The Balancing Act: A Day in the Life of a First-time Soccer Mom

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="Chart courtesy of Mommy Blips at www.mommyblips.com"][/caption]

Now that lil man is 3 1/2 years old and in pre-school, I decided to enroll him in soccer camp. Patricia, one of my girlfriends who is a teacher had told me that soccer should be a child's first sport, because it involves the most basic of motor skills: running and kicking. I also took him to the Children's Hospital for evaluation, and even though he's not that far behind, they still suggested both physical and speech therapy to catch up (for some sounds that he hasn't developed yet). So now I found myself juggling soccer camp in the mornings 5 days a week, and physical and speech therapy for 2 days each in the afternoons.

Did I mention that I also work full-time? AND that I was in the middle of a very important project? AND that neither my husband nor my mom could help me out? AND that I didn't have money for a babysitter? Yeah, this was going to be a tough one.

I still don't know how I managed to survive those 3 weeks, but somehow I did. Let me tell you what my days were like:

• 6:00am - stupid annoying alarm clock goes off; I hit the snooze button 2 or 3 times before I realize that the day's happening whether I get up or not

 

• 6:30am - by now I'm "supposed" to be ready (clothes and makeup) and fixing lil man's breakfast - usually oatmeal or scrambled eggs, depending on how late I am

 

• 6:45am - first attempt to wake up lil man. He's not a morning person either, so takes a while to wake him up. If he's non-responsive, I start undressing him and putting on his soccer uniform right in bed - not very comfortable for me, but usually does the trick because of all the tugging and pulling, and that wakes him up eventually. And don't even get me started on brushing his teeth! This whole process can take up to 30 minutes, easy.

 

• 7:15am - yep, we're late. I try to make him eat his breakfast quickly, but turns out 3-year-olds don't eat quickly, much less when still groggy - how rude!

 

• 7:30am - if we're not in the car and ready to go, it's pretty much guaranteed that he's going to be late for camp, cause it's a 30 minute drive and camp starts at 8am. Simple math.

 

• 8:00am - drop off lil man at camp. I watch other older kids get out of the car by themselves and go in while their parents drive away quickly, but no, I have to park, get him out of the car, carry his bag (and his ball if he's feeling lazy), and walk him over to his teacher.

 

• 8:15am - I arrive at the local Starbucks with laptop in hand. I tried to drive back home or to my office, but it takes too long, and time is precious!

 

• 8:30am - my daily project status call begins. Bring on the stress! I have exactly 3 hours to accomplish what other people do in 8. That means a double-shot nonfat mocha latte during the conference call, and then put my best Project and Time Management skills to work. By the way, my time management skills are: no bathroom breaks, no looking up, nothing!

 

• 11:30am - I have to start packing up to go pick up lil man. By now I'm so stressed that my neck hurts, I'm thirsty, and still have a gazillion things to do from work. It usually takes me about 15 minutes to finally be out the door.

 

• 12:00pm - pick up lil man at camp. This is a whole process as well, because the guy is so dirty that besides cleaning his hands and face with anti-bacterial wipes (yes, that was plural), I even had to change his clothes several times!

 

• 12:15pm - drive home. I still don't understand how a 30-minute drive in the mornings takes 45 minutes to get back, but Puertorrican driving is a mysterious thing. That's a story for another day.

 

• 1:00pm - get home and quickly fix lunch - either a sandwich, hot dog, or Chef Boyardee. Yes, I know I'm not winning "mom of the year" any time soon. Again, same problem as breakfast, the guy doesn't understand that we're against the clock here!

 

• 1:45pm - bath time. This was very difficult for lil man to accept, because his bath time was usually at night before bedtime, so I'm getting a lot of resistance, and very wet.

 

• 2:00pm - nap time. Spend the first 20 minutes telling him to get back in his room. When he finally surrenders, I try to catch up on the gazillion things from work that I was supposed to finish in the morning.

 

• 3:30pm - wake lil man up. This one is the worst, because he's so tired from soccer camp, that he simply won't respond! Most days I end up carrying him downstairs and putting on cartoons on TV until he notices he's not in bed anymore. This process can take up to an hour.

 

• 4:30pm - therapist arrives home. The reception is not always warm, but he warms up quickly and does his exercises. In the meantime, I try to catch up on some more work.

 

• 5:00pm - therapist leaves. Lil man plays (finally!) while I try to make dinner, although most of the time it's just defrosting or microwaving something - hey, I'm a baker, not a cook!

 

• 6:00pm - hubby arrives home. Cue the singing angels. If lil man hasn't finished his dinner, I turn him over to him. Yes, I know, he's been working all day, he has to change his clothes, take a load off, yada, yada, yada. Come on, it's your turn!

 

• 7:30pm - lil man drinks a tall glass of milk while watching a DVR'd program (either Discovery Kids or Playhouse Disney).

 

• 8:00pm - bedtime. Yet another entire process: brush teeth, read a story, pray, sing a song or two, then spend up to an hour telling him to get back in bed. This involves several trips to the bathroom; the record is 8 times!

 

• 9:00pm - finally collapse on the couch, where hubby has been watching TV. I spend the next 2 hours between watching TV (mostly DVR, I never get to watch live TV), catching up on Twitter, Facebook, my blog, or more work. Barely. By now my productivity and concentration has dropped significantly.

 

• 11:00pm - I give up. By now I'm so tired that I spend the next 45 minutes getting ready for bed. Lame. And stupid. And now I only get to sleep 6 hours, because guess what happens next morning at 6:00am? That's right, I get to do this all over again!

So that's what my days were like - every single day. I know that experienced moms have no problem with this, but this was my first real "mom" test for me. And it was exhausting. And draining. And stressful. And the weirdest part about it is that I enjoyed every minute of it! Am I crazy?