Kim Kalyn Photography

Being self-employed and being a stay at home mom is quite the balancing act. Sometimes it is organized and efficient while conquering the day. And most often is a constant juggling act between being a good mama and a successful business woman.

I’d like to think my average day looks a little like this … wake up refreshed, have a shower, get dressed into something stylish, put on my makeup, make a healthy breakfast, check emails while making breakie as Hayden plays happily and quietly entertaining himself, then outdoor playtime with Hayden, run necessary errands as Hayden cheerfully cooperates, put Hayden down for his nap effortlessly, back to work and all work related duties, I get a TON accomplished, Hayden wakes up after a loooong nap, we play and laugh and play and laugh, make dinner, play some more, have bathtime, get ready for bed and he falls asleep sweetly in my arms …

Now here is something that looks a little more like reality …

Get up a lot earlier than I would like, Darren has already headed off to work for an extra long day today – he’s working from 7am – 11pm poor guy, Hayden greets me with a “good morning mama!”, I throw on some lulus and a tank top and hoodie and put my hair in a ponytail, make breakfast, Hayden watches a show, I attempt to answer a few emails, Hayden starts yelling for me to come watch Fireman Sam with him, I logout of emails and quickly finish up breakie, we sit down at the table, Hayden doesn’t want cheesy eggs, he wants a smoothie, smoothie it is – up I get to blend something up before he attempts to launch himself out of his highchair, I manage to make a smoothie before he chucks all his eggs on the floor, he says ‘thank you mama’ and then says ‘thank you mama for breakfast, down please’, I say pleeeease eat a little something (he’s a real skinny little dude!), he says ‘no thank you’ and that’s about it, he’s stubborn (like me) and trying to force him isn’t going to work, he hops down, I scarf down as much of breakfast as possible – trying to remember to chew my food, tidy up the kitchen and eggs off the floor, attempt to do the breakfast dishes before he finishes the rest of his show, we go play outside in the yard, I try to bring him inside after he completely soaks himself from head to toe in a puddle five minutes after we get outside, I carry him inside – he’s screaming because he doesn’t want to come in, I tell him we will come right back out, it’s a struggle but he finally comes willingly, change outfit and we are back outside, I try to garden for a few minutes and convince him to hang out with me, that lasts all of two minutes, back to the puddle, we throw rocks and stomp in the puddle, outfit number two is soaked lol, hmmmm he’s not going to freeze to death so he plays in wet clothes till we are done outside, time to run errands, dump water out of his boots, back inside to change again, I try to answer a couple emails while he plays with toys and maybe update my facebook page, pack up snacks a drink and we hit the road to run errands and get things for dinner, Hayden is singing Baby Beluga at the top of his lungs and yelling out everything he sees: taxi, bus, car, truck, tree, park, tractor etc etc, I laugh at his hilarious little personality, we get to the bank, out of carseat, I decide against putting Hayden in the stroller (bad call lol), we get in the bank and I am carrying my oversized diaper bag in one arm and my almost 30 lb toddler in the other, I try to get my bank card out of my wallet which is harder than it should be while Hayden is chatting happily – he’s excited about the clocks and lights in the bank, I finally get my card out and put it in the machine, Hayden starts yelling “PUSH BUTTONS, PUSH BUTTONS!!”and lunges for the machine, people stare and smile, I help him push the right buttons, he squirms and squirms and I start thinking I need to do some pushups as my arms are having a hard time keeping him from wriggling right out of my arms, phew that’s done, now off to the grocery store, into the buggy, I get him snacks, he manages to get most of them in his mouth but more than a handful have ended up on the floor which I pick up and put in my pocket, I shop as quickly as possible while answering his adorable questions and chatter, Hayden says “go see what the crabs are doing?”, I finish grabbing what I need and off we go to the seafood section and say hi to the crabs, head to the checkout, pack up the car and get the little man into his carseat, back home we go, I put on his sleepy cd in hopes it soothes him to get him ready for naptime, we get home, Hayden wants to go see nana’s chickens, I tell him after sleepy time, he starts to cry, he’s tired – it’s time for nap, I try to get him down but he hops out of his crib, I try to get him down again, no luck, Hayden says “car ride?”, I think about it … I have a lot of work to do and REALLY need him to nap, so I say ‘sure, mama could use a coffee’, he says ‘mama coffee, two sugar’, I laugh and say ‘let’s go kiddo – get blankie boo’, he runs to grab his blankie, and we hop back in the car, Hayden falls asleep in 5 minutes, I breathe a sigh of relief and swing the car around, we get back home, I close my door as quietly as I can and open his, I unbuckle him and try to lift him out stealth ninja style without waking him, success, I open our door and Dezzy our cat (soon to be slippers!) meows and meows and scratches our carpet waking him up, not gonna lie – I am steaming mad, Hayden wakes up and I try to soothe him back to sleep, success – PHEW, Hayden sleeps and now it’s time to work, I check emails, edit, download and backup images, prep orders, organize receipts and invoices, package orders and client gifts etc etc, Hayden wakes up, we play, I make dinner, we play, bathtime and bedtime and I work some more.

Juggling mommyhood and my business is an on-going balancing act. I do my best at both. Some days I feel like a champ, others I am a guilty mess feeling like I neglected Hayden or my clients. I love what I do. I LOVE my family and I LOVE my job. I am not sure why I even spewed all of this out there. But I guess it’s a little glimpse into my life.

Here is a picture of working from home today … I shot some fabulous jewelry for Tristan and Tate, in our tractor bucket with beach finds, while Hayden napped. It was a perfect day 🙂