Pinch me because this doesn't seem real!

Two weeks ago I lost my job. It has been the greatest thing to have ever happened to me outside of meeting my husband and having my two beautiful kids. Being a working mother is tough. You have to somehow try to balance everything a mother is and does in the ridiculously short amount of time left after you drop off the kids, work a full day, commute back and pick up the kids, etc. I found that most nights I struggled to get dinner on the table, make sure homework got done and the kids were bathed. Throw in the fact that my husband works crazy hours and isn't available to help out much and the fact that my job sent me home physically and emotionally exhausted everyday and my own feelings of inadequacy and guilt regarding my duties as a mother and wife - I was a perpetual basket case! I have always been in awe of the women who seem to hold it all together so well.  It was something I desperately tried to be for eight years.

But guess what? That part of my life is over, at least for now and I can't help to feel like I have won the lottery. I  have spent the last eight years of my life being so envious of the women who get to stay home, who have time to spend with their kids and clean their houses and enjoy their hobbies and take time for fitness and whatever else they have a whim to do. Now that woman is ME!

The reality of what the life of a stay-at-home mom is quite different than what I have imagined and dreamed all of these years though. When I first learned of my departure from the workforce I had visions of a spotless home, a rigid learning/eating/napping/playing schedule for my 1 year old daughter and endless amounts of free time to do the things I always wished I had time to do before but never did. Ha! That is as much a fantasy as winning the Powerball is. Being a SAHM is hard work. Have you ever tried to do ANYTHING with a toddler attached to you at all times? Right now she is like an appendage. She is sitting on my lap as I type this very sentence! I only have one child at home with me all day. My eight year old son spends his days as a 2nd grader. The women who have 2 or more kids at home all day...hats off to you.

I am excited to see what this transition from working mom to stay at  home is going to bring for me and my family. For now I do not know if it will be a temporary situation or something I can look forward for years to come. All I know is that I plan to take baby steps along the way and enjoy every single second of it. How could you not with these two?