Wow! Yahoo News: 5 Reasons One Parent Should Stay at Home

Wow! Who knew? Yahoo posted an article today titled "5 Reasons One Parent Should Stay At Home." Take a couple of minutes to read the article. I think it leaves out a few very important things, but all criticism aside, it's quite balanced on the whole. How refreshing! Make sure to read the responses at the end of the article too. There are some really encouraging ones!

Ahhh...Quiet

Don't you just want to be here? I don't know where this is. I just happened to find this picture online, but thought it was lovely and had to share. It's the picture of "quiet". "Quiet? What is that?" you may ask. I know, I know, but hear me out. What I have to tell you is vitally important to your well being as a mom. When I was a little girl, my mother had what was called "Quiet Time" every day (Monday-Friday) between the hours of 2 PM-3PM sharp. Occasionally there were exceptions if there was something out of the ordinary going on, but most often, at 2:00 I was called in for my "quiet time". When my sister and I were younger this was our nap time, but when we were too old for naps, it became reading time for us. We would select a few books to look at and would then be separated and put in separate bedrooms to rest quietly with our books. My mom always took this time to retreat to another section of the house to have some quiet time of her own to read, rest, and just...well, be. At the time being a child, ie. egocentric, I thought this was for our benefit (rest time), but now that I'm a mom with two little crazies of my own, I understand now that this was just as much for her benefit as ours. This was a time for her to regroup, re-energize, and just have some time to herself. As I write this, my little ones are currently having quiet times of their own-naps. I've been letting my 3-year old out of naps lately because for the most part, she doesn't really seem to need one, but today I put her down for some rest time. Even if she doesn't need it, I do! And so, this will be worked back into our daily routine, for mommy's sake. Thank goodness for my mother's wise example. She understood the importance of a little daily peace & quiet. It made her a more patient mommy, and a happier wife my dad came home to. So, even if it doesn't always work out to a full hour-because in kidland, stuff happens, I will continue to make this a priority for my kids and myself. After all, we mommies are human, and sometimes we just need a little quiet. Ahhh. Now, to get myself a cup of tea.

It's One of Those Days

It's one of those days. You know, the kind where you just feel...blah. All you want to do is curl up in bed and sleep, or lay around watching movies and snacking in your pj's. Make-up? What's that? It's dark and cloudy, even the sun has no interest in waking up, and I'm unmotivated and impatient. Being productive takes a lot of effort and parenting-even more. My inspiration for a blog post has gone AWOL, so this is what you get for now. I think I need a vacation. Unfortunately, no sick calls for me today. No impromptu shopping trips or pedicures. Such is the life of a full-time mommy and wife. Sometimes it's greatly rewarding, and you can't imagine doing anything else. And then there are all those other times. But, it's the memory of the beautiful sunny days that make it easier to get through all those cloud-filled moments.

Workout? Yeah, right!

 My idea of a workout is sitting on the couch watching "The Office" reruns doing potato chip reps. That's my typical attitude. Blah. One-I don't really like it, and two- who has the time with two kiddos under the age of four? A gym membership is not in our budget, and running is out of the question-where do the kids go during that time? Well, thanks to a tip from a friend, I now have the time to get in a little workout that is affordable, and I'm starting to enjoy it. How do I do it? I purchased Denise Austin's "Get Fit Daily Dozen Workout" DVD from Amazon for about $8.99. It's been fabulous! It's seven different workouts (for seven days) ranging from aerobic to toning to yoga at 12 minutes a pop! I love it because with a different workout every day I don't easily get bored, and at 12 minutes I really don't have much of an excuse not to do it. I just stick the kids on the floor around me with their cheerios while I get my exercise, and I feel I've accomplished something in my day. I always finish my workout by exclaiming "yay for mommy!," and the kids clap for me in response because they get the TV back for morning cartoons ;).

Entrepreneurial Spirit?

If it wasn’t for the fact that I have very strong convictions about being a SAHM I would most likely be a working mom. I would probably be climbing the corporate ladder and bringing home a nice check. That’s my personality. I have a restless spirit. I jump from one hobby to the next, wrestling with not contributing financially and trying to be super mom, spending every minute coming up with some creative things to do with my kids. By nature I’m an entrepreneur. From selling candy and stickers, to having a shaved ice stand as a child I’ve always had some kind of business.  So, how do I tame that beast? Ha ha. The answer is, I don’t. I’ve found ways to exercise my entrepreneurial spirit while staying home with my children. I wouldn’t say I’m a “work from home” mom. My “jobs” are more flexible and fun.

First off I sell on EBay. When I first started staying home with my oldest daughter I still had quite a bit of free time because she would take long naps throughout the day. I started first shopping on ebay occasionally for antique books, and that piqued my interested. How does one sell on ebay? I watched eBay’s tutorial and started a new EBay Id for selling.  I found various things throughout the house as well as bargains at various clothing stores (I really like to shop) and tried my hand at selling. I purchased shipping supplies, and eventually a shipping scale to weigh packages (around $25). I got hooked. Then I moved into purchasing Gymboree at great prices and reselling them. I kept my clothing organized in bins by season and gender. I learned all about Gymboree’s lines and the way to work their sales. I started selling Gymboree and brought in a small income from it- nothing big, but it was nice to have some play money. I even opened my own eBay store. I moved up into “Power Seller” status, and then almost as quickly as I had achieved that elite title, I closed my store because I was pregnant with my second child. I placed myself on maternity leave.

I’ve since tapered down my selling, but I still do it though not as much or in as high of volume. I no longer have my store. One has to have enough merchandise to justify paying “rent” so to speak for it, and I don’t want to devote as much time to eBay as I used to.  I now have two children that require more time than they had previously, and I’ve become much more professional in my domestic duties. Like I said, I still dabble in this occasionally. I also make girl’s hair bows-another hobby I picked up when I was home with my first child only- and maintain a blog to display them on. Occasionally I sell them on eBay as well.

 Both of these activities, as well as blogging, have been a great help to me in getting out a little of that extra energy I have. Some women are completely content just running the household. I wish I was, and maybe someday I will be. If you are new to staying at home with your children, and feel a little restless, teach yourself a new skill or hobby. Then get really good at it and conquer it! Sign yourself up for a booth at a craft fair, or open an eBay or Etsy store. Start a blog or website. Volunteer. Just remember one thing: you are home for your children, not your hobby. If this was all about you, you probably wouldn’t be home in the first place. Make sure your children and your spouse remain your number one priority. If you’ve done everything you need to do for them during the day, and you find yourself with some down time while the children are napping or on a play date, etc then use that time for you. Make sure you don’t forget your main purpose in staying home-quality, not quantity of how much stuff you can accomplish.

Kudos to Family Talk!

Since I have been living in Connecticut, I spend a lot of time in our basement (multi-purpose room) working on various crafty hobbies while the kids play. One of the things I like to do while I'm busy crafting is turn on Family Talk's podcasts, since I don't think I get their radio broadcasts here. The last two days they've had a broadcast called "The Flipside of Feminism" that has been just fantastic! If you're interested click here to listen to today's broadcast (this is part 2). To check out their other broadcasts and listen to part 1 (which I highly reccomend) go here . Honestly, Family Talk with Dr. James Dobson, someone I've grown up listening to, has really been a huge encouragement to me as a mom and wife lately. Their site is full of tons of great broadcasts and helpful information. If you ever find yourself needing a good kick in the rear, pull up a couple of podcasts for some motivation.

Welcome!

Let's see...where to start? I guess the appropriate place to start would be the beginning, but that would take a while and possibly bore you to tears, so I'll start with some basics. Please bare with me as a ramble through a couple of paragraphs.

Who am I? I am a Stay-at-home-mom (SAHM) to two small children (a boy, age 1 and a girl, age 3.5) and my husband's full-time wife and girlfriend (or at least I try to be). I'm originally from the California Central Valley-Modesto but within the last month or so, have picked up and relocated to a small town in Connecticut. Yes, we moved almost as far away within the United States as we could to the dismay of my parents and in-laws. My husband originally worked as an ICU RN in California and decided, at age 27 that he wanted to go farther in his career, so he applied and got in to Nurse Anesthesia school. That's what brings us here to Cheshire.

The past month has been a huge adjustment! We rented out our California home, we purchased it before the bubble had burst (in '06) and can't sell it. We refuse to walk away, so our only other option was to rent it out. We sold many of our possessions in an effort to scale down on what had to be moved, and loading everything else into an ABF U-Pack truck (thank you ABF-you were awesome!). Initially we were planning on driving with our then almost 11 month-old and 3 year old cross-country, but thought better of it. I don't know if we would have all arrived in one piece, let alone our marriage surviving, had we driven the 5-6 days it would have taken us. So we decided instead to cough up the money and fly-so much better, though if you've ever flown several hours with two little-ones, you know what a nightmare that can be all on it's own! So, here we are, on the other side of the US not knowing a soul.

That is what brings me to this blog-the not knowing a soul here in Connecticut, in part and the SAHM thing. Many stay-at-home-ladies know that working in the home for your family day after day, not spending 8.5 hours among your peers can get lonely at times. Now, add to that being a full-time mommy somewhere where you have no connections, not a one. It's really quite strange. I feel a little like a military wife. I don't know how you women how do it! So, in an effort to connect just a little to some other moms and wives, I decided to start a blog. I have a few ideas as to what I'd like to see this evolve into, but for now, I'll keep most of that to myself as we females often do have a tendency to be rather indecisive in the matter of what would really make us happy. Just know, this will be full of rants and frustrations, child-rearing, husband-rearing (lol), household money saving tips, recipes, politics and everything else under the sun I feel like discussing. But mostly, I want this to be encouraging to all of the SAHMs out there because, believe me, I know it can be very difficult. Stay tuned!