The first time I glance at the clock is whenever I open my computer and do a quick, mental calculation of how many hours I have until bedtime. I know that I need to use these upcoming, uninterrupted 30 minutes of my life wisely to get started on work, because I won’t get another moment to really focus on anything until nap time, hours later.

and am so thankful that Dora The Explorer is on because my little one has something against Max and Ruby, pull off her winter coat and shoes, place her in her high chair and grab her some breakfast. When I talk to my mom, for instance, about feeling overwhelmed, feeling mom guilt, and counting down the minutes until bedtime because I just need a moment to think, she can’t relate. When we finally get inside our tiny New York City apartment (thank goodness for elevators), our day really begins, and often times I’m already exhausted. toddlers), I pretty much feel like a superhero and take note that my right bicep is growing increasingly more toned than the other. Once we finally make it up the 12 steps half an hour later (because ahem. Taking a peek into my life, I’m a full-time work-from-home mom who wrangles her kids every morning to be at the bus stop by 7 a.m., pushes the stroller back home with a fussy toddler inside who just wants to get out and play, helps her climb up the front steps to our apartment building with my left hand holding hers and my right being used to balance the stroller that’s hoisted over my right shoulder. Some of these mom days whoosh by so quickly that you forget to eat, have reheated your cup of coffee five times and yet it’s somehow still cold, while other days are slower, filled with temper tantrums and resistance to homework - these are the “countdown the minutes until bedtime” days, and they are more challenging days to get through. We’re all on level playing fields here, doing the best we can for those we love. None of these scenarios make motherhood less difficult, less magical, or less exhausting.

You can be a work-from-home mom or full-time working mom, a single mom or a parenting-with-a-full-village-surrounding-you at all times mom.

Before you start judging, hear me out.įirst, motherhood is different for everyone, no matter which path you walk. I love my kids more than this world, but it's also true that sometimes I count down the minutes until bedtime. Hello friends! I’d like to introduce myself over here as Allison Cooper, mother, writer, blogger, lover of leggings, coffee and HIIT workouts.

Counting down the minutes