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This post is a part of a blog series of stories of the working mom. I’m excited to share 13 stories from real working mothers. I also really would like to hear YOUR story and I’d love to hear it. Keep the conversation going in the comments & on social media using #wellcraftedworkingmoms. A huge thank you to the women who volunteered to share their stories, Mary Boyden of Mamma Bear Magazine for her photography and Madeline Roosevelt  for hair and makeup! 

 

I met Erin a few years ago through an acquaintance and was thrilled when she volunteered to be a part of the working mom project. Getting to read through her experiences has really been a joy. I hope you enjoy getting to know Erin and reading about her experiences as a working mom!

Meet Erin, a working mom

 

Erin Rhodes is a wife of eight years, a mother of two children and a teacher. Her daughter is three years old and her son will be turning three months old this week. She also has a fur baby of nearly five years, a Basenji. Erin and her husband had trouble conceiving and then experienced two high risk pregnancies. She considers her children true blessings.

She said that she is absolutely living her dream.

“I love that I am living my dreams everyday.  Ever since I can remember I had three dreams, 1- be a wife 2- be a mom 3- be a teacher.  Now that I have it all I get to live it all everyday!”

 

Portrait of a Working Mom: Teacher & Mother of Two

A typical work day in the life of a teacher and mother of two

 

A typical work day for Erin Rhodes begins at five in the morning where she gets a little ‘me’ time before the family wakes as she gets ready for her day. She likes to arrive to the school where she teaches third graders by 6 AM so that she can leave as close to 3:30 as possible. She takes advantage of her ability to work better in the mornings when fresh rather than later in the day when feeling drained.

“I try and get our dog out for a run before picking up the kids.  This is great for her as well as me.  I love this transition time, where again I get to just be me and decompress from being a teacher and prepare myself for ‘mom’.”

 Portrait of a Working Mom: Teacher & Mother of Two

 

After her run she picks up her kids by 5 in the evening and begins the family dinner, play, bedtime routine. Steve, her husband, works three to four nights a week and on those evenings she does the night time routine on her own. She typically gets her daughter ready for bed first and then puts her son down for the evening while her oldest reads books. She then turns off her daughter’s light and calls it a day. At the time of this interview Erin had yet to do the work and nighttime routine for both kids as she was on maternity leave.

 

When my kids are adults and look back at their childhood, I want them to know…

 

“That they can have it all too.”

Erin had a fantastic example of a working mother and she feels that that example has helped share how she hopes her children look back on her working.

“I remember my mom worked a full time job my entire childhood, even traveled for several years.  Because of this she we were able to go on vacations and live in a nice house.  I also remember that she made time to take me to soccer practice and came to all my band concerts and plays.  She made time for the special assemblies and field trips.”

Her working now has helped her understand her mother a little better as well, “I never understood why she hated the question ‘What’s for dinner?’ right as she walked through the door at night…now I totally do.”

Erin continued,”I want my kids to remember me working how I remember her working.  That it is possible to follow a passion and provide a great life for your family, while still being there for the important moments.  I want them to know that my passion for my job doesn’t take away from my passion for them.”

 

Maternity Leave, Childcare & Mom Guilt… oh MY!

 

I absolutely had to ask a few questions about some of the topics that often come up for the working mom such as maternity leave, childcare, and the challenges & joys of working. I love the answers so much that I felt it was best to just put it in their own words. Read on to learn about the ups, downs, ins and outs of Erin’s working mom experience!

 

This is the first post in a series of stories on working moms. While I’m excited for the amazing variety of women that have been interviewed for this project, I know it isn’t a drop in the bucket of the stories of working mothers. Hopefully there is something in at least one of the stories that resonates with readers. However, the best story is YOUR story and I’d love to hear it. Keep the conversation going in the comments and on social media using #wellcraftedworkingmoms. A huge thank you to the women who volunteered to share their stories, Mary Boyden of Mamma Bear Magazine for her photography and Madeline Roosevelt for hair and makeup! 

 

A Portrait of Working Moms - A Well Crafted Party

 

Why post about working moms?

 

Because I said so. That works, right? No, well, it doesn’t for my toddler either. So, here it goes:

A few years back, after several upsetting and tiresome months, I decided that I was spending too much time and effort on things that really didn’t matter. In that low period of my life I decided that I needed to focus. I wanted to live a life of purpose. In that time I really examined each area in my life in which I spend my time, money, and energy to see if it helped me live my life with more purpose. Those items that didn’t fit my goals got removed (when possible) or adjusted to fit better within my goals. This blog was one of the items that needed to be adjusted from something that was just a hobby I enjoyed to a place of purpose.

Over the past few years, my mission within my blog is to inspire, educate and encourage readers to take joy in the everyday and celebrate the many moments that make life a party. I believe whole-heartedly that we should celebrate the moments of the every day. All of this is to lead in to why I am doing a series on working mothers…

Highlighting the triumphs and trials of working mothers, for me, is a way of celebrating the incredible journey that I and many other mothers are going through. This is not a series to say one way of being a mom is better than any other way. I believe the best thing a mother can do for her children is to decide what is the best situation for her family, whether it be to work or to stay home.

 

Working Moms Interviews at A Well Crafted Party

 

Series Intro

 

Sometime after going back to work after my short maternity leave with my second child I decided that I wanted to hear what working was like for other mothers. I put out a volunteer request and had several mothers sign up to share their story and pose for photos.

Mothers are often the last to get ready for the day and are typically the ones behind the camera. I wanted to make these women feel pampered a bit and receive some great photos of themselves, so I contacted Mary Boyden of Momma Bear Magazine to help me host a photoshoot to feature the women. Hair and makeup pro Madeline Roosevelt volunteered her services to really make these mommas feel as beautiful as they are! (Check out a video made from behind the scenes at the shoot!)

Nearly everyone of the volunteers were able to make it to a day of photos, food, and chatting with other working mothers. Over the past month or so I’ve been collecting interviews with each of the women, including those who were unable to attend the photoshoot. I cannot even begin to say how joyful this whole process has been. I’m super excited to share these stories with you between now and Mother’s Day.

I’ll post stories of working mothers every Monday, Wednesday and Friday from now until Mother’s Day 2016. In between those posts you can look forward to posts that will hopefully make the balancing act of life a tad easier for those who are parents and who are not.

 

Working Moms Interviews at A Well Crafted Party

 

 Open Your Eyes!

 

I teased this series with graphics saying “Open Your Eyes” because I truly hope that this series helps open the eyes of those who read it. If becoming a mother wasn’t hard enough, one thing that many mothers experience when moving into this new phase of life is that there is a lot of judgement and “shoulds” that happen from other mothers, non-parents, friends, family, complete strangers… you get the point. While the saying goes “it takes a village” for good reason, often we need that village to be one of support rather than unsolicited advice.

These stories will hopefully show that new mother who loves her career that there is someone out there experiencing a similar situation. The mother of young children struggling with balancing her home and work responsibilities may know after reading these stories that she is not alone. The non-parent who happens upon these stories may open her eyes to more of what her co-worker with children deals with each day. I hope that these stories resonate with people. However, at the lack of that, they are entertaining and moving stories worth reading.

Missy Maki, one of the working moms I interviewed, said it best:

My big thing about being a working mom is that it is not easy for anyone. We all have to scotch tape and safety pin things together at one time or another, and it’s okay. We need to smile at each other, to wink at each other when our kid is losing their shit at Safeway. We need to swipe our debit card when another moms Oregon Trail card is declined. It is our responsibility to step up, smile, help, and make it clear that we all know it is hard, and offer helping hands to each other.

Missy Maki

 

 

Follow along with the Working Moms series: #wellcraftedworkingmoms

 

Follow Along & Join the Conversation

I’m excited to be posting these stories of working mothers every Monday, Wednesday and Friday from now until Mother’s Day 2016. I’d love to hear how you enjoy the series and about your stories of working in motherhood. Share with me via Instagram, Twitter or Facebook. Use the hashtag #wellcraftedworkingmoms so I, and others who are following, may see your story as well!

I was sent a complimentary snu:mee to review in anticipation of the crowdfunding campaign to bring snu:mee to the United States. All opinions are my own. To learn more about my policies regarding reviews and sponsored posts please visit my policies page

 

I have a secret. I hate lullabies.

 

Lullabies are ridiculously weird, right? Seriously, the words in most of them make no sense or are things  don’t really want to sing to my sons. We’ve changed a few words around to make them work for our family but, I haven’t found any that I just love to play at night for the kiddos. We recently got a cool little projector for the boys room that came with three lullabies in that general music box sound. While I found it cute at first… about the tenth playing of “Rock-a-bye Baby” and I’m ready to pull my hair out. Of course, my oldest LOVES it and wants to play it all night long.

snu:mee review from A Well Crafted Party - Finally lullabies that I actually like! #spon

Enter snu:mee…

 

I found out that snu:mee— a music box, mp3 player and baby monitor all in one that has been popular in Europe— was coming to the states with a Indiegogo campaign I instantly said YES I want to be a part of THAT. The three-in-one wonder currently runs about $139, but can be snagged through the campaign for only $79.

The snu:mee comes with some pre-loaded songs and a store of more music. The songs are popular songs made into a music box lullaby. My son now drifts to sleep to lullaby versions of  “Nothing Else Matters” by Metallica and “Yellow” by Coldplay. (No words for these songs, because I’m pretty sure Nothing Else Matters as a lullaby might be just as bad as “When the bough breaks, the cradle will fall, And down will come baby, cradle and all.”) They do have the classics on there if you want them as well. You can also transfer your own music to the snu:mee or even record your voice for your baby.

You can control your music on the snu:mee itself or, using wifi, control it from your phone. Baby getting fussy and you aren’t able to go right away? Turn on the monitor portion or even talk to baby through the monitor to calm him while you get free.

snu:mee review from A Well Crafted Party #spon

snu:mee features:

  • Baby monitor with up to 300m signal range
  • Feature packed MP3 player
  • Free app for iOS and Android
  • 60 decibel volume limiter for babies’ sensitive hearing
  • Headphone connector
  • Sleep timer allowing you to decide how long the music plays
  • Wi-Fi music streaming
  • Secure connection
  • Variety of cuddly sleeves to choose from! (I chose the star and it is adorable!)
  • 4GB memory, enough for more than 500 songs

 

snu:mee review from A Well Crafted Party #spon

Aging with the snu:mee

 

What do you do with your old baby monitors and music boxes when your baby gets older? The snu:mee grows with your baby first turning into a cuddly toy for an older baby by using a snu:mee sleeve and then use it as a MP3 Player for your older kiddo.

I know that this post screams AD like crazy. But, after listening to my millionth music box version of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star this little thing has been a very welcome new gadget in our household. We carry it around at night as we are getting ready for bed. The older kid loves it just as much as the younger one. And, I’m ready to get rid of the many other gadgets in our baby’s room that perform one function only. Consider this my very enthusiastic goodbye to my old baby monitor and music box.

If you think the snu:mee is right for you and your family then hop on over to support the crowdfunding campaign and snag your snu:mee for a huge discount. If you aren’t quite there yet, but are ready to listen to new music with your kiddos, check out their free app Baby Stars- rock2sleep on iPhone and Android.

What music solutions have you found for you and your family? Love the classics or have you changed things up?