Yes, sometimes I do watch Oprah. So?

This a post for all those haters out there who think that stay-at-home-mums sit on their ass and watch Oprah all day long…

No, I don’t ‘work’ in a full-time capacity. Yes, sometimes I sit down in the middle of the day and watch Oprah. Or Dr Phil. Or Dr Oz. Whatever.

I also spend countless hours taking care of my child and my home and working towards a better future for my family. Here’s a run down of my ‘working’ week… (I’m including Saturdays and Sundays because I don’t get weekends off. I still have the same ol’ shit to do.)

- I breastfeed my baby 5 times a day. At half an hour a pop, that’s 17.5 hours a week. I can’t watch TV while I do this because it distracts her from feeding. Nosy little so-and-so.

- She now eats 3 solid meals a day, too (little miss piggy). Once you add preparation time, ‘let’s play with our food’ time, and clean up time (sadly in the majority) you’re looking at half an hour each meal. That’s 10.5 hours a week.

- Nappy changes. Which, by the way, are a whole different ball game once you add food to infant digestion. At the moment, I would say I survive this ordeal up to 6 times a day. Now that she’s mobile it takes twice as long, because I have to retrieve her every 3 seconds. So I would estimate a good 5-10 minutes per poop, equalling 7 hours a week.

- Bath time. We try to bath her every night, not because she’s that dirty, but it helps give her the idea that bedtime is on it’s way. Kinda. This is a solid half hour. I can tell by how much water I have to mop up off the floor afterwards. So, 3.5 hours a week.

If my calculations are correct, that adds up to 38.5 hours a week. About equal to a ‘normal’ full-time job, no? And I haven’t even started on the other things I do during the week, such as feeding and walking our two dogs, preparing 3 different breakfasts and lunches every day, cooking and freezing food for Ella, grocery shopping, trips to the park, laundry (oh god, so much laundry! At least one load a day.) Not to mention hours spent entertaining my baby every day. Those giggles are addictive.

Oh, and then there’s the little matter of my actual work, too. I clean several offices every week, my own house, and my mum’s house once a fortnight. I also do some freelance writing for a magazine, usually late at night, and try and spend some time each day building up my presence online and reading all the blogs I find interesting.

So, sometimes, if I feel like sitting down with a cup of coffee in the middle of the day and watching some trashy television – what of it? You get a lunch break, don’t you?