It was with a lot of relief that I realized the woman I was interviewing on the phone for an article was someone I actually knew—we were both members of the same local parenting e-mail group, one that skews to the “crunchy” side of mamahood. So I knew she would appreciate what I was about to say.

“Oh, great,” I said. “Well, since I know you, I’ll go ahead and tell you that my son isn’t feeling well and skipped his nap today, so I’m just going to nurse him while we talk—if you hear any weird noises in the background, that’s what’s going on.”

She was totally cool with it, we had a friendly little chat, and I got a great interview for my story.

Working from home isn’t always that easy. (Not that interviewing someone on the phone and taking notes while nursing is easy, exactly.) Yet, that’s what it takes for many mothers to make a living. Sometimes it’s more cost-efficient to stay at home and make some money on the side than to pay for child care. Sometimes a mom’s work is extremely well-suited to staying at home and freelancing—like it is for me.

I went back to work full time when Tommy was seven weeks old, and hated every minute of being away. I was a senior reporter for a university’s news service department, and the job wasn’t as flexible as I would have liked. I was working 40 or more hours a week and spent half the time pumping breastmilk in my office. Some mothers thrive working away from home; I wasn’t one of them. In fact, I was miserable.

So, after five months of doing that and realizing (slowly) that hey, this isn’t for me, and hey, I’m a writer, hello, I can work from home—I quit.

But working from home has its own set of challenges. I get my writing done during Tommy’s afternoon nap, at night, and on weekends when my husband is not working himself. (I am not, as you might have guessed, the greatest housekeeper.) Finding boundaries between “work life” and “home life” is tricky. And sometimes, when I’m on deadline, I have to work during Tommy’s waking hours. And that can be hard.

I fondly remember the days when Tommy could happily shred junk mail while I set up interviews or e-mailed my editors. At 19 months, he’s more interested in clinging to my legs like a lamprey.

My friend Keri, an archivist for the English Folk Dance and Song Society, works in her London office two days a week and freelances from home. She, too, struggles with keeping her one-year-old daughter Sylvia’s fingers away from her computer and staying up late at night to work.

“Are there any good tips to keep a toddler busy while I’m working? Should I duct tape her to the wall?” she joked in a recent e-mail. “The struggle to get the tape off could keep her busy for hours….”

Oh, how I laughed, reading that e-mail, and oh, how I understood.

Finding the Balance
I asked my friend Ansley, purveyor of Athens, Ga.-based Songbird Soaps and mom to two-year-old Oscar, how she manages to find a balance between work and family. Oscar attends school three half-days a week; when he’s home, he keeps himself busy with independent art projects, or else pitches in and helps Ansley with kid-appropriate tasks.

“I am big on organizing and preparing my work space the night or day before,” says Ansley. “Getting organized beforehand allows me to focus and relax when I am making soap or candles. And if I am unable to finish my project before picking him up, Oscar loves helping out. I can usually set him up with cutting soap scraps while I finish my project.”

I admit it: I sometimes get overwhelmed with deadlines. I sometimes get frustrated with Tommy for being who he is: a toddler who needs me, not a kid who can go ride his bike when I need to write. Then I remind myself that this is why I made the choice to work at home: so I could color with him and read the same book over and over and kick the ball in our yard. Really, it’s a pretty sweet deal.

My tips?

• Don’t ignore your kid, your partner, or any other important people in your life. Ansley agrees: “If I plan to spend time with Oscar or my husband, I do that,” she says. “I try not to overlap these two things. If they do happen to overlap, which does happen, I try not to stress about it, just take it as it comes.”

• Don’t ignore yourself. It’s easy to categorize life into either Taking Care of Kid Time and Working Time, but you also need time to play. I get quick fixes by running around outside with Tommy, connecting with other moms and kids at playdates, taking my weekly trapeze class, and grabbing spots of knitting when I can.

• Graciously accept help. My sainted mother lives nearby and has watched Tommy in a much-appreciated pinch more than once. And my husband, Robert, and I work together to make sure I have uninterrupted weekend time to write.

As I write this, it is a Sunday afternoon, and Robert is getting ready to take Tommy to the park. I can hear them discuss in excited voices all the animals they’re going to see, and it seriously makes my heart swell. I love knowing they’re getting valuable bonding time while I’m working.

It’s All Worth It
There are other benefits, too.

For Ansley, it’s more than just saving money and making homemade dinners, though she values those things. It’s the subtle moments she savors: Oscar helping her with her work, assisting in household tasks, and exploring their garden.

“The benefits of involving Oscar in what I am doing are learning skills for his everyday and future life,” she notes. “When he measures ingredients, he’s introduced to math.If it’s baking muffins, he’s learning the value and rewards of patience. He’s learning skills of self-sufficiency and reliance: making soap, candles, cooking, growing his own food, and having fun, all the while learning skills that are disappearing from modern life. It’s all practice for real life!”

Living in a major city, Keri appreciates having a slower-paced work week. “I feel more in control of my life than running from place to place,” she says. And being at home most of the week brings her added focus when she’s in the office; “I can check my e-mail without getting interrupted,” she marvels. “I can even enjoy a cup of tea without it getting stone cold before I have a chance to finish it!”

“I don’t know if Sylvia will remember her mom working from home,” she adds, “but I’m sure she’ll remember all the love she got. At least I hope so!”

And what are my benefits? There are so many, like witnessing Tommy’s many milestones and writing then down on the calendar in the kitchen. Going for impromptu snake hunts in the backyard. Taking more pride in my work, since so much more is at stake. And, of course, getting to write this column!