Seven months ago, I had a baby. Now I have this adorable little child that steals all of my free time. He loves to play and laugh and cuddle. He also farts really loud while he sleeps and wants to eat non-stop. He’s super interested in everything we happen to be eating and will smack his lips at you, hoping to get a bite. He smiles really big when you smile at him and will roll over the second you set him down unless you’ve got a hand on him. He tries so hard to crawl and gets so mad when he barely scoots across the floor. He’s too much and he’s just enough. He’s perfect.
Mom life is hard though. I’m a workaholic and now I have to always be able to drop what I’m doing and go to him. Cleaning the kitchen can take hours if he’s having a fussy day. Laundry can go all week without being folded because he wanted to be held instead. And working on my books? Please. I’ve barely written anything in the last three months and what I’ve written was mostly blog posts. It’s been so hard that I’ve been tempted to just box everything up until he’s older.
But I refuse to give up. I’m going to get up earlier to work while he sleeps. I’m going to stay up after work to put in an hour. I will sacrifice my sleep and relaxation so that I can do it all. Because I need to have my stuff too or I’m going to stop feeling like a person.
My ultimate goal is to get my short story collection out there so I can start making other money. I’m realistic, I know I won’t be rich off of one book. But I just need a little income in order to get a different day job so I can work less hours. I want to be home more. Working 52+ hours a week was all fine and dandy when I didn’t have someone to come home to. I enjoy my work, but I enjoy being with my tiny even more. So, if I can take a pay cut and get a new day job, I’m going to do it. Don’t get me wrong, I still need to get out of the house for a day job, but I would like to not have to do it for as many hours as I currently do.
Being a mom has been an adventure with all kinds of ups and downs. But I’m still loving every minute of it.