Sometimes working at home sucks!

So when my 2nd child was about 6 months old we had been thru quite a few baby sitters. I only worked 2 days a week but he pretty much cried, ate, cried, slept and cried. It was a lot for me to deal with but even more for my husband and the other caregivers because he cried a little bit less with me. I didn't even realize then that I think I was struggling with some post partum depression but that's a whole different story. So I came home one day and my babysitter tells me she can't watch the kids anymore. I really didn't have anyone else to ask I was going to have to find a stranger to watch the kids. But before I could think of what I was going to do my babysitter asked if I could maybe stay home with them. I said "I'd love to but can't afford it." She then said the words that changed my life.."I really think you should." Instantly I felt the hairs stand up and thought why would she say that. She told me he cries so much I'm afraid someone could hurt him to get him to stop. She was a really patient girl who used to nanny so I knew that if she thought that was a possibility (and I hadn't even considered that) it was something that could happen. So I sat down called all my clients and asked them to tell me the truth. Would they come to my house for nails. If they couldn't that was fine but I needed to know how many and if we could pay the bill with who could come. Turns out almost all of them said they could and they did! So in the end of June 2007 I quit my job at the salon and started working out of the house and staying home with my kids full time! I had always wanted to stay at home full time but we needed my money too. I've never regretted that decision because it's been so great for my kids and for me but I do miss going to work and working uninterupted and having that away time. So now I have 3 kids, work at home and somedays it's great. The kids play while I work or come and entertaine my clients (most of whom love the kids) while they're getting their nails done. But some days......while I'm working the kids are getting out every toy they own, the baby is spilling all the markers and using them on the floor (thank God for washables) and generally making an hour of clean up for every hour of work. I love almost all my clients. They have become friends and I love seeing them. They're a positive part of my day. But then there are the ones who's lives are a train wreck, I see them so infrequently that what should be an hour of work is 3 and I'm exhausted from how annoying it is! Today I woke up and was excited to make a little money and get caught up cleaning the house. I was going to do my client, clean up while the kids had a friend over and then do another client. Great productive day. Instead I spent 3 hours on 1 client then had to hurry and make the kids lunch, put the baby to bed and get ready for my next client. I also had to clean up for 2 hours because the baby was in an especially destructive mood. My house is childproofed but you can't child proof toy bins. He's able to take every toy in the bin and dump it out. This morning it was markers, a box of screws (152 pickup) and dumping out an almost empty bowl of shredded wheat. So now my day is almost over. Made a little money but not all that productive unless you count putting liquid plumber down the drain. Got all the messes cleaned up and ready to start actually cleaning. So sometimes no matter how much I love being able to work here with my 3 favorite people working at home sucks!