Motherhood Monday: Blessed to be a Stay at Home Mom

Happy Monday my friends! I hope you had a nice relaxing weekend! Our weekend was super nice! We are finally seeing some snow, which is a weird thing to be excited for, but it just makes the cold temps feel better!

Today, I’m bringing back my Motherhood Monday post. I got super emotional last week after our annual staycation Downtown. I plan to share a little recap of that 24 hour trip tomorrow, but in the meantime, I spent a lot of time reflecting on the past 5 and a half years of my life.

Okay, let’s back track a bit and for any new readers, now is a nice time to re-introduce myself and share my story!

Since getting married in 2014, my husband and I always chatted about our future goals (we LOVE doing this) and where we see ourselves and our family to be in the upcoming years ahead. I remember I’ve always felt drawn to be a stay at home mom. Could it be I longed for my own mom to be a homemaker when I was younger, probably had a lot to do with it, wanting something you didn’t have, but I just always felt drawn to it. My husband had been on board since day one talking about it. I think because of the fact his Mom was a stay at home mom, the possibility of me continuing to work wasn’t even something that crossed his mind. Obviously, if I had WANTED to work, he would support me 100%, but we had a mutual agreement on how we wanted to raise our future family.

Let me set the stage…

I graduated with a degree in Business Administration, a concentration in Marketing and also earned a certificate in Multimedia Advertising, which I worked hard for in college all while playing collegiate golf. Was it tough, yes, but it was so worth it. I really enjoyed College looking back on the experience. I learned so much and my Marketing professors were INCREDIBLE! After graduation, I applied to several places and landed a job in marketing at an investment bank in Downtown Cleveland.

Okay, where am I going with this…

Well, I loved this stage of my life. I loved working Downtown. I loved my office on the 36th floor with the most gorgeous views. I loved my boss turned FRIEND now (I miss our daily hangouts)! I loved that I felt like I was contributing to Andrew and I’s future. I loved challenging myself and growing my professional career. It was an awesome experience, BUT after having Audrey in 2015, I noticed a shift in my priorities.

The commute downtown became daunting. The logistics of everything was chaotic. I found myself rushing through the day, flying through a week, wishing for the weekend EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. My hours weren’t the best and I found myself getting home to Andrew and Audrey at 6:35 every night. It was basically make dinner, hang, then bedtime. We didn’t really love our life and were longing for that “goal” we set – to have me stay home.

Okay for real, this is what I wanted to share…

This past week, we wrapped up our Christmas Break together with a mini staycation Downtown. The kids LOVE this – we explore the city, stay in a hotel with a pool and just enjoy time together. I was already starting to get a little emotional with break ending. “Another year down, will next year look different with them being ONE year OLDER?”, I asked myself. Will they still have the same innocent joy in doing the most simple things? I don’t know what next year holds – but no joke, my kids think staying in the hotel is the absolute coolest thing, they can’t believe it!

Already a little emotional and waiting for the kids and Andrew to wake and emerge from suite room, I found myself reflecting on MY “another year down”. So much has changed since making the jump from a professional career to stay at home Mom five and a half years ago. While there were many days at home I wanted to pull my hair out, that far outweighed the stresses and needs that my professional career would require.

I began wondering how different our life would look if I continued on my career path. How different the relationship with the kids would be (cause I feel it would be a little different). How different our morning and evening routines would be. How different the logistics and activities the kids are participating in would be. The sacrifices we made and the leap of faith for me to stop working was frightening to start, but my gosh it was so worth it and has made life run a lot smoother personally for our family.

I stared out the window up at my old work building, I can’t believe I was right across from it. Seeing people get off the commuter bus I used to be on every morning got me really emotional. I pictured 26 year old me getting off the bus, locking eyes with me in the hotel window and saying, “You made the best job change EVER.”

Did I get a pay raise? No. Did I “waste” a degree and college education? Felt like it. Did I stop the trajectory of a successful professional career? Sure, but I couldn’t even imagine the things I would have missed at home, with our kids and that precious time I would have lost from being downtown everyday.

That staycation was what I needed. A reminder that my job as SAHM is hard in it’s own way, but the most rewarding one. I am beyond blessed to be in this “homemaking career” for the past 5.5 years and wouldn’t trade it for anything. I get to BE with our kids. I get more TIME with them. I can’t take that for granted.

At times we get caught up in all of it, all the negatives in our lives and we fail to truly think and dive deep into the “what ifs” of life. I’m grateful for the quiet reflection in that hotel room, watching the world go by Downtown. I truly envisioned what things would be like and never would have fully realized how BLESSED and GRATEFUL I am to be doing what I’m doing!

I’m also blessed for Andrew. He works so hard to make this career choice possible and I don’t know what I’d do without him. He is the best husband and father – how spoiled we are.

If you’re nervous about how different your life will be becoming a homemaker. I’m telling you, it’s beyond worth it.

I also want to note, in no way is this post a dis on working Moms. I’ve been there and done that. Also, as the children get older, everyone finds themselves in different situations where they return back to work. I feel like a “working Mom” is an insanely strong person. There are times I’m always wondering, “How does she do it?”. For me personally, I don’t think I would be strong enough to handle a career and motherhood. My career needs to be full time in motherhood and homemaking, that’s what I was called to do!

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