My thoughts on staying home - Part 1

I have been wanting to write a few posts (for memory's sake) about my thoughts on staying at home. I don't think it's any big surprise that once baby #2 comes along, I plan to be at home with my kids, at least for a while.

It is that phrase "a while" that has me a bit nervous, among other things. I'm a number cruncher and a "budget - er". I love to budget. We are so close to making it work that we're just going to give it a shot. I have no idea how tight I can pinch things when I become a stay-at-home-mom. So, we're just going to see.

I have a few other opportunities that might come up. Some of you might remember that I used to teach voice lessons. There is a possibility that I might be able to do that again to help bring in some income, without a lot of cost.

However, this brings me to the heart of the matter. . . being with my kids.

Life seems so short to me sometimes. I feel called to be the primary influence in my kids lives. I know it won't be easy and sacrifices will be made but I can't ever imagine regretting this decision.

I have gotten so much encouragement as a parent from this blog:

http://proverbs14verse1.blogspot.com/

Her words are so soothing to me and so uplifting so I hope you all enjoy it.

I was thinking the other day about how it hasn't gotten any easier to leave my daughter during this year and a half of working. I still miss her when she's not here, I think about her all day - what she's doing. I wonder if she's upset or crying and feel sad that mommy isn't there to wipe away the tears. I want to be there playing with her, feeding her, parenting her.

However, I do want to say how blessed we've been by our daycare situation. I cannot imagine any better scenario because we have loving and wonderful grandparents watching her and a loving and wonderful babysitter. I can tell by Abigail's reactions to them that she is well cared for . . . and that certainly does help. I am certainly not implying here that I'm unhappy with her care, in fact the opposite is true.

This is all for post #1 but there will be more. In the meantime, I am just simply looking forward to being mommy - the teacher, cook, comforter, doctor, playmate, and maid (and many other hats, I'm sure) to my children.