Reality of a SAHM

 When I first found out that I was pregnant we were beyond thrilled! I have always loved children, which is why I decided to become a teacher. We found out that we were pregnant in my 2nd year of teaching Kindergarten and I taught throughout the entire year. I was due in July and finished out the year strong tired. Ben and I had a couple conversations throughout my pregnancy about returning to work once we moved back to my home town and I was all for it. After all, I had heard too many stories of SAHM depression, exhaustion, etc. At that moment in my life I said, "Berk will be fine in a daycare, most kids do it", " I just love teaching", "I know that I will need a break".

 Before continuing I know at this point someone has something negative to say. It's ok, it's life. I understand that everyone isn't the same. I applaud WAHM and working moms. I mean seriously that is one of the reasons I chose to stay home, because you guys are like superwoman! 8-5 job, house cleaned, laundry folded, dinner cooked, etc.

 Back to my story... I had every intention of going back to work when the year started in August. Berkley was 8 weeks old which is the normal maternity leave, and I thought by then everything would be set. I started out in August and gave my notice of leaving in late September. I was stressed out to the max. Pumping every 2 hours, calling to make sure Berkley was eating properly, functioning on 4 hrs of sleep, etc. If you are a mom reading this then you may or may have not gone through this. Again this is my story. I was drained by the time I got home!

These some of the reasons we decided that maybe it would work better if I were at home with Berkley. Those reasons aren't the main reason though. The main reason I decided to become a SAHM was so that I...
( it is so tempting to google "why be a stay at home mom" so that this sounds so professional but I'm not) 

~watch her grow
~love her
~teach her about the love of Christ
~help spark her curosity 
~explore with her
~learn more about her
~read her favorite book 10 times,
~allow her to play freely,
~let her ride the vaccum as I use it
~have dance parties 
~push her in her baby doll stroller
~pick flowers with her
~take her to the library
~play dates
~sitting on the floor in the bathroom helping her imitate mommy with the hair brush and makeup brushes
~thousands of kisses & hugs
~playing games

If you think being a SAHM is about having a clean house, being well dressed, having a gourmet meal for dinner and spending hours at the gym it's safe to say that you are WRONG. My house is a mess  learning environment right now, I haven't thought about dinner yet and if I do it's probably going to be a crock pot kind of day, I don't have a gym membership and if I do workout it's at home for about 30 minutes, if I am lucky! This is my reality & I LOVE IT.