It’s the end of an era … well, a 7 month era.
That’s how long I’ve been back to work since my maternity leave ended, but …
Tomorrow is my last day! I’m snug in bed next to Jemma knowing full well that I’ve made the right decision to stay at home with her. I’m sad to leave my work and even more, my coworkers friends, but it’s for the best. I couldn’t be more at peace with our decision. Jemma needs me. Dominic needs me. And I need me to stop trying to do it all.
I want to be able to give 100% to the people and activities I commit myself too. While working away from home, I haven’t been able to do that. Hence the change. Every week I’m going to have almost 50 extra hours to focus on my husband, daughter, and home. It’s going to be a new reality as we adjust, but I’m hopeful about what these 50 hours will mean to my family – more quality and quantity time together, better meals, more exercise, and a more organized home.
I have some part-time from home work lined up to fit into our new schedule, but for the most part the doors are wide open. I don’t want to fill up our schedule too much, but over the next while I want to check out:
- Library story times
- Our church MOMS group
- LLL meetings again
- Swim class for Jemma
- Maybe start an Etsy shop
These are my thoughts about this AWESOME life transition:
- You know that dentist YouTube – Is this real life?Is this gonna be forever? Yep, I feel that way too, kid.
- I worry about not being able to fit in my p/t work during Jemma’s naps – What if she decides to drop her 2nd nap as soon as I come home?
- I worry that I won’t engage Jemma enough, i.e. ignore her while I work, cook, clean, etc.
- I’m hoping to set up a weekly schedule to keep us on task. This Pinterest gave me a great idea for cleaning: I’m also planning to schedule 2 “home days” each week where we don’t have any activities or errands planned. I need to prioritize my home/craft projects so I can always know what’s next – maybe have 1-2 assigned to each week and plan a month ahead …
- For someone who rarely exercises, do I try to even fit something in this Fall before the weather goes all Pacific Northwest on me?
- What if baby #2 pops into the picture and Jemma has to share me? I really want some “just us” time since she has already had to sacrifice mama time already. Is this a normal fear?
So much excitement. So much to be thankful for. We are mightily blessed and I can’t wait for all the opportunities this change brings about for our family!
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Congrats Gretchen, I made the same decision to be a sahm and you will not regret it! You will literally feel that stress of work lift off your shoulders, enjoy this time, it's awesome!!
Please share your house cleaning ideas from pinterest! :)
Here it is – I was bummed that September was kitchen, that's a rough one to start with! ________________________________