Rockabye Bucktown

Navigating motherhood beyond Six Corners

Posts tagged SAHM

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Spring wardrobe update: tees

While t-shirts may be the unofficial top for the SAHM (seen weekdays and weekends…everywhere), it certainly doesn’t mean that they need to appear sloppy and unkempt.  I hesitated wearing them when I decided to stay home because I felt like they were a slippery slope to wearing pajamas all day, but it couldn’t be farther from the truth! As it turns out, they are both functional (for trips to the park and making messy lunches) and fashionable (to throw on for a last minute lunch at Fred’s).

Check out the latest tees of the season (some of my favorites shown here) boasting fun colors and patterns.  Perfect with a pair of fitted jeans, relaxed shorts or a bold skirt.  Keeping the peanut butter and jelly off of them in public is another story…

[images via Net-a-Porter, Piperlime and J Crew]

Filed under fashion t-shirts Equipment Mary Katrantzou J Crew Moschino Cheap and Chic SAHM

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What this SAHM does all day

Now that I’m a stay-at-home mom, I often get asked (by friends that don’t yet have kids, friends that have kids, but still work or complete strangers) what I do all day.  I thought I would share a random day (yesterday) to answer that question.  The point of this post isn’t to say, “look how hard it is to be a mom” or “see, I’m not really sitting around watching The Kardashians while my kid destroys my house unattended”, but just to give you a glimpse of my world that can be challenging, but that I have grown to love!

Tuesday

  • 5:00 a.m. wake up call with Little B.  I rock him back to sleep until around 6:30 and take a half hour snooze myself (good call on my part)
  • Breakfast for Little B (blueberry waffles, pureed apples and cherries and sliced banana - yes, he is actually starting to like bananas! Very exciting.), reading time, play time, Today show, coffee/Cliff bar for me (I’ve decided there’s no way I can cut out caffeine entirely until he is at least 4 years old…)
  • Attempt to clean up breakfast (this can be a process) and get Little B dressed for the day while he attempts to run from me
  • Nap time for Little B
  • 2 loads of laundry
  • Quick elliptical workout
  • Send a few emails for an upcoming non-profit event
  • Shower
  • Bottle and play time
  • Dry cleaners
  • Juice date with another mom friend
  • Bubbles class with Little B (he now “attacks” the instructor and her guitar)
  • Sadly turn down an invitation for a Barney’s date with mom friend (Little B must nap and that’s far too tempting…)
  • Drive around Chicago while Little B naps in the car (I know my pediatrician would scold me for this, but there is no way I’m waking this kid once he is sleeping)
  • Make Little B lunch (a grilled cheese, watermelon and Greek yogurt) while he watches Sesame Street On Demand
  • Surprise visit from Grandpa B!
  • More play time and a nap (attempt to clean up after play time unsuccessfully)
  • Peruse the Neiman Marcus website (definitely more fun)
  • Hang out, order in pizza and salad and enjoy a few glasses of wine with my friend Katie that came over after work
  • Watch the Olympics and discuss whether or not Little B could be a future Olympian.  Obviously.
  • Play time and dinner (turkey sausage, mixed veggies and more watermelon for our future athlete)
  • Bath (get peed on twice, which warrants and second dip in the tub for Little B)
  • Rock Little B to sleep
  • Order Little B several new books on Amazon and peruse Tumblr
  • Enjoy a few pieces of dark chocolate while Mr. B and I chat about our days (me from our couch, him from his hotel room) 
  • Fall into bed at 11:30, ready to do it all again today!

Filed under SAHM typical day parenting caffiene

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It has been five months since I changed “careers” and became a SAHM.  I was doing marketplace marketing for an accounting/consulting firm as well as getting my Masters of Integrated Marketing and Communications at Northwestern.  I was putting in a lot of hours (not including those dedicated to the non-profits I served).  I got pregnant faster than I ever expected (we were VERY fortunate) and it was blissful news; we were euphoric!  I continued to plug away, but it was tiring (as it turns out, creating a human takes quite a bit of work).  I feared that I wasn’t doing what was right for me nor my baby, so I decided to postpone school.  It was a nice break, but I really missed learning and the interaction.  I wasn’t sure how I would feel as a new mom.  I loved working, but I also knew that with my husband’s travel schedule, two working parents may not be the best option for our family. I could bore you with a bunch of chatter about how it’s the toughest job on earth (which it is) or how I don’t know how working moms do it (which I don’t), but you’ve probably heard that already from multiple sources.  The thing is, you don’t know what sort of mom you will be or will want to be until you become one.  Some days, I do want to put on a chic black dress and my Choos and hop on the train with my husband to the office.  On most days, however, I’m so thrilled that I chose this path and get to throw on a tank and a pair of comfy flats and witness Little B’s every move, reaction, milestone, and smile.  He is not easy to leave. I gave myself a year of “training.”  Of course, I understand that being a mother requires much more, but a year that is interrupted.  I am not trying to “do it all” this year.  I’m not going to try to figure it all out, plan the next five years of my life nor commit to things that take me away from my family (with the exception of serving on one non-profit and a Vegas bachelorette party, of course).  After this full year with Little B, I will access the situation and plan with my husband (even though my A-type personality wants to start now).  I would like to work away from the home again someday or go back to school, but I will cross that bridge when I am hydrated, stretched and ready to run over it.  For now, I will humor you and myself with with pics from our play dates, music classes, attempt at making family dinners, occasional nights out with my friends, shoes I’m lusting over and weekly manicures (because that is clearly important!).  I hope you like it.  Thanks for joining me on this journey…

It has been five months since I changed “careers” and became a SAHM.  I was doing marketplace marketing for an accounting/consulting firm as well as getting my Masters of Integrated Marketing and Communications at Northwestern.  I was putting in a lot of hours (not including those dedicated to the non-profits I served).  I got pregnant faster than I ever expected (we were VERY fortunate) and it was blissful news; we were euphoric!  I continued to plug away, but it was tiring (as it turns out, creating a human takes quite a bit of work).  I feared that I wasn’t doing what was right for me nor my baby, so I decided to postpone school.  It was a nice break, but I really missed learning and the interaction. 

I wasn’t sure how I would feel as a new mom.  I loved working, but I also knew that with my husband’s travel schedule, two working parents may not be the best option for our family.

I could bore you with a bunch of chatter about how it’s the toughest job on earth (which it is) or how I don’t know how working moms do it (which I don’t), but you’ve probably heard that already from multiple sources.  The thing is, you don’t know what sort of mom you will be or will want to be until you become one.  Some days, I do want to put on a chic black dress and my Choos and hop on the train with my husband to the office.  On most days, however, I’m so thrilled that I chose this path and get to throw on a tank and a pair of comfy flats and witness Little B’s every move, reaction, milestone, and smile.  He is not easy to leave.

I gave myself a year of “training.”  Of course, I understand that being a mother requires much more, but a year that is interrupted.  I am not trying to “do it all” this year.  I’m not going to try to figure it all out, plan the next five years of my life nor commit to things that take me away from my family (with the exception of serving on one non-profit and a Vegas bachelorette party, of course).  After this full year with Little B, I will access the situation and plan with my husband (even though my A-type personality wants to start now). 

I would like to work away from the home again someday or go back to school, but I will cross that bridge when I am hydrated, stretched and ready to run over it.  For now, I will humor you and myself with with pics from our play dates, music classes, attempt at making family dinners, occasional nights out with my friends, shoes I’m lusting over and weekly manicures (because that is clearly important!).  I hope you like it.  Thanks for joining me on this journey…

Filed under SAHM life changes Burke family