I was a career minded person. I loved my business and I was excelling in it.
Home
Years were spent developing my career and I really identified with my profession. This is why it was so much more difficult when I decided to stay home. My roots were starting to come through. I was raised with my 3 sisters by a stay-at-home mom. I loved coming home from high school to have my mom ask how my day was. She really listened and gave me a chance to vent to a safe party who wouldn’t spread rumors to other teens. It was safe, it was home.
The Bible Study
There were actually 2 main events that led to my choice to stay home. The first was a bible study for finances. We always seemed to spend what we made. There was no way I would ever be able to stay home with kids, even if I wanted to. Which of course, I did not! This was an 8 week course with other people in different points of their lives. The message I kept hearing was you could always get a job but you never get the years back with children. My job had me traveling and lots of people in consulting had traveling nannies so I was considering that as a viable option.
Timing
Well the class came and went and it was the first time I ever even considered staying home. My husband lost his job and shortly after I found out I was pregnant with my first child. Great timing! So he stayed home and looked for another career job but found a part time job to help get us by. We had our first daughter and he was home with her during the days. At first this was a great option. I had my career and he took care of our baby. He brought her to work each day so I could see her and nurse her at lunch time. It was great. Jobs that paid what we were used to were scarce and we were being forced to live on my salary. I started to get sad when he knew what all of her cries meant and I just heard screaming. I couldn’t tell the difference between a diaper cry, hungry cry and sleepy cry. How could he understand her so well?
Daycare
My husband found a career job within 11 months and then we put our precious fist born into daycare. It was tough at first but then we got used to it. We each shifted our schedules so he would do the morning drop off and I would pick up at night. We both worked long hours but loved our careers and the money. Then our second daughter was born. We put her into daycare as well. She was mad at me when we did. She immediately quit nursing. I felt awful.
Unthinkable
Then the unthinkable happened. My oldest daughter was locked out of day care. I showed up to get her after work and she was standing outside screaming and pounding on the door. That was it, I was never going to put her in day care again! I gave my 2 weeks notice at work the next day. We didn’t have much of a plan but this wasn’t working. We took turns staying home while finishing my last 2 weeks at work and preparing for a new path. My youngest turned 1 as I was leaving the career world. And wow, did things change!
My Blog
This blog is about my journey as a mom of three daughters who are all now teenagers and young adults. I hope you find joy in the the journey to balance faith, family and fun. Join my newsletter and come back to read tips, recipes, craft ideas and more.
Thank you, Amber of Auburn Raven.
