Parenting-How I Do It...Part 2

When Chad and I decided to have a child, we thought long and hard about how we wanted to raise this child.

We lived in Chicago at the time and we both had regular jobs. 

Not big fancy jobs. 

Just regular jobs. 

It was decided it would make more sense for me to not work. 

Why work all week long just to pay the salary of someone else who would be taking care of our child?

We have been a single income family since 2005. 

It can be hard sometimes. 

We don't have "stuff" like those two income families. 

We don't travel as much as we would like to. 

We are lucky that when we moved to our current home we haven't been saddled with a mortgage. 

We inherited our farm. 

And since becoming a stay-at-home mom, homemaker, domestic goddess I have learned to take my job very seriously. 

My kids are driven to school. 

In our car. 

Not the bus. 

It's my job. 

I have a bit of an OCD problem and like my home to be free of clutter, so I really try hard to keep the house clean. 

It's my job. 

I make homemade food. 

Bread, pizza dough, desserts, baked in the oven from scratch (I don't butcher my own meat like my friend Carla, though!)

We recently got rid of our microwave. 

The oven and stovetop will suffice. 

Homemade food. 

It's my job. 

I take care of the animals. 

Veterinary trips. 

Nail trims. 

Bathing. 

I administer vaccines myself to our barn cats. 

It's my job. 

When Zoe got sick things did get harder. 

The role of mom became more intense. 

And the money didn't seem to go as far as it had. 

It seemed to go into the gas tank more and more. 

But I sucked it up. 

The sickness wasn't happening to me. 

I had to help my child overcome her fears and struggles. 

It's my job. 

I drive my girls to their lessons...piano, dance, summer camps.  

But not too many extra curriculars in the mix because that cuts into a peaceful and balanced home life. 

It's my job. 

I do yard work, arrange social meet ups with friends (kid friends and my friends!), make appointments for everyone under this roof, and a myriad of other tasks.  

I don't know how my working-mom friends do it all. 

My hat goes off to them as they must struggle so much more than I. 

I've thought about doing something outside the home when Gigi goes to kindergarten in the Fall. 

Substitute teacher?

Playground supervisor?

Lunchroom lady?

So that my working hours are the same as the girls' school hours. 

So I can drive them home. 

And resume the old job I've had for the past almost decade. 

It doesn't pay anything in the monetary sense. 

Just in the heart sense. 

This is part two in a series I'm doing simply titled "parenting...how I do it."