The Stay at Home Mom vs. The Working Mom, Part Two
WORKING - The first time!

Well, when I found out I was pregnant, I had no initial desire to stay at home. Despite how I appreciated my own mother being at home, I also at times thought she was at home too much and could have used some socialization. Besides, what would I do all day? I was sure I would be bored stiff with just a baby to care for. My plan was to continue teaching and just have all of the time during breaks to spend with our new baby.

Our first morning home with Katie Beth, I laid down with her on the couch for a nap and it was the most surreal time with her. It had been snowing (okay, huge ice storm, but biggest one in 25 years in TX) and outside was just peaceful and white. It felt so great to be home after the hospital and some relaxing praise music was playing on the stereo. I dozed off smelling my new sweet baby girl, and I suddenly woke up panicked. I started crying to Jason, "I can't go back to work, I can't go back!" I couldn't imagine parting with this little thing. Jason essentially said, "Uh, sorry, too bad." There was no way financially at the time, and I was in the middle of the school year. I finished out the year and actually worked one more year.

It was challenging to work. I missed Katie Beth and stressed about every tiny thing the daycare workers did wrong. She went to daycare at our church so Jason was right there and fed her lunch every day. But still... it wasn't me. I missed her like crazy, but I really survived okay. I could do this! I didn't really dread work, just missed Katie Beth.

When we moved to IL, we made the commitment to stay home. More about that in a sec...

I think my biggest challenges during this stage were missing Katie Beth, and not having the connection with other moms. There were a few moms at the school I was teaching at, but I didn't have a lot of connections. I had other moms that were friends, but I just didn't see them much because I was working. ALL of our friends at church either had much older children, were early married, or many were even single. No mom friends. And our church's mom programs were during the day. It was hard to learn and grow and connect. Those were my biggest struggles. And pumping throughout the day too - sorry guys! :) Majorly hard though!

Our other hard thing as a family came because of Jason's schedule. Being a minister, he had one day off - Friday. I was working of course. Jason worked Saturday nights and Sunday mornings. It was hard to spend time together as a family. And, his hours at Fellowship were very demanding. Lots and lots and lots of late nights!