Being a mom isn’t easy. Being a working mom is extremely difficult. Being a working mom while being a student is borderline impossible. In the beginning, it was extremely hard and tiring to fine time for everything and I was exhausted. I still am exhausted, just not as much that I have a plan. But I wouldn’t change it for the world. Trying to get into a routine of balance was super hard, but once you figure it out, it makes life a million time easier. It makes you feel like you can take control of your life again and not have it taken over by everything that you have to do in life.
When I was pregnant with Savannah, I had stopped going to high school at an actual school. I didn’t think that I could handle all the things that were going to be said about the pregnancy. So, I decided to finish my grade twelve online from home. I had quit my job a few months prior to finding out I was pregnant, so I wasn’t working except for the odd babysitting job. This obviously made finishing high school super easy. When Savannah was just under a year old, I graduated high school, but I was unsure of what I wanted to do next. Because of this, I decided to wait until the following September to enroll in college. During this time, I started working.
Part way through my year off school, I decided that I wanted to work with children and made the decision to enroll in the Early Childhood Education program. I continued to work for the remainder of the year so that I could save up and still spend some time with Savannah, I knew that with working and school, my time with Savannah was going to be drastically shortened. And I wasn’t sure if I was ready for that, so I decided to do my schooling online again. This way, I could still be getting an education and being there with Savannah as much as I possibly could. All my lectures and assignment are done online, but I still have field placement courses that I have to do, which didn’t start until second semester.
During first semester, I was working part time evenings, usually five to nine thirty. It worked out perfectly with not having to have childcare. Dagen would get home shortly before I had to leave for work and have Savannah in bed by the time I got home. When working this shift, I would read lectures and/or work on assignment when Savannah was napping. When Savannah was awake, we would obviously play together and have breakfast and lunch, but I also would do some stuff around the house like dishes, or vacuuming. When I would get home from work, I would usually do a load of laundry and do about an hour of school work ono nights that I needed to. Since Dagen and I are night owls, we would spend time together after that when everything that needed to be done was done, and Savannah was asleep. Once second semester started and I had to do field placement, I would be at the daycare from eight to five on my days off from work. This meant that we were both working so Savannah had to be put in childcare. We were obviously leery about it so we were super happy when a very good family friend offered to watch her while we were both working.
When third semester came around, I only ended up talking half the course load, and didn’t take field placement. You’re probably wondering why. Well, a month before the semester started, we got a huge surprise; Elle! I didn’t want to take a full course load and miss out reaching mu field placement hours since my due date was the last day of school. Turns out it was a really good thing I decided to do this because she decided to come a couple weeks early. After Elle was born, I waited six weeks before returning to my afternoon job. I know what you’re thinking, I’m a bad mom for going back to work so soon. The reason I went back was because it was part time (nine to fifteen hours a week) and I needed to do something where I had just time to myself without children. I also went back so soon because we were in a two bedroom apartment with two children and we needed to save up to get a house. Once going back to work, our routine for the rest of the semester was the same as before, just with two kids instead of one.
Just before the next semester started, we moved out of the city, more towards the country. Shortly after moving in, I started a new job where I was working six to two, Monday through Friday. About a week or so into the job, I dropped down to only working part time, three days a week, so that I could do my field placement. While working or at placement, Savannah and Elle were a family friend. The girls would stay there until either Dagen or I were done. Once we were home with the kids, we would all hangout together and play while I had dinner going. After dinner, we would play for a little bit more, then have a bath, which some nights can last forever. We then moved on to a snack then story before bed. Once the kids were in bed, we would do laundry and dishes, I would do school if I needed to, and usually watch a show or movie together. Like I said before, we are both night owls so we would sometime stay up really late together which means we drink a lot of coffee.
Once I figured out the routine of how to properly balance everything, my life was a million times easier. Before the routine, I felt like I was running with my head chopped off trying to make sure that everything was done. I felt like I was paying more attention to things I had to do than I was living my life and spending time with my children. I felt like I wasn’t paying attention to them and giving them the love and affection that they needed. I decided to do school for my children, so that I could have a decent job and be able to give them everything that they need. But how are you supposed to do something for your children when it takes you away from them? I wondered this for a long time, before I figured out balance, which is the most important thing to make your life work; to be able to do something for your kids while still being there for them.
Our Crazy Life 