Being a stay-at-home mom

It's the question I get asked most these days: "How do you like being a stay-at-home mom?" My answer is always, "It's great!" Then I feel the need to temper that with, "But it's also exhausting." It's complicated, as life is. Here are my thoughts.

Leaving my job was absolutely the right decision. I don't have any regrets about leaving The Post. I miss the people, and I miss editing. But my job was much more than simply editing, and a lot of that other stuff could be stressful and added to my work-life-balance anxiety. Am I 100 percent fulfilled in life now? Er, I wouldn't say that. But I'm much happier than I was when I was working, and I haven't given up on reaching that 100 percent.

Toddler squat.

The boy is a good kid; we are very lucky. Of course we have good moments and bad moments, good days and bad. But overall the little guy is pretty great to be around. He sleeps well during the day and at night. He's careful, so I don't worry too much about him hurting himself or putting things in his mouth he shouldn't. (If he finds a choking hazard on the ground, he hands it to me first!) He's pretty good at playing by himself. And he knows enough signs and words to tell us what he wants most of the time.

He's even been eating better lately. That has been our main area of concern. I wish he drank more milk and ate a wider variety of foods, but I'm stressing about that less. He's also started insisting on being carried for long stretches ("bup, bup, bup!"), especially when I'm trying to relax or get chores done. Sigh.

House chores are a drag. I have no idea how the laundry and dishes got done when I was working, because it takes all the energy I have to do them now. I'm also cooking more often, which is a big change. I've never been keen on doing anything in the kitchen beyond boiling water and scrambling eggs. Tonight I made salmon (overcooked, too salty, too many bones) with green beans (too many herbs) and rice (perfect, thanks to the rice cooker). I suppose I feel a sense of accomplishment; mostly I'm just exhausted.

The play group is a lifesaver. The moms in this group -- all strangers before the boy was born -- are smart, funny and nice. I'm so lucky to see them once a week, and more often if I manage to schedule play dates or playground outings. Because of them and other mom friends, I don't feel starved for adult conversation, or whatever the cliche is. Oh, and it's good for the boy to socialize, too, but mostly I appreciate the regular sanity checks.

I miss my friends. I haven't seen my non-mom friends enough. Need to work on that.

I get to nap almost every day. This has to be one of the best perks of the job. Yes, instead of doing chores, I usually choose to snooze when the boy is napping. I feel a little guilty and lazy about it, but many days I need the shut-eye to stay functional.

I miss days off.

I am grateful for Neil. He's great with the boy and has been a terrific partner in this parenthood adventure. He has been completely supportive of the staying-home decision (he was more sure than I was), which has made it so much easier. And because of his flexible schedule, he can take care of the boy a lot. One of the best parts of every day is overhearing them at bath time and bedtime, both cracking up.

TV TONIGHT

We don't watch any Friday shows, so we caught up a bit on the DVR. "Modern Family" isn't as good as its first season, and most of the characters annoy me, but we watch out of habit. "The League" was gross but funny enough. And "Key & Peele" was an amusing palate cleanser, particularly Luther, the Obama anger translator.