Mommy Profile: VC

VC was an IT auditor living in the Chicago suburbs when she became a mommy.  She loved eating (going out to eat, trying new restaurants, & having dinner with friends) and sleeping.  

Now, she is attempting to work full-time while being a mom to a 3 ½-month old baby.  She needs the adult interaction, but she would love to be at home to watch him and take care of him.  She thinks that it's nice to feel needed.  Plus, when he smiles and is happy, nothing is wrong in the world.  This week, however, she missed him rolling over for the first time because she was at work.  Next week, she will have to travel for work.  And the pain of pumping and FedEx'ing milk back or bringing it back through TSA security is not something she's looking forward to.  That is making this decision seem very wrong.

VC's day consists of feeding the baby, changing him, getting him to sleep, & playing with him again when he wakes up (if she's working from home, or he decides he is awake at 6am).  Then, working.  Then, coming home, feeding him, giving him a bath, and getting him to sleep.  Weekends are the best.  On Saturdays, they leave the house and go to a Farmers' Market or run errands and are a family all day long.

As for saving money, since they don't go anywhere anymore, they are saving on gas.  Since they don't go out to eat as much, they are saving a ton of money there.  Otherwise, since she frequents the same stores weekly (Babies R Us, Target, & Baby Gap), she has become one of those buy-and-return people (buy when she needs it, and if she sees it on sale soon thereafter, buy it again and return it on the original receipt).  But all in all, they probably spend more money.  They adjusted the thermostat to make the house more comfortable for the baby, but that raises the bills.

VC's life is made easier not so much by what she does, but by what other people are willing to do for her.    Her mom comes over most Mondays through Fridays and takes care of the baby.  Then, either her mom or her husband will make dinner.

To teach her baby about his culture, they bought Elmer the Elephant books on amazon.com, which are written in Chinese and English.  They also have Chinese board books from Taiwan.  Plus, VC added Chinese text to their existing flashcards.  Her mother speaks to him in Chinese every day, and she speaks to him in Chinese every afternoon. Also, VC's aunt threw him a 100-day party (because she had not thrown him a 1-month party).

For fun these days, they go to the Farmers' Market, take pictures of baby, and watch the baby do simple things for the first time in utter amazement.  That's her joy and fun. 

What does VC do for herself?  Sleep.    After she can integrate food back into her baby's diet (they did a very strict elimination diet), she'll eat chocolate cake with whipped cream and a glass of milk, and a key lime pie from Morton's, and blue butter cookies from Busy Bee Bakery.  But until then, sleep is just for her.