children. I have spent sleepless nights cleaning up vomit and checking temperatures when they spike a fever.

But over the last year, I've started to second guess myself.

Am I even a mom if I'm not baking cookies and making dinner?

Well, duh, of course I'm still a mom. But I certainly not the mom I wanted to be. Or the mom I used to be.

When I first took this job it was to earn some extra money and get me out of the house a few days a week. I was unaware that I was going to be working five days a week plus every other weekend. My part time job turned into a full time job real quick.

I'd like to say I regret taking it, but I don't.

Now with us being short handed so often (people are just dropping like flies back in laundry right now), I'm there far more than I ever thought I'd be. In one pay period I worked sixty something hours. In nursing home laundry! It honestly had gotten to the point where I didn't even see my family except for a few hours after work.

While I was walking through Costco the other day with the husband, I realized that I haven't made cookies hardly at all since I got this job. I rarely make dinner. Everyone just kind of eats what they want to or they make a pizza.

What kind of mom does that??

I certainly wasn't brought up this way. Then again, I was brought up by a stay at home mom, which is what I was for the first fifteen years of our relationship. I was home baking and cleaning and doing laundry, so that the husband was free to work and know that the house wasn't crumbling down.

It sort of makes me feel a little guilty that I'm not Susie Homemaker anymore.

My house is never clean. Dinner is never ready when the kids are ready to eat. The only thing I do manage to get done is make sure Owen has his lunch packed before I go to work.

I feel like something has to change. I need to get back on track. My kids (especially Owen) do not know this woman. Sure I'm lazy, I'll admit that, but they don't know the mom that doesn't bake or cook dinner every night. Hell, I don't know her!

I have't touched my Kitchenaid in months. This is very unlike me.

I want to know how working moms do it. Are you a working mom? What are your tips? Help a sister out!

Maybe I should just start meal planning and break out my crock pot? That might help with the lack of dinners being served. If it's already done cooking when I home, I can just serve it up or make a side to go with it and boom...dinner.

Someone please help me out!


-Kristin