Our country faces yet another storm today and I pray that everyone is safe. I’ve seen a lot of photos on Facebook and Twitter of floods that go up to the neck, and I cannot imagine how difficult it must be for people in these heavily affected areas. I sincerely hope the storm passes soon.

I’ve never been a fan of the rain. Coming from the BPO industry, I know how difficult it is to brave the rain, traffic and floods just to get to work. I even bought myself boots at some point because I dreaded having to get my feet wet, because I was always dead scared of leptospirosis. I just hated commuting on rainy days, everything was just so inconvenient.

I’m glad that I made the decision to quit my call center job and work from home. I remember having so many hesitations, even crying over my decision, because I felt that I was leaving behind a career that I worked so hard to build. But at the time, all I could think of was Ethan, and how he was barely spending his first year with us. I spent more time sleeping than playing with him, and it also came to a point where my mom was having a hard time with the sleepless nights while I was at work. I felt that I was being unfair to her, too. I weighed the pros and cons and wrote them all down on paper, and even though the pros outweighed the cons, I couldn’t find it in myself to up and quit my job. I was overwhelmed with the things I was going to lose, quite selfish if you ask me. I kept talking to my husband about it, and one day, he eased my worries and simply told me that whatever happens, that if my work from home gig did not work out, he’d take care of us no matter what. It may not sound like much, but he did put my mind at ease.

I’m happy that working from home turned out to be the best decision I have ever made. I get to spend all my time with Ethan and I’m loving every minute of it. I admit he can be a handful at times, but an hour of piggy back rides and tickle fests is way better than an hour of lazily waiting for passengers to fill up a bus to Ayala. I love sleeping beside him every night and being there when he wakes up. Every moment with him is priceless.

Besides having time with Ethan, I also have time to cook! Though my mother and brother love to cook, I never seemed to share in their passion. When I got married though, I decided that it was time to learn. At first I was always making excuses not to cook, because I was too lazy, LOL. Eventually I wanted to impress my husband so I started looking up recipes online and watching cooking shows. If I’m not mistaken, the first dish I cooked was Chicken Adobo. After that I tried cooking Tinola, Sinigang, Bistek, and the list goes on. I think I’m doing well so far, hopefully I can improve because I still get a lot of things wrong when cooking. Can you believe that I couldn’t even fry a chicken properly before? The skin was always cooked but the meat was pink inside, not safe to eat at all! I eventually figured out what I was doing wrong, and now I can fry chicken perfectly, crispy skin and all!

Despite having all this time on my hands, I regret that I’m not finding at least an hour to take care of myself and exercise. I gained weight after giving birth to Ethan and decided to take action before I put on too much weight. I eventually stopped because I found out that three months of dieting and exercising made me gain even more weight for some odd reason. It wasn’t muscle gain at all, because I measured myself and put on a few inches. I was so depressed back then that I decided to stop, thinking I was just wasting time. I just felt fat and miserable all the time. Earlier this year my husband encouraged me to take up biking with him, and I was hooked. I always felt so relaxed after a good bike ride and within a few weeks I started losing weight. I was so thrilled! I never intended to bike to lose weight, just to be active. I was biking every weekend for two months and I was always full of energy, however, it came to an end when I started training for my work from home job. A month later we moved and my mom was no longer around to look after Ethan while I was out biking, one thing led to another and before I knew it, I stopped biking altogether. I really miss it. Now that I look after Ethan full time I can’t find time to take my bike out for a quick ride. Slowly, the weight crept back up again. I really want to become active and lose weight for good. I might try working out again, but I have to stick to it this time. Perhaps I can try a work out routine while looking after Ethan, he will either join in or ignore me altogether and play with his trucks. Who knows? It might work out after all. I need to at least try it first. And of course, I need to eat healthier too. As they say, losing weight involves 80% diet and 20% exercise.

I love being at home, but I just wish I spent more time taking care of myself. Don’t get me wrong, I love all the time I spend with Ethan and my husband, but I do deserve a break every now and then. A good workout, a long shower, time to catch up on my favorite shows – stuff like that, nothing grand. I think I need to manage my time better. I just need to figure out how to squeeze in some time between working eight hours at night, tending to an active toddler in the morning, cleaning the house, cooking breakfast and lunch, never-ending dishes and dirty bottles, tending to the toddler again in the afternoon, putting him to sleep.. I could make it work, right? Right?!

WAHMS, how do you manage your time at home? Do you still manage to find time for yourselves despite your busy schedules?