SAHM looking for babysitter??

As most of you know, I am a Stay at Home Mom. I consider that my job, honestly. I take care of the housework, the cooking, the cleaning, the errands that need to be run, the "secretarial work", the diaper changes, the bottle-fixing, entertaining a 7 month old...you name it, I do it. In fact, I do it all with my 7 month old in tow. I never considered there to be another way of doing it. She is part of my life now, and I had to find a neat little space, just for her to fit in.

I have never considered it difficult to take care of Addison and all of the other "jobs" I take care of on a daily basis. I was just asked "How do you do it with no family around? You don't have anyone that watches her one day a week so you can get stuff done??" Personally, in our life right now, I don't see this as a necessary expense. Sure, it takes just a little longer to run errands and get the house clean with Addie in tow, but not so much that I find that I don't have time to do it all.

I started browsing, and apparently there are advertisements up on Craigslist.com for this service! Really?! Stay at home moms pay people to watch their kids? Doesn't that defeat the purpose of being at home?

Don't get me wrong. I am not saying that families that hire a sitter one or two days a week for a couple of hours are wrong. I would love the time alone some days to just do a complete once over of the house, but that's definitely not something I need to do a few days a week. I am just surprised that others think us stay-at-home-moms can't handle it on our own anymore.

It seems that luxury is considered a necessity these days, and given the current economy, I can't see why. I don't have the money to get my hair and nails done. Much less pay someone to watch my daughter while I'm there.