Why is it that as soon as you get on the phone you become the center of attention for your kids? There are only about three people that I will take business calls from when I'm at home with my children. These people have their own children and understand the challenges of working out of your home.
I strive to run a very professional firm, but I certainly struggled with that today. I got a call this afternoon from one of those few people I take calls from with kids around. I should have know it was not gong to go as smoothly as it does when we're outside. My son had not napped in three days and had been whining since 8am this morning. My daughter actually had napped and just finished a snack, so she should have been fine, right? Wrong. Instead, as soon as I got on the phone I had both of them standing at my feet crying to be picked up. As I'm trying to talk about an upcoming project, I'm hurriedly grabbing the bowl of grapes out of the refrigerator to try and distract them. My son is trying to reach into the bowl on the counter to pick off the grapes as I'm now rummaging for a knife to cut-up my daughter's grapes. The grapes tide them over for a few minutes. We continue discussing the client's problem and what we're trying to accomplish there when my dynamic duo are at it again. this time I try to distract them by getting them to play with their football. This works for a few more minutes until my son finds his drum. He's now playing his drum and following me around the house. I'm trying to stay a room ahead of him so I can try to wrap up my conversation. Seven minutes and 40 seconds after answering the phone, I hang-up the phone, I turn around to see both kids heading off to play in their kitchen. I'm pretty sure I saw them glancing back at me smiling to each other.
So while today was not one of my best mom/ceo balance days, hey, we made it through the day. I'm sure things will smooth out after the holidays when Naomi comes back. (Naomi is the wonderful girl who watches my kids while I work - she is a huge part of why I can do what I do.) In the meantime, I'm trying to keep to e-mails at night.
Monday, December 15, 2008
Friday, December 12, 2008
Proposals vs. Potty Training
Ok, so I really didn't think I would be able to post more than twice a week, so you can imagine my surprise at having two posts in one afternoon. If you read my earlier post you know I was trying to get some work done while my son was supposed to be napping. He wasn't and it was overly ambitious of me to think I could get much done.
We've been potty training for about a month now, and he's been doing really well and we don't have many accidents. He does still have to wear a diaper at night though. I do remind him about going on the potty through out the day. So as I'm here sending off a quick e-mail, my son takes off to the bathroom saying "I have to go potty mommy and I need help." followed by "It's too late mommy, it's too late!" I quickly try to minimize my e-mail and accidentally shut it down - shoot! - now I lost the e-mail I just spent 5 minutes typing. I run into the bathroom to see him in just his underwear, peeing all over the floor saying "I need help mommy!" (Thank goodness we have vinyl flooring). I pick him up as he's still peeing and plop him on the toilet. He still has his underwear on, but I figure they're already wet and that's less I have to clean up off the floor. I go to get the paper towels and the Clorox wipes to start cleaning up the floor and my phone rings. It's a contact I've been trying to get in touch with for two days. I need her commitment for a proposal I was tying to submit. I can't take the call and let my voice mail pick up. As I'm cleaning up the floor and my son, I'm thinking of the project I was trying to co-ordinate with this contact. It was one of those where you have to get the team and proposal together quickly and be ready to launch the project in the next two weeks. I've already spent almost a week on this proposal and know that I may have lost today as well. This delay might even cost me the project, but that's what happens when you try to balance this work with being a mom. And at this moment, potty training outweighs the proposal. (Maybe in her voice mail my contact said she's in for the project. )
We've been potty training for about a month now, and he's been doing really well and we don't have many accidents. He does still have to wear a diaper at night though. I do remind him about going on the potty through out the day. So as I'm here sending off a quick e-mail, my son takes off to the bathroom saying "I have to go potty mommy and I need help." followed by "It's too late mommy, it's too late!" I quickly try to minimize my e-mail and accidentally shut it down - shoot! - now I lost the e-mail I just spent 5 minutes typing. I run into the bathroom to see him in just his underwear, peeing all over the floor saying "I need help mommy!" (Thank goodness we have vinyl flooring). I pick him up as he's still peeing and plop him on the toilet. He still has his underwear on, but I figure they're already wet and that's less I have to clean up off the floor. I go to get the paper towels and the Clorox wipes to start cleaning up the floor and my phone rings. It's a contact I've been trying to get in touch with for two days. I need her commitment for a proposal I was tying to submit. I can't take the call and let my voice mail pick up. As I'm cleaning up the floor and my son, I'm thinking of the project I was trying to co-ordinate with this contact. It was one of those where you have to get the team and proposal together quickly and be ready to launch the project in the next two weeks. I've already spent almost a week on this proposal and know that I may have lost today as well. This delay might even cost me the project, but that's what happens when you try to balance this work with being a mom. And at this moment, potty training outweighs the proposal. (Maybe in her voice mail my contact said she's in for the project. )
Business and Babies Background
Let me start this blog by saying I don't know much about them, except for one or two that I occasionally read. I'm not even sure if people will find and read this blog. Before I had children, I enjoyed journaling, but have not been able to find the time to do that. I figure this will be a good outlet for me to keep friends and family up-to-date, and something I can look back on.
There are lots of challenges and joys of running a consulting firm out of your home - especially when you have two toddlers running around the house. The focus of this blog will be to give others a sneak-peek of my life and how I try to juggle everything.
So here's a brief background on me and my life. I left my full-time corporate job when my son was six-months old to start my own consulting firm. My goal was to be home with my son and still work in my field and bring in some extra money. Fast forward one year, and my daughter was born. Within that year, I had begun building my consulting firm and landed some nice projects. Of course, I had to do it all during naptime. When I did have to go to a client's site, I would have a close friend watch my son. Today, my son is 2 1/2 (soon to be 3) and my daughter is 15 months. I still run my business out of my house three days a week (plus evenings and weekends) and it has continued to grow.
It's taken me about 45 minutes to write this entry. As I've been trying to write this, my son decided he was not going to take his nap, so I got him settled on the couch to watch a VeggieTales video. Nap or not, he still needs some quiet time. After about 10 minutes, he decided he was going to crawl up on my lap and try to count the keys on my laptop. Then, a client called. Fortunately, this client knows I work from home with kids and I was able to take the call. I usually don't take business calls when the kids are up or our sitter is not here. While I'm on the phone with my client, my son is trying to hit the keys on my laptop and asking for the penguins game. I quickly minimize my blog and e-mail windows to try to prevent any mishaps, move the laptop, and pull him off the chair, all while still holding a conversation with my client. After hanging up the phone, I get him settled back on the couch, find his little green bear, and get his move restarted. I better get this posted since his movie is almost over - and he's not asleep yet. I hear his sister stirring - she actually did take a nap - and I'm expecting two more client calls this afternoon.
There are lots of challenges and joys of running a consulting firm out of your home - especially when you have two toddlers running around the house. The focus of this blog will be to give others a sneak-peek of my life and how I try to juggle everything.
So here's a brief background on me and my life. I left my full-time corporate job when my son was six-months old to start my own consulting firm. My goal was to be home with my son and still work in my field and bring in some extra money. Fast forward one year, and my daughter was born. Within that year, I had begun building my consulting firm and landed some nice projects. Of course, I had to do it all during naptime. When I did have to go to a client's site, I would have a close friend watch my son. Today, my son is 2 1/2 (soon to be 3) and my daughter is 15 months. I still run my business out of my house three days a week (plus evenings and weekends) and it has continued to grow.
It's taken me about 45 minutes to write this entry. As I've been trying to write this, my son decided he was not going to take his nap, so I got him settled on the couch to watch a VeggieTales video. Nap or not, he still needs some quiet time. After about 10 minutes, he decided he was going to crawl up on my lap and try to count the keys on my laptop. Then, a client called. Fortunately, this client knows I work from home with kids and I was able to take the call. I usually don't take business calls when the kids are up or our sitter is not here. While I'm on the phone with my client, my son is trying to hit the keys on my laptop and asking for the penguins game. I quickly minimize my blog and e-mail windows to try to prevent any mishaps, move the laptop, and pull him off the chair, all while still holding a conversation with my client. After hanging up the phone, I get him settled back on the couch, find his little green bear, and get his move restarted. I better get this posted since his movie is almost over - and he's not asleep yet. I hear his sister stirring - she actually did take a nap - and I'm expecting two more client calls this afternoon.
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