Back in the days when I had a full time day job I used to think to myself, "I could never stay home and not work. What would I do all day? I think I would just get too bored!" Well because of my high risk pregnancy, I have now been doing this for about a month and I keep thinking, where did the day go? Every day I have a To-Do list a mile long and I only seem to get through half of it. No wonder why my house seemed to be messy all the time and I rarely made dinner when I worked full time!
Now, granted, I do still do some work from home a little and I babysit a beautiful little 4 month old, but just the "house wife" work alone keeps me busy pretty much all day every day. Plus, I do probably move slower than average person with the whole fatigue of pregnancy, but it's amazing how NOT bored I am. It's also been interesting how "domestic" I'm becoming. Amazing because I never considered myself domestic nor did I ever really want to be domestic. For example, this weekend I canned my own jam (first time experience) and this morning, I woke up early and made blueberry pancakes from scratch, packed my husband's lunch, did dishes, laundry, went to the grocery store, cleaned the kitchen, and worked out. That may not sound like much, but for me, it really is.
Anyway, the thing that has been the most surprising to me about staying home, is the response I get from people. When I run into friends I haven't seen for a while or people in my neighborhood, the normal question is "where are you working" or "what are you doing for work?" My answer, is I'm actually just being a housewife right now. Honestly, from my perspective, from that point on in the conversation a lot of those people just look down on me. I've had people ask what do I do all day, what do I do for money, how am I going to survive financially, etc. They all know I'm pregnant and expecting a baby in a few months, and yet, somehow I am suddenly less of a person because I'm choosing to stay home.
In my opinion, whether you work outside the home or are a housewife/stay-at-home mom, you can be just as much of a contributing member of society. And no one has the right to judge you about your choice to stay home or to go out of the home and work. I know wonderful women in both scenarios and they are wonderful wives and mothers. Either way, that is a very personal choice that only they can make, and it is no one's place to tell them otherwise.
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5 years ago
I love being able to be home. Because of having a high-risk pregnancy with Maysie I had to totally cut back my hours at work so I only worked 3 days a week for only 5 hours at a time since I had to stay off my feet a lot and not do alot of stairs. But I worked up until the month I was due so I only had about 2 weeks of absolute freedom, which lets face it, by that time you don't really want to do much of anything.... :) If Rob would have been home more, I would have probably quit sooner, but at least I was able to get out of debt before I quit working so I guess it was a blessing in disguise. Anyways, you'll see after your baby is born that being a mom, you don't want to miss any milestone in their life!
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised to hear this considering you live in Utah. :) Don't worry...stay at home moms are just as judgmental of women who have children and choose to work. Let's face it. It's human nature. Unfortunately. But be proud of yourself and the decision you made because it's the right one for you and your family. No one can take that knowledge away from you, no matter how narrow minded they are.
ReplyDeleteI really really really want to be a housewife before I am a stay at home mom. Super envious of that. I'm glad you get to experience it. I think it would be nice to be able to get into the routine of things before the little one arrives.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Shillawana, not matter what you do some people are going to be critcal of it and look down their noses. Just love where you are in life right now and make the committment to never become one of those people.
I'm very impressed with your new domestic activities. Canning jam? nice.
Amen, sista!
ReplyDeleteI am sure you will come to find that staying at home is a very demanding job, and you will be awesome at it. I would never choose to work and be a mom, you still have all the mom duties plus. But some supper moms can do it, but I have found amazing satisfaction at staying at home.
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