Our first day

Welp, we did it. We made it through our first day as me, the working mom. I got up extra early to make sure I had plenty of time to get us all dressed, fed and out the door.  Before I had kids I was such a loon about being places on time. My mom drilled it in me from the time I was 8 years old that "a good cheerleader is never late". Well, I had long put my pom poms down and still heard her voice in my head saying that. When my kids were born I think they were actually louder than that voice because I didn't hear it anymore.  I could barely hear anything actually and I couldn't get anywhere on time either. I know, or at least I hope that other moms can relate to running out the door, jumping the car, throwing it in reverse and OH CRAP, I FORGOT MY ______!  Never fails for me. It's either my sunglasses, coupon binder, phone, water bottle, shoes, you name it and I have forgotten it. So anyway I needed to make sure I was on time today and I was.  I fell right back in to my old routine and my kids actually survived a day without me. (*tear*)  I got to enjoy that awesome feeling of walking into the house and having 3 little happy faces run and give me tons of hugs and kisses.  AAWWW, the awesomeness of being a mommy.

My heart was full of joy from my kids but also from my friends and my sisters today. I had several friends call, text and email me just saying that they were thinking about me on my first day back to work. I know there are a bugillion working moms in the world. I'm not saying that I'm anything special. What I'm saying is that I'm blessed with an amazing family and friends who care about me even though my situation isn't that rare or special. They just understand that it's important to me which makes it important to them.

My last day

I remember talking to this young mom in the nursery at church one Sunday when I was pregnant with my second child and she was nursing her third and youngest. She was in her early 20s and I was in my late 20s.  I was struggling with the fact that my baby would be born in a couple months and I'd have to leave him just like I had with my first born to go back to work. I hardly knew this girl and it wasn't like me to just pour my heart out to a stranger but I'm so glad I did. She urged me to consider my options of staying home and spending the first precious years of my baby's life with him and his brother. I thought she was out of her mind but obviously she knew what she was saying because she was doing it. I longed to be at home with my kids but how in the world could it possibly happen?! I went home from church that day and told my husband about the conversation and surprisingly he wholeheartedly agreed that I needed to quit my full time, well paying job to be with our kids. It was the biggest leap of faith of our lives at that point and the biggest blessing in our lives too.

My last day of work was about six weeks before my baby was born. He'll be five years old in a few short months and I'm returning back to work in a few short days. The past few years have brought the greatest joy I could ever imagine. There have been hard days. There have been days that all I wanted to do was crawl in my bed and not come out. I have longed for the day that my own butt would be the only one I would wipe.  These days have gone by so fast. I have also witnessed his first steps as well as his baby sister's first steps. No amount of money would have been worth missing those milestones.

And so today, as my last day as a stay at home mom, I had planned to spend it on a 3rd grade field trip. The rainy weather postponed that so instead I have stayed in my pajamas all day, put puzzles together with my babies, snuggled on the couch and done pretty much nothing but so much at the same time. I'm going to miss days like this but I think since I've had them I won't take them for granted when they come along again.

As for that crazy 20-something that talked me into being a stay at home mommy, she's now my best friend. She's inspired, challenged, encouraged and prayed for and with me over these past 5 years.  We've spent hours on the phone and together talking about being a better wife and mom. I can't imagine what my life would have been like had God not crossed our paths that day. He definitely had a plan and I thank him every day for it and for Liz Webb.