mothers of invention: kate
first name: Kate
age: 26
current city: [withheld]
living situation: I live with my amazing husband, Todd a.k.a. “The Phatness,” my precious ten month old, Logan, and my 100 pound beast trapped in a Yorkie body, Georgio.
occupation: Currently, I am a stay-at-home mom. But I am also a graduate student on sabbatical, working toward a master’s in social work so that I can be an LCSW (a therapist). I took this past year off to stay at home with my son, Logan. It was so important to me that I be able to do that, and then all the cards fell into place.
When I graduate, I hope to run my counseling practice and work within the Latino community of my state.My state has the fastest growing Latino population in the nation, and there isn’t a single Spanish speaking counselor in my area.
how do you structure your time and space? I guess on the outside, my life structure would appear to be pretty conventional. I’m a stay at home mom, and my husband goes to an eight to five job. But when you start peeling back the layers of it all you see that we really aren’t that traditional. Todd does the dishes while watching football, and I asked for a power drill and Lowe’s cards for Christmas!
In regards to a daily time structure, I am very lucky to have the flexibility that comes with staying at home. If I want to go to the library or the park with Logan at 9:00 a.m. but we don’t get there until ten or noon, then I can usually be happy with that too.
I will be goingback to school on May 17th, and I have no, I mean absolutely NO idea how we are going to work that out. Is Logan going to stay with someone in our home? Is he going to go to the University daycare? Will he do both? No idea. I will have a more interesting answer once school has started. I will definitely be blogging about that if you want to check back in with me. School used to be my MAIN focus. I wanted a 4.0, I wanted to be in honor societies, et cetera. But now I’m terrified of how I’m going to make it work because my whole world shifted when Logan was born. My main focus now is Logan. It will be an interesting adjustment to school because I am such a perfectionist.
Until then, my career takes place in “the nursery,” and has been the hardest job I’ve ever had (not the only one that included poop though. Life guarding + baby pool = no fun!). I mean seriously, this job involves dodging projectile vomit (which takes mad skills), while trying to avoid the other end that occasionally has projectile you-know-what too, consistent all-nighters, and random bouts of “the boss” screaming at you for no apparent reason. But one of the greatest lessons I’ve learned is that spit up, dirty diapers, and sleep deprivation won’t kill me (at least not yet).
using the metaphor of seasons to describe the phases of women’s lives,
-what are the particular challenges and highlights of your current season? I feel like my current challenge is learning how to balance things I love to do for ME andthings I need and love to do with Logan. Learning how to be a mother has been wonderful, but it has also been a struggle to adjust to the life of loving someone so much more than myself.
The highlights of my “season” are being able to share with Logan all his “firsts.” It was very important for me to be with him this year. Another highlight of mine was being accepted into the master’s of social work program. Last year I was a history grad student, found out I was pregnant, and had no idea what I was going to do with a history masters!
-What season(s) preceded this one? Pregnancy was hard! I was having a hard time adjusting to that loss of “maidenhood,” as a friend once called it. Becoming a mother was an extremely difficult challenge for me. I was sick for 35 of the 39 weeks I was pregnant, we were figuring out our financial situation to make way for the baby, we were house hunting, and I was in gradschool and working. It was just really hard.
Where I am currently in my life right now just feels perfect! I feel like I finally have a handle on everything!
-What season(s) might your future hold? I’m really looking forward to getting back on campus and finishing my degree. I honestly think that I’m looking forward to sitting in class and having a whole 50 minutes all to myself! And I’m a nerd anyways. I love school!
favorite family activities: I love it when we go to the park as a family, go hiking, or just hang out in the den playing cards with a movie in the background. And Todd and I love to go to the movies together whenever we get the chance.
favorite solo activities: I like to exercise (running & I have a love/hate relationship!). I LOVE to read! I love to go to home-improvement stores andjust wander around looking at everything andenvisioning the projects that could happen! I love my jetted whirlpool tub and any chance I get to hang out in it!
sources of inspiration: My mother, for certain. She went to law school and had two babies before she finished her program. That’s amazing to me! If she can do it, I hope I can too.
Whenever I start feelingreally down and defeated, I turn to 1 Peter 5:8. That always helps.
And honestly, many of the women I have found in the blogging world inspire me. They are doing exactly what I’m doing, and it’s just comforting to read that I’m not alone in the chaos that is motherhood.
best MakeShift moment: Well, let’s see… I’m typing this right now in the bathroom floor while Logan is taking a bath. He was screaming at me at the top of his lungs, so I popped him in there and he’s having a blast!
Also, Logan is going through the typical separation anxiety. Did you know that I’m not allowed to go the bathroom without holding him? God forbid I do something without including him, right? Showers are a big no-no for him too. If he so much as hears the shower water turn on, he flips out. So, I now take baths andput him in the floor with all of his toys. He usually stands at the edge of the tub andknocks big bottles of shampoo into the water. It hurts when he aims them just right and they land on top of me, but at least I get clean!
Find Kate on the web at http://www.mommymonologues.com/ and at Mommy Monologues on Facebook!
Tags: home projects, kate, Latino, LCSW, mommy monologues, running, social work, staying-at-home, traditional, yorkie
April 9th, 2010 at 10:43 pm
Thanks for featuring me! I had a lot of fun doing it!!! I really think you’re onto something here–this is a great blog! I’ll be promoting it as often as I can!