Staying at Home

About a year ago, I decided to step down from my job to be a stay-at-home mom. While it was hard to pull the trigger, I have never once regretted my decision. I absolutely love being with min-man every day and seeing how he grows and develops. I swear he changes every day. I think the hardest thing to deal with is losing some of the friendships/relationships I had before mini-man. 

I was in a field where women were encourage to work and have a family. My problem is I was working 60-80 hours a week and I couldn’t do that and be the mom I wanted to be. Fortunately, Damon and I had discussed this long before I was pregnant and decided that I should stay home when the time came. We budgeted and saved so that we could live comfortably on just his salary. We achieved this just before getting pregnant. I can’t express how happy I am that we did this – for it means I get to spend every day with mini-man. 

The tough part comes in to play with my former co-workers. Many women, who like me were brought up to believe that we should work and have a family, can’t believe that I would choose to stay at home. Why not just hire a nanny? Well for me it’s simple – I don’t want someone else to raise my kids. I want to be there. There will always be jobs out there my kids will only be little for a very short time (I still can’t believe that mini-man is 15 months!). 

I know that not everyone is as lucky as I am to have the choice to stay home with their children and that’s it’s a daily struggle to balance work and home life. However, I will never regret my choice to stay-at-home with mini-man. This decision doesn’t make me any less of a woman, just like deciding to have family and career doesn’t make someone any less of a mom. It’s a personal choice that’s made for the each persons family.