It's Only Monday...Mr(s) Mom!

This is somewhat a follow-up to a previous post. Mike and I have decided it would be beneficial for me to stay home with Jake! Yay! This was my first official week of stay-at-home mommyhood and so far it's been going pretty well. We don't have a real strict routine as yet. The morning is usually about the same--we get up, he helps me feed the doggies, he eats breakfast while mommy cleans/straightens the house, then we go to the living room where he plays for a couple hours and watches his shows ("Martha Speaks" is one of his favorites, along with "Super Why"...the latter he actually will get in to, which is so amazing to watch him do!). Then he goes down for a nap/quiet time, and mommy has quiet time as well. It's actually pretty nice not having anything on. I'll get on the computer for a bit sometimes. But for the most part I'll do crosswords or read. The TV is off. Just the music is playing coming over his monitor. As for the afternoons, I haven't really done much. We went to the park the last couple days (which he LOVES!!). He played in the backyard. I'd like to start doing different things in the afternoons. I love Pinterest, as I believe I've stated before. Well, on Pinterest, I've discovered a couple sites that give summer schedules parents do with their kids. For example, Mondays are craft days. Tuesdays are library days. Stuff like that. I could tweak it a little bit for his age as well as the seasons.
To be honest with you, I never thought this would happen. I never pictured myself as a stay-at-home mom. I always wanted a family, having come from a family of five siblings. But I never really thought I'd stay at home with the kids. I didn't think I'd have the patience for it, that I'd always want to be working and moving. Don't get me wrong, I do miss work. You probably think I'm crazy for up and leaving a perfectly good job, and maybe I am. But in the long run, I think I'd be crazier for missing out on these precious years with my son. Once he's older (and if he doesn't have any siblings by then) I'll probably go back to the work force. Until then, I'll enjoy every minute I have with him. I've already discovered he knows a lot more words than I'd thought. And he's starting to put sentences together and talking understandably. It's like he's a little person now! ;-)
I am so thankful to God and the support of my family for helping us get to this. It's a wonderful thing and I wish all mothers had a chance to experience it and become closer with their children in this way. It might make for a better world.

Work or Home?

I'm here! I'm back!
Sorry it's been so long, but I made a huge boo-boo and opened an e-mail that looked all official but in reality was loaded with Trojans and worms and other nasty viruses, so our computer has been capoot. Mike and I have been able to use the internet on our phones, but it's not as good, plus it's not very easy to type up an entire blog entry.
So, I started my own grooming business "The Weekend Groomer" last summer and it's been going pretty well. It slowed WAAAAY down over the winter, which any groomer can tell you it does. Nobody wants a naked dog with snow on the ground. I was getting a little worried, though, when March came and went and things still weren't picking up. Yes, I realize I need better advertising. I'm working on that. I almost thought about stopping it all together, except maybe some regulars. But then one of my clients told me that I had to keep doing it because I'm the only one that can do her dog (it's true...I'm about the only person the dog trusts). And actually, right after I was thinking about quitting it, I got a whole bunch of grooms booked. Which makes me think that this is what I'm supposed to be doing. Next question is...is it the only thing I'm supposed to be doing? Let me explain what I mean...
I always figured I'd work. Even after kids, I always thought I'd work because I wasn't cut out to be a stay-at-home mom, nor did I want to be a stay-at-home mom. I've always believed that moms should stay home if they could (I realize our economy doesn't always allow this) and I realize it's a little hypocritical to believe that and yet still not want to stay home. But since having my son, it's kinda all I want to do. I got a small glimpse of it when I quit my job in Madison and stayed home for about four weeks. Then reality kicked in and we discovered we needed two paychecks. Don't get me wrong...I LOVE my job. Great hours, wonderful staff, and AWESOME bosses. I feel like I should be spending more time with my son. I get a few hours in the morning and maybe an hour when I get off work before he has to go to bed. My parents are THE...BEST...EVER for watching him for us while Mike and I are at work. But let's be honest...they aren't spring chickens anymore. Running around after a two-year-old can be exhausting for ME sometimes, let alone Mema and Papa!
So I've been praying about this. A lot lately. If I could get a good solid business going with grooming, then I could work from home, set my own schedule, and be able to spend more time with Jake (and Mike, since he gets off work earlier than me). I would love to do this, but to leave a perfectly good job for something that could possibly fall through in a few months scares the crap out of me! I just don't know what to do. I honestly feel like this is what I should be doing. In fact, the morning after I prayed over this dilemma, my brother's girlfriend sent me a link to a Craigslist ad for working from home. Then, the second night of praying, I woke in the middle of the night because Jake had a nightmare. I couldn't go right back to sleep, so I went online and noticed a friend of mine from high school wrote a new blog entry about her decision to leave her teaching job to be a stay-at-home mom. Is this just my wishful thinking, or am I being told something? (*sigh*)
Just some musings of mine, I guess. Feedback would be nice if you have it.