Out with the OLD, and In with the NEW

Yesterday was my first official day in my new job --- Full Time Stay At Home Mom. And it was AWESOME!!! I took the boys to school, went to the gym, went to an appointment with my financial advisor (only to find out once I got there that I wasn't on the calendar), then came home and did some cleaning.

So how did we get to this point?
Let's back up a couple of weeks. On Sept 9, after a long day at work, I called Bud and told him that I really needed to talk to him....about work. And he guessed the reason -- I was ready to quit. I couldn't wait until December like we'd decided. I had been experiencing life as a single working mom for the past 2 weeks and it had just gotten too difficult. Since Bud was leaving at 5:30am and not getting home until after the boys' bedtime most nights, I wasn't getting any help during the day and I was exhausted. Add a full-time job in San Antonio to the equation and it was that much harder. So when Bud got home that night, I brought it up again, and he was 100% on board.....and it was decided. I decided to turn in my 2 week notice on Monday, Sept 16th. (I had to wait a week because I had CIC class that was already scheduled and paid for Sept 11-14.)

So on Monday the 16th, I had a conference call with my manager (not my preference, but since she was getting ready to leave town for the week, I had to do it over the phone), and broke the news. She was surprised but also happy for me as she knew this was something I've wanted for a while, and have always kind of grappled with the challenges and guilt of being a working mom. She asked me to consider staying longer and decided she'd talk with HR to see if they could work on an incentive. I waited for about a week and found out that next Monday that they weren't able to offer anything. What a relief! It made my decision so much easier. I didn't really want to stay longer, but I probably would have. Not because I loved the work, but because I loved my friends and coworkers and I would have done it to help them out. But no offer came through, so it was announced to the office on Monday, Sept 23rd, which also happened to be my 36th birthday! What a WONDERFUL birthday gift!!!

So I set out to finish my last week of work. I wanted to tie up all loose ends and not leave anything backlogged for my coworkers, especially Stephanie, who would be picking up the bulk of the responsibility in my absence. I ended up staying home from work on Wednesday and Thursday because the boys had strep throat, but I went back to work on Friday for my last day. It was a great last day of work too. My coworkers were so sweet, thoughtful and generous. We all went to lunch at Red Robin (yum!) and when we got back, we had ice cream cake, and they gave me a huge poster board card where each person wrote a personal note to me, and a $150 gift card to my favorite store -- Hobby Lobby. I even got a personal song from Sean and Spencer - the Cheers song "Where Everybody Knows Your Name." It was so sweet. I loved it.

And that brings us to today. My 2nd day as a stay at home mom. And I'm loving it. I love focusing on my home, my kids, my husband, and myself. No more rushing around to and from my job, giving 100% of myself to my work and leaving nothing in the tank for my family. Now my family gets a full tank everyday, and that is my most favorite part of all of it.

Here's a picture of me and the boys, yesterday, as I dropped them off at school -- enjoying my first day of my new job as a full-time SAHM!!!