Photo courtesy of cleverpapers.com

I’ve talked before about how I stopped working full time when I had my first daughter. It was what I wanted to do, be a stay-at-home Mom. After a few years of taking care of babies day and night, I was itching to do something to get out of the house for a little while and make a little extra money. I’ve tried several different things over the years. I was an Independent Rep for Southern Living at Home - a business that is no longer… maybe because the general population just got sick of having SLAH parties all the time. I know I did. It was a job that was impossible for me to do with babies since my husband’s schedule is erratic and babysitting costs add up when you are only bringing in $20 a night.

Then I decided that if I wanted to really go back to work, I would just need to do it. I took a job as an Interior Designer (my chosen profession) for a start-up company where I could work independently from home. I still needed to see clients and shop for furnishings so I hired a nanny. This lasted about a year. It was exhausting running back and forth from the clients house to home. My kids missed me and I missed them. Plus, the money we put out for the nanny didn’t leave me as much spending money as I had hoped. Done.

My next venture was to start my own design business. I thought that if I worked for myself, I would have much more flexibility. Wrong. We all know working for yourself just adds that much more pressure. Then… I went into partnership with a close friend. That worked out MUCH better but when the economy started to tank, less and less people were spending money on their homes. Done.

I took up blogging.

Of course, isn’t that what most SAHM’s do when their kids drive them crazy every day? What I didn’t see coming is that my blogging would turn into my businesses. Another stay-at-home business. Don’t get all crazy… I’m not bringing in 6 figures or anything. Okay, I’m not even bringing in 5 figures. Yet. But I have now found myself in the middle of this work v. mommy thing once again and this time it’s no better than before.

So, my big questions is… how do you manage the kids, homework, cooking, cleaning, laundry, when you have posts to write, deadlines to meet, giveaways to monitor and twitter parties to attend to at the most awkward hours for those of us who live on the West Coast. For those of you East Coasters who schedule all these fab parties… did you realize that 9pm at night is smack dab in the middle of dinner time for us????? And that fun 4 - 5 pm party in the afternoon is the precise time I am picking up the kids at school????? No, I didn’t think so.

I’m juggling.

Every morning I wake up and get on the computer. I need to see all those emails that come in from the East Coast and figure out if I have anything urgent to do in the morning. If so, I get on it and the kids basically have to make their own lunches and breakfasts. If nothing is pressing, I make their lunches and breakfasts.

I come home from dropping them off at school and then I have roughly 5 hours to work. I’m usually typing away. In between I might have a vet appointment, have to pick up the cleaning, and maybe, just maybe, I’ll have a few minutes to actually go to a market and fill up our fridge with food before I have to run and pick up the kids. After school, I have to sit for 1 - 2 hours with them to do homework before I need to start dinner and try to get fill the dishwasher with breakfast dishes and straighten up the living room before David gets home.

Nothing else gets done. By the time the dinner dishes are cleaned, it’s always about 8pm and I’m dead exhausted. But then my household duties kick in and while David is sitting on the couch watching TV, I’m running up and down the stairs doing laundry.

I could scream.

So what does a woman do? I asked the wise women of the internet.

“You have to prioritize and learn to let go when you can’t do it. Sometimes the house suffers, sometimes the kids suffer, and sometimes the blog suffers, but it is just life for me right now. Knowing when you work your best and maximizing your time when you focus the best. Take breaks to clean and be with your kids.” Melissa Earl

I do blogging while the baby naps in the morning (and my son watches tv) and while they both nap in the afternoon. Then again after they go to bed. Something always gets ignored when I have a heavy blogging week. the house, the hubs or even the kids sometimes. There’s just no winning! Desiree Eaglin

I now work 1/3 of the hours when they are in school or in bed, mostly. and am more productive. I think it can not “ALL” be done unless we have a budget for a domestic help or we don’t mind giving up a social life, sleep, etc. Stacey Ross

What I learned? That it’s a toss-up. You can’t really “do it all” and to be honest, who really wants to do it all? We each have our little tricks for getting things done and what works for some probably wouldn’t work for other. Sometimes the kids come first, sometimes the work comes first. It’s a matter of prioritizing and just doing the best we can. And let’s face it… most of us are probably doing a lot better than we think we are.

If you have any great tips or tricks for scheduling work v. kids, I’d love to hear them.