#Archimomshaveitall #Archimom #havingitall is #nothavingitall and that's ok...

May 13, 2018

#Archimomshaveitall #Archimom #havingitall is #nothavingitall and that's ok...

I am the archimom who isn’t #havingitall

And that is ok with me

Because

My #havingitall

Is not

#havingitall

In spite of what some people think (ie, people who haven’t met me)

I am not the typical type A, capital A

ARCHITECT

I am the type b

architect

Someone asked me recently, “how are you doing it all?”

And i said, “Well, life is just like any other architecture project, you get the problem statement, you design
something, the instructor or client says that they want it a little different and you work with it, and what you
wanted in the beginning isn’t exactly what it turned out to be but it still is a pretty good project, because it
works and that is life..

#archimom !!!!!

So, here are my little bits of knowledge that I have learned along the way of being a #archimom #havingitall
and I can guarantee that most archimoms will have done this at some point in their lives and not (or harldy)
complain about it at all:

I’ve never met another #archimom before who didn’t:.....

Give birth after 22 hours of labor and be up with sick children without sleep because isn’t this what all those
all-nighters were preparing us for?

Tell the hospital staff that you didn’t want the “birthing suite with the teddy bears and gingham all over it”

Purchase black clothes for their babies.

Have other moms look around their house and say, “you are both architects, i didn’t know...”

Have given their children pointers or just have children who have miraculously picked up the art of a great school
project by osmosis???

Have not purchased items or have returned gifts for their children because of their sustainability, company values,
sexism or just aesthetics??? See how much fun they are having with a cardboard box and a viewmaster???

Have had to tell their mother in law when she makes a comment about the state of the domestic abode,
“I went to Architecture school to learn how to design houses not clean them”

Taken family vacations that include seeing significant architectural sites

Can really only think of one reason besides the fact that you need someone to watch them, that child care can do
a better job than you:

“social skills with other children”

(maybe)

Done work while you were breastfeeding or holding your child.

Had the IEP team wondering “who was leading that meeting?” when you leave

Will watch your kid getting sutures to make sure that the dr. really does know how to do their job

While listening to them say, “i always wanted to be an architect, but i wasn;’t good at math”

Will start a mommy and me group with other #archimoms so that you don’t have to explain yourself to other
non-architect moms, (artistmoms can be included)

(of course you have other mom friends because you have to just don’t ask us to reorganize your master closet or
ideas about their new kitchen especially if they want you to review the plans that they already have paid for from a
design/build firm

You take photos with other architects and their kids in front of famous statues

Argue with a friend’s husband (was soon to be ex-husband) about how you should be working and bringing in
income instead of working from home and being with your kids

Ie. you can do whatever you want with your life and your degree

The only “Fifty Shades of Gray” you talk about are the ones in the paint manufacturerer’s color box.

Besides, we don’t read those books we could write them and do it better.

Wear yoga pants to workout, not workout, go to the jobsite covered by a long sweater, work from home in, sleep
in because it disguises the fact that you didn;t change before dropping your kids off at school that morning.

Has their kid see a movie that has a project of yours in and they say, “i think you would really like this movie
because of it being in Venice Beach with all of the architecture…”

Makes healthy homemade lunches that your kid trades for junk food

Spends 200 hours making everything from scratch for your kid’s’ birthday party even if you can buy it on Amazon
for $200.00

Have had their kids go out trick or treating for Halloween at 7pm or later because you were still making their
Halloween costume (who knew a blue pig could be so much work, but that is what she said she wanted to be
and who wants to squelch her dreams???)

Ditto with Comic-Con costumes OR gone to Comic-Con in a costume yourself because your kid wanted to and
you figured, wth???

Your gift wrapping comes from IKEA in Pantone colors from that year… and all gifts must coordinate (don’t use that
red wrapping form 3 years ago, but save it for another year…)

Have hid a pregnancy, a Childrens illness or a personal problem from their client/employer because you were
worried that your job might be in jeopardy…

Have just worn bigger clothes or your partner’s clothes because you didn’t think the maternity clothes were
authoritative enough, they didn’’t have anything in black or you just didn’t want to pay for maternity clothes???

Black clothes are not just about being an architect but can camouflage various food stains that your kids have
left on you when hugging them And then running out to a meeting

Your kids think nothing about seeing you up on the dais at city hall

Where are we going? Ends up on the second floor of a project.

Or at a national monument the day after Thanksgiving

Gets the “difficult projects” when volunteering in their kids’ classrooms because the teacher knows you will do a
good job!!!

You’re late for a meeting not because you dropped your kids off but because you pulled over in the school parking
lot to take a work call for 30 minutes

Called up the landlord of the house that your daughter is renting at college and tell them that they better get a
port-a-potty there in two days or fix the plumbing for graduation or else….

And I’ve never met an archimom before who didn’t get cards like this from their kids