In Praise of Stay at Home Mom's

It was a year ago this month that I made the huge decision to be a Stay At Home Mom. It was a very tough decision for my husband and myself, but it was definitely the best decision I have ever made.



I worked for 8 months after my son was born. I had a job that I liked, I had co-workers that I loved, and an amazing boss. Who wouldn't want to stay? After about a week of being back at my normal schedule, I realized that I could not work full time and take care of my family at the same time. I brought this to my boss's attention and she was amazing enough to let me cut my hours to part time. So, for the next 8 months I worked Mon-Fri from 8am - noon and it was nice. I had my mom and mom-in-law splitting babysitting duties and I would pick Logan up straight after work then head home.

I was pregnant in this photo!

As great a deal as that was, it eventually started taking a toll on me and my family. I was so tired when I got home from work that I didn't want to do much, I ended up using the evenings and weekends to catch up on chores, and everything became a priority over my poor husband. I started having some what of an attitude problem at home because work started to become stress full for me. My amazing boss had been on maternity leave, and upper management starting making un wanted changes to our department while she was gone. This was no fun, and made me wonder why I was still there. Still loved my co-workers, but without our boss there defending us, was it really worth it? Bringing that stress home with me everyday was very hard on everyone around me. We had talked about me quitting, but I just didn't see how we would make it.



Then, as an early Easter gift last year, my mom bought me Dr. Laura's "In Praise of Stay at Home Mom's". I read this book, and would share what I've read with my husband. I noticed that as I was reading the book, I started looking at myself and my attitude from the outside in. My husband and I had a huge talk, went over a budget, and made the gut wrenching decision, I put in my two weeks notice. Before doing so I let my boss (who was on maternity leave) know via facebook. I didn't want her to be the last to know. She completely understood that I had to do this, and she remains to be a good friend of mine.

Me and my two bosses.

What's great about Dr. Laura's book is that it taught me what being a mom is really about. Staying home with them isn't just enough. She talks about spending time with them, teaching them, and how important it is to make time for yourself and also your husband. She talks about putting on the smiley face before your husband gets home because the last thing he needs to hear, while being the sole income, is what a stress full day you've had. Also, how important it is to show your appreciation for what he does, so I can stay home. She talks about how important it is to look good for your man when he comes home. Sometimes if I've been too busy to "pretty up" all day, I'll apply some makeup and do my hair just before he gets home.



Since reading this book, and becoming my son's mom, this home has been a happy one. Sometimes it's stress full to be home all day, or to not be able to do the fun expensive stuff others can do. It's totally worth it though, because I have the best job in the world. The pay is little, the hours are long, I'm always on call, and I get no sick days. But when my son wakes up in the morning and wraps his arms around me so tight, all is perfect. I love being able to see him grow up. I love spending time in the morning trying to teach him stuff, I love our morning workouts, I love our trips and adventures, and I love playing with him out front waiting for daddy to come home and the look on his face when he sees daddy rounding the corner. I don't have to miss any of that! I am truly blessed.



If you have not yet read "In Praise of Stay at Home Mom's" by Dr. Laura I highly recommend it. It is so well written and she knows exactly what to say to us mom's.

Happy 1 year anniversary to me!

Photo Credit: photo #1 www.drlaura.com
all other photos: mine

Antique Shopping with my Boy

Recently my best friend friend of 25 years started planning her wedding. Her idea for the theme is very cute and something I've never heard of before. It requires a lot of antique store shopping. It gets tricky though because she is located in Northern CA and Myself, along with the rest of her bridesmaids are located in Southern CA. She let me know exactly what it is that she needs, so yesterday Logan and I headed to Antique Row, Pomona CA (about a 5 minute drive for me). I forgot how much I love looking at all the stuff they have. I really wanted to buy so much.

The first store we went into had one of the items I was looking for. So I purchased that and decided to look around some more, just for funsies. Logan and had fun too. He would Ooh and Awww at stuff that I would point out to him. He really liked when we looked at the toys. I found a children's book section that had very good prices on books that I had grown up with. Remember a "Little Golden Book" collection? It was the thin cardboard books with the silver on the left. Anyways, they were selling them by the bundles. For $4.25 I was able to get Noah's Arc(2 of those), Old MacDonald Had a Farm, The Musicians of Bremen, Moving Day, When Bunny Grows Up, The Monster at the end of this Book (sesame st.), Winnie the Pooh (Eeyore be happy), and Scuffy the Tug Boat. I was very excited about my find. Not a bad deal at all.

If you are at all interested in antiques, or even on the look out for affordable children stuff, then you should stop by this Saturday, March 27Th. They will have the entire street closed off for an Antique Street Fair. All stores will be open and they will be offering extra discounts. Plus, their will be street vendors their as well. I definitely recommend checking it out. Bring the kids too, Logan had a blast. I thought he'd be bored but he actually ended up enjoying himself. I will likely be there this Saturday trying to find more wedding stuff. Hopefully we'll see you there!

Photo Credit: www.westernu.edu