My job.

I'm a nurse.

For those of you who don't know me personally, I went to school to get my bachelors in nursing. I worked as a pediatric nurse for five years at Mo.tt Child.rens Hospital near us in A.nn Arb.or. I loved it. It was rewarding and fun and the group of women were great! I KNEW then that there was no way I would ever be a stay-at-home-mom. I couldn't imagine it. I loved my job. I loved the kids. I was a busy lady and no baby was ever going to stop me from doing my calling.

Was.

I'm a stay-at-home-mom.

As many of you know, or have guessed, I am staying home with my girls. When Holly was born, I used FMLA to take 10 weeks off. They didn't recognize (as many workplaces do not) ado.ption as a life changing, time off event without using FMLA. I have to argue that while I did not have surgery, it was a HUGE change and the 6 weeks off would have helped immensely! Anyway, I remember during that time going CRAZY. It was wintertime and I had a tiny baby. She was just 5lbs14oz at birth so I kept her home much of the time. I was so worried about germs. But what was frustrating was I had waited a long time to take my baby to Target with me. Or to walk her at the mall, or the library, or take her out to dinner a gazillion times! I wanted to do that all SO badly. I also knew that once the weather had thawed, I would have precious little time with just Holly before doing these things I'd waited for would prove more difficult. (Going anywhere with two infants is a challenge at best). So I wanted to work. And eventually, I went back. It was actually not hard for me because I worked evenings. My aunt would watch Holly for about 1-2 hours from when I left for work to when Aaron came home. It was good. Aaron would take care of the evening and although I missed that, I was glad he was able to have that time.

Then June came along and I was more swollen than a sponge so my midwife finally wrote me for time off. About a week later, Hannah entered the picture! I haven't gone back to work since. I thought I would miss it. I thought I would go stir crazy. I thought I wanted to be a working mom. And then, I had kids.

We are fortunate enough that right now, I do not have to work in order to supplement our income. That doesn't mean that we don't have the usual arguments about money because we do. So we talked, and talked. And talked about the pro's and con's of daycare. We decided that it was best I stay home with the girls. And, I am so glad that we did. I cannot imagine what life would be like. Funny to think that two years ago I couldn't wait to get to work and now I couldn't imagine going.

Regardless of it all, I am SO thankful to be where I am today. I get to see and experience so many things. I am seeing them through the most fun, beautiful two little sets of eyes! I know that I am fortunate. I know that my position at home is looked at in so many ways. I know what people think a stay-at-home-mom does. And I know the truth about what she does. She stays busy. She doesn't get paid overtime. She doesn't get new clothes. Doesn't eat out all the time. Doesn't spend her days reading her book, lazing around. A sahm gets used to the tear/snot/poo stained clothes and in the end....

It is ALL worth it.