To be or not to be...

  When Shane and I were pregnant with Brielle, we had started talking about what our future was going to look like and if I was going to be a stay at home mom or not.  I was almost done with RN school and that meant that better jobs would come my way.

   I knew that I would work up until her birth but I just didn't exactly know what would happen after. It was then that we decided that I would keep going to work every other weekend at the nursing home so that I could come home, or Shane could bring her up to my job so I could breast feed Brielle as much as possible.Good thing my job is only 5 minutes away from my house! :)

  I definitely wanted to be the stay -at-home mom that I had always dreamed of, but with my own bills from school and knowing that I could easily work a few days a month and that would pay the bills, it just seemed to work out best if I stayed working. Shane has been at his job for over 7 years and having him start all over somewhere else just so I could stay at home did not seem reasonable at all.  

  Not missing all the many "firsts," was my main concern.  I never wanted to be the parent who put their kid in daycare and then when I pick them up they say to me "she just crawled for the first time," or "she just got her first tooth," I knew that would hurt me so bad if someone else got to experience that rather than Shane or myself.  We decided to have family only watch Brielle anytime one of us is working, and let me you, best decision ever! (On a side note--I grew up in daycares with my brother while my mom worked full time and I loved it, so don't think I am bashing that idea, it just wasn't right for us.)

  We knew that my mom would be helping us out the first two weeks and that Shane would have off the first week before he had to go back to work, so we would have time to adjust with all the new changes that came with being new parents! (Thank goodness for all of her help, she ended up helping WAY longer than anticipated--thank.the.Lord)

  Being a part-time worker and Shane working full time is the best decision for us right now, and knowing that I spend more time at home with Brielle and that I have not missed an important moment yet, makes our decision feel so right. (Yes, I am going to miss some things--that's just life).  I love my career, but I love being at home and a mom more.  Who knows what our future consists of, maybe one day I will be working full-time when Brielle is in school!