Reward Yourself, Mama

Motherhood is a job.

It's a hard job.

It's a never ending job.

And, it just so happens that being a mother comes

without

a paycheck. 

That's right, I work my tail off as a mother 24/7 tending to the needs of my child and I receive nothing in return. Well okay,

truth be told

, I receive

a lot

in return (just not in the monetary sense). I receive unconditional love, a ton of hugs and kisses and the privilege of living out my dream "job," and so much more. 

As a stay at home mother, I often find myself thinking that I need a little break. Coming from a desk job where I got paid to play on the computer and ride around in my car seeing clients, I actually feel like I work harder now than when I had a paying job. Working behind a desk and taking a "break" to check my Facebook and shop online, was awesome. And really who am I kidding...I did this all the time at work, not just on my "break."

You'd think as a stay at home mother that it would be easy for me to come and sit on the computer and play. Heck you're sitting there reading this blog post thinking that it must be nice that I can just chill all day and blog, shop online and check my Facebook. In reality, I wait for nap time just to get stuff done and I stay up late at night just to write blog posts (only to be woken up an hour after I

finally

go to bed to nurse my sweet baby). Sometimes when I cook dinner I have a toddler clinging to my leg and sometimes when all I need is a nap for myself due to being sick with a virus, I have to deal with a baby who has decided that today she doesn't want to take a nap. 

That's motherhood for you. 

As a mama, we often forget to reward ourselves. We tend to the needs of our family all day long, we clean the house, we fix bottles, we make baby food, we do laundry and some of us work

other

full time jobs. How on earth can we ever fit in the time to "reward" ourselves? 

There are a few things that I like to do to reward myself for a job well done or better known as, "a day where I kept the kid alive and didn't burn dinner." My favorite way to unwind and relax after a long day is to sit down and watch a guilty pleasure TV show and stuff my face with whatever snack I desire (even if it means the whole bag of Oreos). This of course takes place after the baby and husband have both gone to bed and I can just

be

.

Yes folks, that is my reward.

Boring a little?

Yep. 

I don't reward myself with fancy items, pedicures or nights out on the town, I simply reward myself with relaxation. It's that feeling of having no obligations; no baby hanging from my breast; no dinner that I can't cook right and no laundry that I could care a less about, that makes it a "reward." 

We often times forget to reward ourselves. Us mothers work hard for our loved ones and although we hope to hear praise from our husband and we hope for kisses from our children, sometimes we forget that we need to just take a second to praise ourselves. It takes a heck of a lot of work to successfully keep a toddler from pulling electrical cords, climbing on furniture and pouring out the dog's water bowl. 

Now, if only my child would actually take her nap (I type this as she's rolling around her crib talking to herself) then perhaps I could wrap this up and sit down and enjoy some cookies. 

And if you're the mama who wants to reward herself to some fancy items and shopping (because sometimes that IS a much needed reward), then make sure to check out

Raise.com

to purchase yourself or another mother that you want to reward a gift card to shop, shop, shop! 

What do you do to reward yourself?

Thanks for reading, Sasha

This is not a sponsored post and I am not receiving anything other than a possible

Twitter shout out for mentioning Raise. 

Raise

is a place where you can buy and sell unused gift cards for cash.