Where to Begin?

I am not sure how to even begin but I will try. In 2006, I became a mom to Gracie and my mom passed away five months later. In 2008, my dad died when I was eight months pregnant with Dylan. Those few years were a big blur of unhappiness, just trying to barely keep my head above water. My husband and I both know we needed a change and made the decision to move back to our hometown in 2011. It was the best decision that we could have ever made. Although my parents were no longer with us, I felt a sense of peace and calm being back where we both grew up and had great memories. Both of our children now go to the same elementary school we did and even have some of the same teachers!

Not a bad place to live!

After six years in college and two degrees, I had been working full-time for about 12 years in the science field. Again, I was unhappy and knew I needed a change. I was missing out on so much with the kids and was not feeling fulfilled by my career choices at all. Word of advice, for those of you considering a science major in college....DON'T do it! It is kind of bullshit unless you are going to be a doctor. Try engineering or business instead. :)

We all can't be Bill Nye.

The change I needed was more time at home with my kids. I didn't want to quit working all together so in April 2014 I decided to suck it up and ask my boss if I could cut my work week down to 35 hours instead of 40+ hours a week. This would eliminate my children having to go to after school care and to be honest, I could have done all of my full-time work in 25 hours a week. My boss gave me the following reasons as to why this was a terrible idea (none of which included actually calling freaking HR to even ask):

1. Can't you just come in earlier in the morning so you could leave earlier to pick the kids up from school? Sure, I will gladly trade after school care for before school care.

2. Don't you have another friend that is a stay at home mom that could just watch your kids for you after school? Um, that TOTALLY defeats the purpose of me wanting to spend more time with my kids.

3. Kids lie and sometimes tell you things that they just want you to hear. Gracie probably doesn't really hate being a latchkey kid and actually has fun there. Shes just trying to make you feel guilty. Thank you very much, I truly respect you and this job even more now that you called my 8 year old a liar. 

So, that was the end of that conversation. She dropped it and wouldn't even consider it as an option. After much convincing from my sweet husband, I turned in my resignation a few weeks later much to her dismay and I am now a full-time stay at home mom. I have a lot to learn about being a SAHM and it is much harder work! I am not sure how moms do it with babies and small children because mine are older and very self-sufficient! So far, we have had an awesome summer and we couldn't be happier. 

I am not sure what the future will hold for us. I will need to go back to work at some point, even if if it just part-time. But for now, we are making some financial sacrifices to ensure that the children are my first-priority. Never again will I worry about my job or anyone else before I take into consideration what is best for my children. Plus, my husband has been working a shit-ton of unexpected overtime since I quit working so that helps. :)