Tag: stay at home mom

Pandemic Fatigue

It’s been a while since I shared what’s on my heart, and I feel like I’m in a bit of a slump, in general, in life. But we are all healthy and hanging in there!

I think pandemic fatigue has hit my household very hard, along with pretty much everyone else I talk to on a regular basis. I was chatting with a friend recently, and the fatigue is hitting harder now, than it did when we were isolated in March and April.

We think it’s because there are so much choices to be made right now. Things are open. People want to hang out. Grandparents want to see their grandbabies. We want to go out to eat and support our local restaurants. How do you know what level of risk you are willing to bear? How do you make those choices for yourself, and your family?

It is so dangerous right now, and scary. There’s still so much we don’t know. Theo is too young to wear a mask, so anytime he has to leave the house, he is unprotected and therefore we are not protecting the others around us. The older he gets, the more he wants to do, but the only time he’s left the house recently was to go to his 15 month well child visit. Thankfully, he doesn’t know any better. An exciting day for him is playing downstairs in the morning, and upstairs in the afternoon! Ha!

For everyone out there experiencing pandemic fatigue, wondering if you’re doing ‘enough’ to protect your family, and grieving your life before the pandemic: please know that you are not alone, and we will get through this together.

Upstairs Living Room Makeover

Ever since Theo was born, our living room has looked like a daycare center. As it turns out, babies need a lot to entertain themselves all day, every day.

My living room daycare center, and this was on a good day.

We are very lucky in that our home also has a loft / living area upstairs. On kind of a whim, we decided to relocate Theo’s main play area from our “main” living room to our loft / upstairs living area. Let me tell you, I am so much happier! Now that most of his toys are upstairs, it’s easier to delineate kid/play time from adult/relaxing time. We jokingly call this space the mountain house since it’s upstairs. We are funny.

Before
After

I am proud to say that the only thing I bought new for the upstairs playroom are the posters that I added to the walls. We repurposed an old armoire that I had acquired a while back (in here I am storing snacks, wipes, burp cloths for spills, toys that are out of the rotation), and moved the Montessori shelves from downstairs as well.

Oh, well we did get a few new things – we upgraded the TV to a 65″ (mounted) and added a sound bar as well. We have them on our other TV’s, and since we will be spending more time upstairs we decided to add a sound bar up there as well.

I’m kicking myself for not taking better before and after pictures. It’s great to have a separate and dedicated play space, and it’s also great to have my living room back! Well, until Theo’s birthday. I’m going to need a second house by the time Christmas rolls around!

Our next project is to childproof the loft area. We plan to build some room dividers that we can tuck behind the couch, creating a wall-like barrier that a child won’t be able to climb over.

My thoughts on becoming a stay at home mom

I’ve alluded to this here and there, but here’s my whole ~journey~ to becoming a stay at home mom:

This might be more detail than anyone even cares about but here I go anyway LOL. I had Theo in October 2019, and was lucky enough to be able to take a 6 month maternity leave (16 weeks of that was covered under a paid parental leave program as a benefit of my company). I was scheduled to go back to work in early May. After my 16 week paid parental leave, I was on unpaid leave until May. During that unpaid leave, I got a phone call that my job was being eliminated and I was being offered a severance package after my official return to work date.

In the meantime, Matt and I had a pretty big decision to make. Should I go back to work and start a new job amidst COVID, risking intermittent childcare/daycare and potentially jugging working from home with an infant? Or forgo my six figure salary, and hit “pause” on a successful (yet fairly unfulfilling) career?

We determined that it made the most sense for our family for me to stay home with Theo for at least another year, as we navigate the global pandemic.

It’s been QUITE an adjustment on all levels. I am so lucky that I get the privilege to stay home with Theo. And it makes me feel physically ill to think of someone else taking care of him right now, but DAMN we have some bad days! Some days I feel like I am just being yelled at all day by a tiny boss, and tiny bosses don’t understand logic. Well, some adult bosses also don’t understand logic but that’s neither here nor there. We play, we watch TV, one of us eats a LOT, and we also take a LOT of selfies.

It’s also a huge financial adjustment. I’ve always been used to bringing in a significant amount of our income, and until 2019, I’ve always been the primary income earner. We have recently been working on a formal budget, since my severance runs out this month, and it has been really eye opening for me. Please share any and all tips you have on saving money with me!

All that said, working outside of the home has its perks (I wouldn’t have to change 276 poopy diapers per week), and working inside of the home has its perks (if I’m tired and Theo is napping, I can nap too). Right now, despite the isolation and monotony, I am incredibly thankful that I get to stay home with him, and we will see what the future holds for our family and my career!