Is it fair...

..to steal "Confessions from a Working Mom" right out from under my fab bloggy friend Elizabeth!? (If, by some chance, you don't already read her, you should.)

Because, effective this week, I am officially a WORKING mom. And I'm feeling guilty about it, so call me Confessing!

I've been a working mom since J was born, really. I enjoy working. I enjoy being busy. I love my job, and knowing that I'm helping people.

I DON'T love missing this time with my kids. While I enjoy not having the constant "Mom? Mom? Mom?", and the like, I hate missing out on some of the fun winter stuff. Last tax season, we had a great snowfall, and while I worked, Big Daddy loaded up the kids and the sleds, and texted me pictures. They had a great time, it was their first big sledding trip, and I was working.

I'm missing out on some of the stuff that's going on at school. I'm missing out on the hang out time. The curling up on the couch together to read from the current Harry Potter. The kicking some Storm Trooper booty on Lego Star Wars on the Wii.

The extent of my kid time right now is the AM scramble, followed by the after school hangout at the office. We get up, we get ready, we rush around fighting over bathroom time and if the coffee is ready. Someone lets the dogs out, another feeds them. J makes sure the cat has food and water. I grab a shower, the lunch menu is checked, and a report on who wants me to pack, and who wants to eat school lunch is made.

The school lunch thing for us is pretty new.

J is such a picky eater that I insisted on packing so I knew he'd eat.

E & M - not so picky.

It's going fairly well so far. Usually when I have to pack a lunch,

it's for J. And I'm ok with that.

This week's standard office chaos has been compounded by calls from the school nurse on Monday and Tuesday both. This led to a visit to the pediatrician's office on Wednesday. My poor J, he's been unfortunately blessed with many of my ailments. Most recently is sinus infection.

Considering trying to teach the almost 9 y.o. how to use a Neti Pot.

 Anyway, I'm officially at the point where work is chaos, my kids and husband are all but abandoned, and my head is spinning.

I love it, I really do. But there are still days when I hate it. When I have to wonder if it's worth it to miss so much at home.

I'll revisit this post in June, when the kids are out of school and I'm hanging out with them, and still getting my paycheck. It'll feel much better then. And in the meantime, I'll be so grateful for my loving husband and his superdad role. Grateful for my boss, and his wife, who work hard to make sure that my kids see me as much as we can, and consider my children their own grandkids.Grateful for my neighbors (the parent's of the "Bonus Kids") who let my crew hang out at their house, so that my kids aren't stuck at my office until the hubs is off work.

And grateful that my kids know how much I love my job, and that while we have to suffer through tax season, we have so much time to do fun stuff all summer long. Glad that they are old enough to understand why mommy is at work so late. And grateful for the snuggle time I DO get.