Officially a Stay At Home Mom

Yesterday was officially my first day of unemployment..... Well, employment where I was getting paid a nice  salary every 2 weeks.... Now I am employed strictly by a 1 month old, 7 year old, 27 year old (hubby), 2 dogs, and a house that still for the life of me cannot seem to stay clean longer than a day or two. hahaha.... How did I spend my first official day as a SAHM? On the couch with baby Mikey sleeping in my arms, completing a couple loads of laundry (by completing I mean wash, dry AND getting them put away in there designated locations throughout drawers and closets!), making a yummy dinner, dishes, sweeping up a miniature german shepherd (warm weather is here and off comes the dogs coats), and double checking our finances just to make sure I truly did make the right choice when going along with my hubby's request.... The dollar signs have not changed and we're still only losing out on a small sum of money a month by me not working AND not having to pay for any type of child care. Unfortunately, between both of our incomes, the cost of child care was going to be a bit over half of my monthly income, including diapers, formula (because it would have been ridiculously tough to pump every couple hours with my job) oldest kids lunches and before and after school care, and of course the inevitable time off that would occur often from sickness that the baby would encounter being around all the other babies every day. However, had I gone back to work.... Our snuggle time would be close to non-existent.... The daily routines and hussle-and-bussle of it all would cut into all mommy-son time and of course someone else would be caring for him and seeing all of his milestones before me. Yesterday he kept smiling... It was the cutest thing since my first son's first smiles. That, alone, is worth it all.

Well, now... A SAHM.... Hmmm... What to do??? Now I have more time for EVERYTHING!!!! Maybe a little too much time?..... Nah, the list of "things to do" continues to grow almost daily. Between house work, home improvements (which I'm excited about not having to do just on the weekends), working out (which I can do more of now), daily activities with the kidlets, going to school full time instead of part time, being able to go out and about and get more involved in my passion of photography, and traveling.... Oh to be able to travel now and only have to go off of the oldest child's school schedule and hubby's leave.... This will be wonderful. In a week I will be going back home to California for a month. I have not been home in 2 1/2 years...... I have so many ideas of what to do while we're out there, maybe a beach trip or two, go to a real mall, I definitely will have some In-n-Out (that will probably be my dinner the night we fly in), relax in the pool in my old back yard, see friends and their kids, possibly an amusement park or two..... And of course FAMILY! Baby Michael will be close to 2 months old when all the family meets him. My 3rd youngest brother is graduating from high school and we will be there to see this take place. I am so proud of him! He received 2 different scholarships and will be going to college along the coast... I'm sure dad has already given him the speech of staying on track, especially going to college right next to the beach.

I'm a bit nervous being away from "home" for so long, usually a few days away I am ready to come back. This should be a nice relaxing time though. Jacob will get to see all of the family including his dad's side while we are there. He is beyond excited and can't wait to go camping, fishing and gold panning with his dad's parents. He also gets to go to Disney World with his dad this upcoming weekend. It is still a secret to him because we did not want him to lose focus on his class but I know he will be super stoked when his dad calls to tell him tomorrow!

There are so many positives to being able to stay at home with the kids.... As my husband said, there is no way to place a monetary value on being the one to raise our children. And while I may not be bringing in an income and helping support our family in such a manner, I will be able to support us in ways that would have been out of reach with full time, away from the home, employment. I just have to keep telling myself that everything will be okay and not to fear the unknown. If I can do this, everything will be just fine.

Last night my husband kept asking if I was okay.... At first I didn't catch on to why he was asking this. Was I being too quiet? Was I spacing out lost in thought? Then he said, "I love you, thank you for doing this for our family." Sigh.... I am okay with this, while it will take some adjusting, I am okay. We will be great. And all will be worth it. Opening a new chapter of our lives and slowing down a bit from my normal go-go-go life should be interesting. Stay tuned.... :)