Must Have's

As a stay at home mom I find there are a few things you must have in order to survive-at least in my house.  These are in no particular order...

First, thank you to my mom for purchasing me the Shark Cordless Stick Vacuum! I do believe this is my favorite thing in this house. I use it nightly to vacuum up all the dirt, hair, crumbs etc...what really does it for me is that I can see exactly what I am cleaning up! I feel better about it for whatever reason. Now what would really do it for me would be a Dyson, but those things are so darn expensive-maybe for an anniversary gift. Ha Ha isn't that sad that is what I would want?  So if you are a mom out there, carpet, no carpet this is a wonderful powerful tool to have. It also has a great attachment to get cracks and hard to get to places in furniture or better yet great for your car! Car seats=crumbs galore here so I love love love it! Thank you mom!

Okay, Second, Booze. I am not saying to drink every night, but have a bottle of wine/beer or whatever your poison is on hand for those especially tough days when you feel so tired and overwhelmed you can have yourself a little sippy cup of your own after the kids go to bed.  Of course if you don't drink or like to then that is another story but it is one of my musts.

Third, Camera, duh! Okay so I am a photographer but really you have to have a camera in your house! You can get pretty great point and shoot digital camera's for pretty cheap these days and it is so important to capture your kids as they grow. Mine love looking at their photos, although sad to say most of mine are on my computer or external drive because I just don't have a lot of time to put together books. I will someday but in the mean time I'll keep them stored and show them and share with family and friends. If you are like me you live far from family and many of your best friends so it is great to receive photos as well as to get!

Fourth, some kind of work-out equipment. If you have more then one kid and stay home it can get tricky and tough to make it to the gym. You should be concerned with your health and set an example for your kids that it is important to be healthy and to take care of yourself. I used to go to the gym daily but then I had number 2 and it got hard to do with nap schedules for her. So thankfully we have an elliptical and weights so I can work out either durning her naps while my son is at preschool or when I can squeeze it in. I still go to the gym but I just can't make it there reliably at the present time so small children taking 2 naps a day still=get a treadmill, elliptical, jogging stroller or free weights and DVD's! I am currently on the P90X program which is great but hard! I would like to try the Xbox 360's w/Kinect Biggest Loser sometime after I finish this round of P90X. So just do it! Get in shape!

Fifth, a computer with internet! Like OMG how could I survive with out it? We as mom's/ dad's need to stay connected, especially as a stay at home parent! You can easily get isolated and lose contact with the outside world and do nothing but read and watch Elmo, build blocks, color all of that but you have to have contact with other people like you so you can vent or talk to via email or Facebook. I mean come on who doesn't anymore? If you don't I really don't know you and I don't know how you live like that? I need my computer time:)

So I think those are my Must Have's as a stay at home parent. I know there are a lot of little things that are helpful and things I wish I had but right now this is what saves me and makes my day's do-able!  You should try it...