Finding Balance

It’s two AM and I’m tucked away in my corner blogging away tomorrow’s post. D is watching a movie in bed near me because he’s waiting for me to finish working so that we could go to sleep together. 

The boys are tired of playing with their toys and I’ve now put on a movie for them to watch while I edit in bed. But just as always, they are ready to take off in every direction. I put my computer and little by little get more and more aggravated each time they jump off the bed. By the fifth time I am telling them I am going to put them in time out if they don’t stay still. 

Working from home isn’t easy. Those two scenarios above suck the fun out of being a parent, spouse and even the joy I find in pursuing my art in photography. Being a full-time mom + business owner has always been one of those topics that my husband and I have discussed whether it would work for our family. There are seasons he tells me not to take on another client. Then there are other days where he sees how much I enjoy working with women creating picture memories that he will suggest I “try this”. Finding the balance between it all is what I have concluded will help us all out in the long run.

Balance? What is balance to a parent of two? Or three? What is balance when you are working from home? Just when you think you have sorted it all out, things finds a way to change on you. A new stage starts and new rules and customs rise. The kids are never the same every single day. (Breakfast – play time – lunch – nap time – play time – dinner prep – dinner – bath time – sleep time – work time.) < For the longest that has been more or less our daily routine. It saddens me to admit that more times that I would like, I miss out on sleep altogether. I get up away from the computer right when I should be waking up in the morning. Editing, tackling emails, blogging, researching, learning and sometimes letting myself go down the rabbit hole of Instagram. It’s a sickening path that will ultimately lead to burning out and throwing photography out the window, an unhappy husband and children that have zero understanding for why it is that I am doing this in the first place. Am I the only one?

Working moms that have taken on another job, have you found balance? Or do you feel like you are missing out? Have you lost control of it all? Sometimes it feels like that’s what I’m going through. It’s a circus here most days, even if we are all totally happy and having a good time. But there are days when I have been on work-overhaul and my home looks like a movie theater once the film has finished on opening night. I am tired and sleepy and there is just stuff everywhere. The boys are playing with everything they shouldn’t be and I’m just ready to take a nap in their crib while they empty out their clothes drawers on me. (It has unfortunately happened before.) It wasn’t like that when I wasn’t working. Before when it was just us, we were hardly here at home. We were out there doing something. The park, the beach, the mall – you name it. Home was our resting place. Home was HOME and not our caged jungle. Sure my mother will be the first to say, it was still a mess… #guilty for going to sleep with dirty dishes because I would rather cuddle with D or watch Grey’s Anatomy together. All of that shifted in January when I started working again. I made a tough call to mainly work while the boys slept so that “I wouldn’t miss anything” and it turns out that because my attitude has changed and I no longer have the same energy  I am missing things.

So how do can I adapt to my ever changing family in order to still be present in their lives and run a successful portrait photography business? I don’t have the answer. But I do have our recent solution. I have always been a planning freak. The kind that buys a planner even if I have nothing to fill it with. Making use of planning our time wisely is how everything is changing. Making time for my love and my babies, sleeping and having breathing room is my goal. Here comes the solution, we now have official working hours! Yay ( for me )!

General Business Hours

Monday, Thursday and Friday 11 am – 4 pm

Session Scheduling Times

Thursday, Friday and Sundays – sunrise or sunset times.

Saturdays sunrise time only.

Plan-meet/Proof-meet Scheduling Times

Saturday or Sundays 1 pm – 4 pm

Well what if you’re getting married or having a baby and are looking for a birth photographer? Those two scenarios are the exception. With such limited birth sessions allowed during the year because of the chance of double-booking on the same day, I know I’ll never have to worry that these will get out of hand. Next year we are officially booking weddings but will only be shooting about a couple of hand fulls. No double or triple header weekends for us.

Getting back to the ones I love is so important. After all, they are what matter most to me. Makes no sense to spend so much time photographing other mommies kissing on their own babies while mine hardly get to see their momma. That wouldn’t be okay with me one bit! While things are getting real busy around here, setting guidelines is the perfect way to make sure little ‘ol me makes it all work out.

This past Sunday we had our couple reschedule their engagement session because of the weather which meant I had the day off, on a weekend that D himself didn’t have any work either. Woohoo! We took the boys to the car show because if there is one thing they are obsessed with is CARS. Car car – like William says. It was such a happy afternoon with my boys and I needed it so much. Before heading out, Sam snapped a couple of pictures of us and here they are.

I hope you ladies out there have all of your stuff together and are WONDER WOMEN, but if you are like me and don’t, I hope this post gives you a little push in the right direction. Happy #twintuesday!!