Missing My Kids!!!!

You can make up for it on the weekends! Charge your camera battery, and take tons of pics of your baby for his 1st bday. Create one family night a week. That is the night where you focus really hard on having a fun game night, a lesson, sing a song. When they are going to their rooms, spend 10 minutes every night with each child to say a prayer and read a story. I know you are tired and it's their bedtime, but you all need that special time, even if it's just a short period of time. If they go to bed an hour later b/c it's being spent with the family, then that's just fine.

One thing we do that can work for you... is we have a late family night with one child a week. Every Wednesday, one child stays up late with mommy and daddy while all the other kids go to bed, we have a late night snack, watch a short movie or cartoon, play games, back rubs, sing songs, cuddle... Then the next week. it's another child's turn.

Create times when one child goes out with you. I take turns with mommy dates. On nights I go grocery shopping, one child comes with me, we go for ice cream, then we go shopping, while the other kid is home having bonding time with daddy. The next week, it's another child's turn.

On Sunday's, it's family day... no exceptions. No birthday parties, no going out, no homework, no work, no meetings, no grocery shopping, no tv, no internet... it's our day where we recover from the week and spend time as a family.

Also, learn to say "no" to unimportant things. I love this speech... maybe it will help you:

http://new.lds.org/general-conference/2010/10/of-things-t...

(when he brings up the airplane... it's because he's a retired pilot and always talks about planes).

i'm sorry sweetie...i feel the same damn way everyday...don't have the two extra kiddos, but even w/just one by yourself is really hard. i know you don't want advice...nor do i have any good stuff to give - lol! :)
just gonna say...i TRY to cut corners where i can and realize an extra TEN minutes w/'em makes even YOU feel better! :) (of course them, but we're much harder to please!)
it'll be okay...i feel the same way...miss my little boy but then i realize, hell, i gotta work! :(
take care

Haha... your story could have been written by a gazillion working momma's.
Keep your chin up, it will all be fine in the long run.

((Hugs)) I miss my kids, too. It comes with being a mom.

Mom, just a thought, why dont you consider reducing your hrs at work to part-time is possible. I did this when my daughter was 2 after working 50 hr wks for yrs before that. I was the best thing I ever did for our child and family and helped relieve lots of stress. ALso be sure each night that all back packs, jackets and shoes are at the door near the garage ready to go, not having to find all these things in the morning meant a much less hectic start to the morning. Hope this helps.

I often feel like that there's not enough hours in a day. My son is 17m and I went back to work right around his first birthday but I actually wanted to! I was ready to go back by the time he was 4m but got laid off and as grateful as I am for the unexpected year that I had with him, I have huge respect for the stay at home moms because franky, I don't know how they do it!
That being said, I think a lot of it is in your attitute and really planning ahead! I haven't quite mastered that task just yet but DH and I make it work.
We take turns with the morning rush which he's much much much better at then I am. I never was a morning person so getting myself and the baby fed and ready in the morning is not something I can do efficiently:) Weeknights, we take turns for the most part. The one who dropped him off gets to work late if they need to and the one who got to leaver for work earlier picks him up. We don't do family dinners right now because I find it impossible to try and get dinner ready with the little monster running around but that also allows us to spend the 2.5+ hrs at night dedicated entirely to our son!! He eats dinner at 4:30 at the sitters and then supper at 7 so his meals are not effected. DH and I are starved by 8pm (baby's bed time) most of the time but we deal with it. We are also very laid back about dishes and laundry and a messy house. If we don't have time or energy to do those things (notice the WE!!!!!), they simply don't get done and that's that. We don't dwell on it and that really helps to not stress about lack of time!
We also really make up for lost family time during the weekend.
Hope you can find a way to deal momma and stop stressing!

What is your heart telling you to do? Maybe you could try staying home again and see how you feel. One thing to really consider is can you afford to stay home--like is there anything you could cut back on to save? One other thing is, what do you think your kids would like? If they're hurting while your working and not with them or having quality time with them, they'll remember it as much as it's killing you, emotionally. Think about when they're grown up and you look back on things. Will you likely regret having worked when they were little?
It may sound like I'm saying to quit working, but I'm really encouraging you to think about how you and they feel and your future.

My boys are now 16 & 17 yo. I went back to work when they were each 1 and the guilt of lack of time is hard. I was able to adjust my hours that my husband does the morning rush and I do the afternoon. So each morning, I great them with a kiss goodbye / good morning and tell them they need to start waking up. My husband gets their breakfast together and gets them off to school. When they were very young, he greetted them each morning with a goofy song that went with each day of the week. It still makes them laugh today.
We send a lot of quality CAR time. When driving to and fro everywhere they need to go, we make use of the time together.

CROCK POTS!! A wonderful thing for getting a dinner together - nothing like having dinner waiting for you went you come running into the house and need to run right back out again!
Try not to rush through the bath time - you have to do the task, have some fun with it.

Remember 10% of what happens to you is reality, 90% is the adititude behind it. Find a way to just smile with you children, it will help the whole day go better!

Bless you for your struggle. I was literally crying reading this, because so many times we are so close to me going back to work. We are living on the thinnest thread ever so that I don't miss out on a minute of my kids' toddler years, but I'm always worried it could end any day. Bless you for your struggle, ad I hope you can manage to get a handle on the routine and feel better...maybe cut back on working one day if there's any way. I think men are better with it. My husband travels constantly which I could NEVER do right. Thanks for sharing and reminding me to cherish each day.