Dear stay-at-home-parents,

Holy moly. You have got to have one of the toughest jobs on the planet. It’s tough physically, emotionally, and mentally. Pre-kids, we both maybe looked at the moms in the morning, out for a walk, and said “must be nice”…as we were on our way to work. Wow! How ridiculous were we?! How dare we say that!  If you are or have been a stay at home parent, we are sorry for all that you hear from others about it.  You are amazing! Don’t listen to anyone who has never been in your shoes! They have no idea. GO YOU!

Being teachers, we have summers home with our kids and get to experience what life is like to be stay at home moms. This has been an eye-opener. There are so many perks to being home with our kids in the summers.  We love that we get to hug them and kiss them whenever we please, we love that we get time with them and get to see their personalities shine, and so much more.  BUT…boy do they wear us out! Don’t get us wrong, we love them to the moon and back and we are so thankful that we have been blessed with children, but uuuuufffffdaaa! We also get that we should not complain about our lives as moms as there are so many women and men out there dealing with infertility, dealing with children with illnesses, and so much more.  We truly are lucky!

Here is a typical day in the life of Erin:
1. Wake up in the middle of the night with Graham (because why at the age of 1 would he want to sleep through the night)
2. Get kids up, dressed, and feed them breakfast (while Gracie throws a fit because she cannot have ice cream cones for breakfast and I didn’t get her the right water bottle)
3. Clean the sticky mess up on the floor and run to the stairs approximately 10 times in one minute to grab Graham before he goes up—yes, we need another gate.
4. Realizing it’s only 7:30 am.
5. Let the kids play with their toys. Oh wait, I am their toy. I am their jungle gym, their horse they want to ride, their trampoline, their stress ball they need to pinch…and bite.
6. Try and plan something fun, get the kids packed up (and all of their luggage…including Gracie’s must wear tutu and pink rainboots and five bows in her hair), just to get there and have one of them poop, pee, or throw a fit because some stranger looked at them wrong.

7. Finally, get the kids down for a nap….AT THE SAME TIME…just for Graham to wake up too early for my liking.

8. Trying to do everything I possibly can to keep the kids occupied and going until dinner time. This is the hardest time of day…I think this is a trend for most kids.

9. Feed them dinner, give them baths. Graham climbs on everything and moves around like crazy.  He turns the water on for the shower and freaks Gracie out.

10. Get them dressed in pajamas, just for Gracie to ask for chips or candy…after she didn’t eat much of her dinner at all.

11. Get them to bed. Hallelujah! And repeat.

Day in the life of Emily:

1. Elsie screams at the top of her lungs for me at 5:30 am letting me know that she is up and WANTS TO GO IN THE LIVING ROOM!
2. Making sure the pillow on the couch is just right and I cover up her toes with the blanket on the couch while I go and get her peanut butter on a spoon to hold her over for her breakfast number 2, 3 and 4 for the day.
3. Attempting my morning workout while pausing to see why I hear screaming and fighting coming from the other room.  Maybe they are just looking out for me and giving me breaks when I need them during my workout?
4. Getting swimsuits on to go swim outside in our little pool.
5. Taking one or both of them into the bathroom because apparently pool water gives them the urge to have to poop immediately.
6. Sitting with them in the bathroom while being told they don’t have to pooooooop!
7. Going back to the pool for approximately 5 minutes until they have had enough because it’s too cold.
8. You get the point.  They sure know how to keep me on my toes!
9. Become angels when dad walks in the door.
10. Having story time, singing them their songs, saying prayers, and giving them hugs and kisses.  The best part about being a mom!
11. Elsie coming out of her room about 20 seconds after being put down because there are “thunderstorms” in her room and she is having “nightmares.”

Get it? Stay at home parents, props to you! You do it all. Don’t let people say otherwise and keep doing your thing. Never think you’re not enough! Do you and keep rocking it.  We are amazed by you every day. And for those of you working parents. You are enough, too.  We all are. We challenge you to encourage and praise other parents out there for doing a great job!