The Transition: Working to Staying Home

November 14th, 2014 will be my last day as a working Mom. I will begin the transition of being a stay at home Mom until Jordyn is about 2 years old. My little family and I are fortunate enough to have a husband/father who can support us, (thanks United States Air Force!) so I am able to raise our daughter in our home. As exciting as this journey will be, I know it will be a challenge at times. Not only for the obvious reason of occasionally missing adult conversation during the day, but because of how much my lifestyle will change. I have worked since I was sixteen years old. Which I just realized while typing this was exactly a decade ago (yikes!). I was sneaky, and got my first job at Best Buy in Bloomingdale, IL, in June of 2006. I say “sneaky” because my family wanted me to concentrate on school and track, and not worry about having a job. I had to promise to maintain a high honor roll grade point average, as I had prior to working, in order to be allowed to work throughout the school year. Which meant with a full class schedule, and running track, I only had time to work on weekends, many times after running 4-5 races during a Saturday track invitational. Needless to say, I carried this crazy schedule, because I loved making my own money. I give this entire background story, because I’m sure you cared to know I worked in retail at sixteen years old, and it was my dream job. Just kidding. I shared this to give an emphasis on how important working is to me. Not just in the sense of making money, but in feeling like I’m contributing to society, and being the Millennial woman I’m supposed to be. I mean, that’s why I went to college for 4 years, right? (Well, I went for the partying too, but that’s another post for another day). Not only have I sacrificed and done so much to successfully be in the working world, my husband and I have very much so adjusted to a two income household. It’s lovely! Seriously, who wouldn’t want more money to spend for luxury? I say all of this to explain how and why this could have been a hard decision to make on my part, because as Kris (my husband) said “this is your decision to make, not mine.” Then comes the moment, when you think about the little face that you carried for (almost) 9 months.You think about that same little face that made you cry like a legit baby, when you saw hers for the first time. And you think about all of the little milestones you could possibly miss while being away from her, and suddenly all of the luxuries of a two income household don’t matter anymore. I honestly always knew in my heart what I wanted to do. But it’s still a tough decision to make when you love the company you work for and people you work with.

Now let me be clear, this decision was made using common sense too. I have bills, many student loans to be exact (thanks private Jesuit University), and those bills have to be paid. Thankfully, many federal loans allow you to defer them for multiple reasons. Other bills are able to be covered with one income. Because I am part of the working world, and now the working parent world, I get not everyone has the ability to up and quit their job to stay home with their child. And despite what people may think, not every mother WANTS to stay home with their child. Which I can completely understand, and I believe is just as important as those who do stay home. Although I definitely plan on working again, it takes both the working Mothers and Stay at Home Mothers to show our daughters, and future daughters, they have the right to make their own choices and take their own paths. I say this because we all know how people like to “Mommy shame” mothers for doing the opposite of them, but that will be another post for another day as well.

I believe the decision I made to stay home with Jordyn is one of the best decisions I have made in my entire life. My Grandma told me when I had Jordyn, “the most important job you will have in life is raising your children.” I couldn’t agree more. She is the most important job title I hold right now. Everything she needs, wants, and learns all stems from how we take care of and raise her. How cool is it I get a chance to be home with this little cutie pie for the first two years of her life? That is such a blessing in itself. I’m also thankful for my other military, stay at home mom, framily (friends that become family), who I can hang out with, and still remain sane after talking to a child all day. My Grandma also kindly let me know how crazy no adult interaction can make you too haha.

This is a journey I will for sure be sharing with all of you who would like to keep up with it through my blog. It should be a fun, crazy, interesting, I really don’t know what to expect, ride! If anything, lets just hope it at least makes us laugh a lot. And with this little character of a daughter I have here, I have a feeling there will be plenty of posts that ends with all of you laughing at me, or us laughing together. Lets say a prayer it’s the latter! 😉

-Brie <3

[11.02.14]