Being a mom and a groomer

After Grace came, my husband and I weren't sure what we would do about my job. I was only working part time and not making much money, just enough to get by. There was no way that we could afford daycare, so what were we to do?

Luckily for me, my amazing boss told me I could bring Grace to work with me.

I rearranged my schedule so that I would have built in breaks to feed and change her, and we gave it a shot.

It's been six months and we're still going strong limping through.

I commented to my husband after a few weeks of being a full time mom and part time groomer that I was exhausted at the end of the day because I was basically working two jobs at once.
"Oh, because you work and then come home and take care of Grace?"

No, because I work and take care of Grace.

She has yet to master needing a diaper change on schedule, and gets really cranky when I don't feed her when she wants food. And she rarely wants food at that exact moment I am going to have free. Normally, she needs me about ten minutes before I'm actually done. It's just enough time to completely stress me out as I attempt to finish a haircut while my daughter screams at me.

As other moms will attest, there is nothing worse than your child screaming and knowing that you cannot do anything about it. In my case, I could drop everything I'm doing and help her with whatever she needs, but if I want to get our day done and get home, the best option is to finish what I'm doing and then attend to her needs. If only I could make her see that...

There's something you should know about me as a groomer, I rarely take breaks. I schedule my day so that I can get dogs in and out quickly and I worry about myself later. I know this isn't a great way to take care of myself, but lunch breaks just don't happen for me. I might shove a granola bar in my face around 2pm and call it lunch, but I'm normally almost wetting my pants before I take an actual break to do something simple like go to the bathroom. This has a lot to do with money, unfortunately. I work on commission, so the more dogs I can get done, the more money I make. The faster I get done, the faster I get home. And after lifting hundreds of pounds of dogs during the day, I just want to go home.

So, adding a baby into the mix has made my whole situation... interesting.

I have to take breaks. Not for me, but for her. Sometimes to feed or change her, sometimes to entertain her for a little bit. I am lucky that I have an easy going baby that will entertain herself while I work, but that's not always the case. (Thank you teething!)

So, for now, we carry on. My stress level is high and my back is killing me, but I'm spending every day with my daughter.

A daughter who now sleeps through barking dogs and blow dryers. Who isn't afraid to have a Pitbull or a Chihuahua come up and kiss her face.

And, hopefully, a daughter who grows up to know that her mom did everything she could for her, even lose her mind trying to make it all work.