A little background for you. I am a mother of two daughters, a 5year old and (as of right now) a 7 week old. With my older daughter I worked a full time job. For her first year, she was watched by my 83 year old grandmother in the morning and my mom in the afternoon. Towards her first birthday, my grandmother realized that it was just getting too hard to keep up with a toddler. My husband and I decided it was time for day care.
I searched high and low for a day care that I was comfortable with and luckily found one right next door to my job. For the next 3 years, she would be in day care from 9:00am until 5:00pm. My husband and I were both working full time jobs and unfortunately with employer paid insurance, the benefit of a paycheck still outweighed the cost of daycare.
In May of 2006, my husband and I started our own business. I stayed at my steady paycheck job while he took his leap of faith and became self employed. We were fortunate enough that he was on the right road and was even able to hire two employees 6 months later.
When my oldest was 4 and eligible for voluntary pre-kindergarten, I learned that she could go to school from 8:30am until 11:30am for FREE! I enrolled her immediately and let my boss know that I would be cutting back my hours to 3 hours a day (this way I could still get a tiny paycheck without having to pay for daycare). It was the first time in her little life that we spent more than half the day together. With her being 4, it was nice; we would have lunch together, get groceries, go to the park and take walks. In November of 2007, our business was successful enough for my husband and I to take the ultimate leap of faith; two self employed incomes. I quit my job and started working for our own business.
At first it was a little difficult because she was still in school from 8:30 until 11:30 where I would go to the office. On some days, if I was really busy, I would pick her up and bring her back. She would love to play on the computer playing on Playhouse Disney’s website or PBS’s website. But after awhile she would get restless and bored.
Shortly after I became a full time self employed mother, I found out I was pregnant (the day after Thanksgiving to be exact). Talk about timing; I had just quit my other job that I was at for 6 years. It was definitely a sign that good things would be coming. I continued to work and with the help of my mother in law, I was able to stay at the office.
Then came Christmas break, something I had yet to experience. Basically, she was out of school for two whole weeks with nowhere to go. At first, she would come to work with me (don’t get me wrong, she LOVED IT! she had her own desk and computer. Occasionally we would let her use the phone, she thought she was the shiznit!) But I felt guilty for always having her in the office. My MIL was able to help out occasionally but it got really bad when she had to go to the hospital for about two weeks. I had to find someone new to watch her every day. Finally I realized that it would be best if I just worked from home. So by the time Christmas rolled around, I moved my work and computer to my home office. We even had a “business” line put in at the house, so my clients could call me and not know that I was not at the office.
After working from home for 6 months, summer break came! We were in a position that we could hire some new employees to help out when I had the baby (due July 23rd) to help take most of the work load off of me. I still do the accounting and help out with clients and employees, but not as much as I used to.
I had my second daughter on July 25th. We had about two weeks where it was just myself, my oldest and the baby home before my oldest had to start kindergarten (when I like to make life changes, I like to do it all at once!!). Unfortunately when you own your own business you have to take sacrifices, so my husband had to return back to work immediately the next week. So it was just me and my girls. It was hard at first because I was completely exhausted but my five year old stepped up and was a champ. I made everything for her the night before and moved her snacks and juice boxes to the lower shelves of the pantry and fridge so she could help herself. Sometimes I think she helped herself too much, but she learned to be self sufficient. She would always come in the bedroom to check up on me and the baby.
After the baby was born, my work responsibilities had been cut back a lot. I’m still very involved (I do own half); I do the accounting and help with the clients and make sure my employees get some work done! I am what most would call a stay at home mom now. Something that is VERY new to me. Even though I have two kids, I feel like I’m almost starting over. Mostly because of the vast age difference (after 5 years you forget about the spitups, 3am feedings and the smell of the diaper champ) but because this is the most time I have spent with my baby.
Having two kids; one an infant and the other just starting school, I have had my share of experiences (and that was just this week). Last night I was talking with my mother and was telling her what happened to us at the doctor on tuesday and on the way to school on Monday. I made a remark like “that was just Monday through Wednesday”! She said “That would only happen to you”.
On the way to school the next morning (we walk to and from school) I thought, no it doesn’t just happen to me, it happens to every mother out there. Who knows the type of stories or experiences we have. So I decided that it was time to share them. Let everyone else know they are not alone. If they have experienced it, then so have I and so will someone after me. Why not write about it and let the other (new or old) moms know that they are not alone! We have done it and will do it again.
Thus, Tales from the Nursery was born. Before I even knew what domain name to pick, I had 10 stories to share! Why not have a place for other mothers to share their stories too! So please feel free to comment on any story or send in your own story to mystory@talesfromthenursery.com. I would love to post other mothers experiences with mine.
So I hope that you visit often and enjoy my stories, because if you haven’t experienced it yet; it’s just a matter of time before you do.
