Reblog Wednesday: In Defense of Stay-At-Home Moms — Autism in Our Nest

As a stay at home mom whom didn’t stay home from the beginning, I must say the transition was rather smooth. I loved my position in the corporate world, but once I had my oldest, my heart yearned to be with her and raise her myself.

I came across this post from Autism Family Power where she mentions coming across an article where a working woman asks, “what do stay at home moms do all day?” The question wasn’t ill intended, but rather out of curiosity.

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I chuckled a bit and then had the sudden urge to detail and justify my role at home. However, each of us has different reasons for our decision to stay at home, and the role of a parent that stays in the home is like no other. His/her role comes without a financial earning, without breaks, days off and too often are running on fumes.

However, the internal satisfaction of making sure my kids are taken care of, taking care of my families daily needs and each of my children’s individual needs be it school or otherwise, is beyond any pay check I could ever receive. The ‘tasks/jobs’ are endless, from scheduling doctors appointments, to making sure my son is thriving in school since his autism diagnosis, to potty training – still doing it. The list goes on and on. All the while praying I am doing a good enough job at raising good, compassionate citizens. Also, caring for myself as I have Chiari 1 Malformation – a congenital disorder.

So, if you’re a stay at home parent or not, our goals are all the same. We’re all caring for our homes and our families needs to the best of our abilities, being in the corporate world or not.

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Recently I read an article where a woman asked Stay-At-Home Moms what they did all day. At first I got defensive, but changed my mood. Read more about this, here!

via In Defense of Stay-At-Home Moms — Autism in Our Nest

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Chronic Pain + Time Management

It’s no secret that I live with Chiari + Syringomyelia but did you know it’s also the reason for many of my negative thoughts. They are thoughts that trigger self-doubt and lack of confidence. The chronic pain, the aches, the body pain, back pain, the headaches, the stiffness in my neck are a daily reminder of the things that I can no longer do. It can really bring me down – if I allow it to. My days are planned out around the level of pain I’m in on that particular day. So, how do I manage my day to day while living with chronic pain – besides my pain medication of course! …. Time management.

Yes, that’s it, no magic to it! I manage my time wisely, I don’t over do it and I listen to my body – did I mention I have to plan my day around the level of pain I’m in?! Yes, after that, I do whats a priority first and go from there. I don’t have to get everything done, but I do try to do what’s most important. And this can be tough when your day – like mine, will usually include days where I need to visit the doctors or have to do a routine MRI or CT Scan – yeah, those are fun …. said no one! If that’s the case, I’ll tweak my day knowing that my body and brain will be extra tired because of that doctors visit and will consider my day extra short.

This next thing is really important when living with chronic pain and I know it can be difficult to do is, to rest. I need to find time to rest. If I can’t lay in bed, I simply sit down for a minute or two or three, but I need my rest – better yet, my body craves rest. If I don’t get enough sleep, my body will feel it the next day. So, if I plan something where it involves leaving my house, I also have to plan to rest when I return. I do this so that I don’t get the wrath from lack of sleep afterwards. I can get anything from vertigo, to nausea to having vision issues. It all goes south really quickly from lack of sleep.

So, how do I manage my time as a stay at home mom with my babies?! Well for one, they’re all not on diapers – phew, two, I know it’s summer time but they do school related papers for me – no I’m not that crazy mom, and three, schedule! The littlest ones are on a schedule, they take up to a three hour nap or nap twice a day. Meanwhile, the older ones will be eating, reading, arguing playing, etc. And as for myself, this is my time to plan on a post for my blog – like a ‘Meme Monday,’ ‘Reblog Wednesday or ‘Nail File Friday’s’, even something on my online shop, eat and shower! Yes! This ‘nap time’ is ‘mama’s time.’ I do this because that’s what I’ve put on my plate and I so need I to be efficient with my time.

All the hard work and determination you put into anything today will pay off tomorrow.

Lastly, the thing that I’ve experienced with chronic pain is that besides it being an invisible illness, you have to self motivate yourself. You must! No one knows better than what you’re going through than you. If you don’t, this thing – chronic pain, will bring you down with it!

I would love to know how you manage your time while living with chronic pain, share your thoughts.

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