Saying Good Bye to my Job!

In two short days, I am leaving my job. The one I have had for the past three years. Where I have the ability to serve kids, and families, and help them through the difficulties in their lives.

It was a difficult decision to leave, but ultimately, I want to spend more time with my family. This time is fleeting, and even though I am taking a pay cut, I am moving to a job where I will work 2.5 less hours per day. This means 2.5 more hours with my baby boy!

I LOVE my job. I love serving others in this capacity and getting paid to do something enjoyable. It is hard to go. I have independence and flexibility and a work family. I have support and encouragement. I am asked to do things here that challenge me and give me an opportunity to grow. I love that.

But, as they say, "a baby changes everything". He does, and he changes me in the best possible way. I've come to accept that while I love my job, I love my baby more. And as Mumford and Sons likes to remind me "where you invest your love is where you invest your life". I am choosing to invest my love in my son, and therefore, I invest in life...and his.

Wish me luck ;)!

Sharing Today!

I have the opportunity to share my breastfeeding journey today on The Girl in the Red Shoes! today. Please check it out.

That being said - I promise to start blogging here more often. Life is starting to calm down a little and I would love to see all of you back here!

Have a great day and let me know what you think of my journey!

Having a Baby. Apparently, it's difficult.

This is my first blog. However, I have avidly read other people's blogs for quite some time and have seen the perfect baby life. Moms on blogs post pictures of their day and apologize for the folded laundry basket in the background. Man, they fold their laundry! That's great.

When I first had my baby, I'm not gonna lie - I felt like he would kind of fold into our lives and our schedule might change a little. Little did I realize that I would actually want my baby to go to bed at 7 pm and wake up at 7 am. Which means that I get home from work, play with my baby for like 5 minutes, and put him to bed at 7, and then eat dinner, do the dishes, clean my house, and try to have a few minutes talking with Brian (or watching Scandal...). 

It's hard. Being a mom is the biggest challenge ever. Sometimes it's rewarding looking at my baby and thinking that I do what I do for him. It's rewarding when we get the time to play and on weekends when we do fun things together and expose him to all of his new adventures. Other times, it doesn't feel rewarding at all. It's a lot of work and the selfish part of me is wondering where time went in that day and why I didn't spend a lot of it with him because I was at work all day long. I don't feel rewarded at the end of a day where we get home late, he cries, and then goes to bed. It doesn't feel "worth it" in those moments.

People say you won't know what it is like to have a baby until you have one. Nothing prepares you for those feelings of extreme guilt, and extreme happiness, and extreme sleep deprivation. Honestly, nothing does. It's such a different world being a parent. It's great and tough and it sucks all rolled into one. But one thing is true: I wouldn't change it for the world.

First Post

When writing the first post on a blog, is it obligatory to name it "First Post"?

As a new mom in this crazy world, and as an avid blog reader, I've decided to jump in on this thing and see where it leads.

I often feel that the internet can lead us to believe things that are simply not true about the mom lifestyle: we see pictures of other moms and honestly fall into the lie that we are not good enough. I can't tell you how many times in these past FOUR MONTHS (that's it - four months), I have seen a photo of another child and felt inadequate. A goal of mine is to share the hard truths behind being a mom (to both a human and a dog) and wife so that we can all remember that none of us have it together!

Please join me on this journey!

And to begin...a picture of my family...on a day when my son hated pumpkins.