I Swore I'd NEVER Be a Stay at Home Mom

Isn't it funny how when you're young you just have things all planned out?! I always heard if you wanted to hear God laugh, tell him your plan. Well, that's exactly what happened. I had my life all planned out, I knew exactly what kind of husband I wanted, how many kids we were going to have, what career I was working towards, etc. And then God laughed...like,  REALLY loud!

Let's start with my husband of almost 9 years whom I love dearly. I could not see doing life with anyone else. However, my husband is not the romantic, sweep you off your feet, cater to your every need, type of man like I had envisioned my future husband to be...Thanks Hollywood! Instead, he is hard working, he pushes me to be the best version of myself, he teaches me how to do things for myself, and while he is not a hopeless romantic it makes the times that he is a lot more special to me! I know that my husband loves me and he works hard to provide for our family to give me the opportunity to be home with our daughter. Which brings me to my next point, my daughter.

My daughter is beautiful, spirited, and she knows exactly what she does AND doesn't want. She entered in to this world, after 2 and a half hours of pushing, a lifeless little body. Luckily, the doctor and nurses were able to resuscitate her and she has been strong and fierce ever since. On the days that she pushes me to my limits, I thank God that she is here to do so! However, the thought of having another baby scares me and almost sends me in to a panic. Ignorance is bliss, and after having my daughter and knowing what we went through during her delivery, it's very hard for me consider going through it again for fear of what "could" happen. My plan throughout my entire pregnancy was to go back to work after my daughter was born...but how do you leave that tiny little person you grew and fought so hard for???? I SWORE in my early 20's that I would NEVER be a stay at home mom....and here I am!

I left a job as an Office Manager for a growing restoration company to stay home with my daughter. We didn't know how we were going to do it, but my husband and I could not bare the thought of her in a daycare. After around 5 weeks of maternity leave, I called my boss and resigned by position. This was never my intent. I had held a job since I was 14 and during college I worked THREE...I always envisioned myself as a working mom, just like I was raised by one. But God had other plans for me. Since being at home, I have started keeping kids in my home. One little boy that I kept for 2 years became one of my daughter's best friends and we are so lucky to have been introduced to him and his amazing family! We love them all so much! Now, I am keeping my twin nephews who are around a year and half. They were born 10 weeks early and came home on heart monitors after 8 weeks in the NICU. I have been keeping them since they were 12 weeks old and I have enjoyed watching them grow and progress. However, dealing with three kids for over 12 hours a day, five days a week, I'm definitely NOT thinking about adding anymore kids right now!

I never understood it. I never knew why anyone would WANT to be a stay at home parent. How they could be OK with "not contributing" to their family. What do they do all day? I just didn't get it...and that's exactly it, I didn't get it until I became a parent. Once you become a parent, you understand what it means to truly love someone MORE than you love yourself! This little life needs you and while it drains your entire stock of energy and emotions, it fills your heart to the point of overflowing. It's something that you can't fully understand, until you have it, right there in your arms. I work harder now than I EVER have at any point in my life. Even harder than working 3 jobs at once. I contribute so much that money cannot buy and that no one else but me could give/do for my family. I would often get a little embarrassed when I see people that I haven't seen in a while and they ask me that dreaded question, "So, where are you working now?" But now, I'm not embarrassed, I'm proud of the sacrifices that my husband and I have made so that I can be home with my daughter. It's hard, but it's SO worth it!

The past three years have been some of the best years of my life and in my marriage. I'm actually able to enjoy life. So what, I only get to buy myself new clothes every 6 months, or I MIGHT get my hair done once a year. I don't need those things to be happy. There are A LOT of things I want, but I don't NEED any of them. What I DO need is to be with my daughter and my husband, show my daughter how to follow her heart and show her that THINGS are replaceable and people ARE NOT. I will never look back and think, "WOW, I spent way too much time with my kid!" Instead, I will have so many dear memories to share with her as she gets older and to hopefully be able to share with her children one day. I am so grateful for the opportunity that God has blessed me with and the relationships that I have been able to develop and grow along the way. I am proud to be the SAHM I swore I'd never be!

Not today Satan, Not today!

Yesterday was one of those days, one of those just really hard days. I could feel the enemy working against me from every angle! I cried, A LOT! You see, I'm not just a SAHM, I'm a Work At Home Mom (WAHM). I am the day time caregiver for my twin, 1 year old nephews, I run this blog, and I run my own essential oil biz. On top of those, I'm a Wife and Mom first! When I have my nephews we don't usually leave the house. I really don't care to haul three children around unless it's necessary. However, staying home all day every day with three kids and two dogs can take a toll on a person physically, mentally, and emotionally; but that's a post for a different day!

My day started as Mom at 3AM! My 3 year old daughter woke up crying because she was congested and couldn't breathe well. So, I move her to the living room and try to get her back to sleep. I put on a diffuser blend with essential oils to help relieve some of her congestion. While waiting on her to be able to get comfortable she requests to watch Rapunzel and have something to drink. In the midst of my early morning brain fog, I give her a cup of milk....SERIOUSLY! My daughter LOVES milk and would really drink it all day if I would let her. You will see why this was a bad idea in just a few moments. So, she finally goes back to sleep.

At 5:45AM, my nephews arrive, just like every morning. They have their PediaSure and go back to sleep. Not too bad...right?! I get them back to sleep, I make myself a cup of coffee and I rest for a little bit and think about the break I will get when I take my daughter to Preschool later in the morning.  My husband is up and getting ready for work. Of course, all the hustle and bustle he makes wakes my daughter back up, and she's grumpy. YAY! As my husband is getting ready to walk out the door, here's where that horrible idea with the milk comes back to haunt me, she vomits all over my carpet. My husband is instructing a 3 year old to "go to the bathroom", because he's a man and doesn't think about that being a foreign concept to her. To him it's just the logical thing to do, thank goodness for Moms! So, I shoo him out the door and scoop my daughter up and rush her to the bathroom. She's still throwing up and now my nephews are awake and screaming to get out of their bed....BUT WAIT! It's not over yet!

I get my daughter settled and run her a Thieves bath and put her in the bath tub. She looks at me and with a very serious face, tells me that she thinks the dinner I made her eat last night made her sick! WHAT?! Yes, we fought over what I made for dinner the night before, and Yes, I made her eat a few bites before she could leave the table, and YES, she was totally hanging on to a grudge because of that! So, I get her in the tub, the boys are still screaming their heads off, and I still have to clean the milk out of my carpet before I can let them out!

Y'ALL...it's not even 8AM yet!!!!! My nerves were shot, I was exhausted and I still had, AT LEAST, 12 more hours left in my day! My daughter plays in the bath tub, I get the carpet cleaned, I get the boys out and diapers changed, I get my daughter out of the tub and she's hungry and thirsty. I tell her she can't have any more milk for the day and she completely melts down. She's tired, she's mad, and she doesn't feel good. I felt completely helpless. I needed a moment to myself. I go in my room, shut the door, lock it, and I pray. I pray for strength, compassion, and the overall ability to make it through this tough day. When I'm done, I walk out of my room to find my daughter sitting at the door. I picked her up and hugged her tight. We join my nephews that are playing in the living room. The rest of the day was just as chaotic, frustrating, and discouraging.

Later that afternoon, my husband comes home from work, the boys go home with my brother, and I spend the evening with my little family. We ordered pizza for dinner, because I obviously wasn't going to have another fight about dinner, and we ate and had family time. When I put my daughter to bed, I sang her a song and we prayed together. We prayed for tomorrow to be a better day, we prayed for her to feel better, and we prayed for everyone else we know that needs the extra prayers right now. Nothing makes me feel closer to God than praying with my daughter. After putting her to bed and talking with my husband about the events of the day, I gave it all to God. This is just my season in life, this is not what defines me as a mother, care-giver, or person. At the end of the day, I remind myself that it's a bad DAY, not a bad LIFE; and that I cannot let the enemy take my sights off of that. Yes, my family and I have issues, stresses, etc; but there are families out there with greater issues, stresses, etc. I'm eternally grateful to God for the family HE has blessed me with. I will continue to trust God to watch over my family and bring peace to us on days like this. Today is a new day, and I woke up refreshed and thinking of solutions to all the problems the enemy threw at me yesterday. I'm ready to face challenges and do what I need to do for me and my family. Not today Satan, Not today!

Back To School Germs

    For the past couple of years I have been on the journey to a more holistic lifestyle. One of the ways that we started this transition was with essential oils. I did a lot of research on oils before using them and with the guidance of a few friends I began using essential oils for many things. Some of my favorite DIY's are done with essential oils and making things for gifts, or for our household. I make my daughter's hair detangler, body wash, make up remover, bug spray...you name it! One of the things that I make the most is Hand Sanitizer. You can make this as a spray or a gel. I mostly make mine as a spray and use it on hands and/or tables and other surfaces that might carry a lot of germs when in public. This DIY is SUPER simple and only take a matter of minutes to do! Since most kids are familiar with the gel, that is what I'm making.

    My daughter is 3 and I have only used spray on her. I never really gave that much thought to doing gel until she was promoted up to the 3 year old Sunday School class at our church. When she first started in the class, I asked her teacher during church service how she was doing. The teacher stated that she was so good and they never had any problems out of her, but wanted to ask me about something. Now, as a parent of a 3 year old Banshee all kinds of thoughts are running through my head, but she stated that she knew I was very in to Essential Oils and that at the end of class they give the kids hand sanitizer before giving them a snack. However, my daughter would not let them put it in her hands and she wondered if she was not supposed to have it. I couldn't help but laugh! I explained to her that she has never had gel sanitizer before. My daughter has only used the spray and when she goes to Mother's Day Out, they have a bathroom in their classroom so all of the kids wash their hands before lunch. So, I told her it was fine if she didn't want to use it, that I would just make sure to spray her down after church.

   With school starting back and thinking about new teachers, new classmates, new classroom, new GERMS...I thought this would be an appropiate DIY to share with all of you! I am a SAHM and because my husband works for a small business, we do not have health insurance. So, I have done a lot of researching on ways to keep my family ABOVE the wellness line. I used my sanitzer spray, along with an immunity booster for my daughter last school year. Last year was her first time going to any kind of preschool/daycare with a room full of other kids. I've been fortunate to be able to stay home with her since she was born. I was terrified last year that I would be up to my eyeballs in Doctor's bills because she was going to be sick all of the time, but I wasn't! She got sick TWO times last year! Once with a stomach bug, and the other was towards the end of the year and she got strep. I considered that a total WIN for us! So, here's one of our favorites and you can definitely get the kiddos involved on this one!

 Here's what you will need:

• Container - the container I used was 3oz
• Pure Aloe Gel
• Distilled Water
• Thieves Essential Oil

Instructions:

1. Fill your container to about 1/2 to 3/4 of the way full with a 1:1 ratio of water and aloe.

2. Add 10-15 drops of Thieves Essential Oil

3. Close container and shake to mix contents well. 

4. Test your consistency: If you feel it's too thick, add a little more water; if you feel it's too thin, add more aloe

    I mean, it really doesn't get much easier than that! Right?! By doing this, I know exactly what my family is putting on their hands. I know exactly what's in it and I know what's NOT in it! I know that Some sanitizers can contain all kinds of chemicals that are not safe for our kids. This is a really simple DIY that I can do in a matter of seconds to ensure that my kids hands are clean and chemical free! This bottle will be donated to her Sunday School class so that all the kids get safe sanitizer. I will also be doing some to donate to her Pre-K class when she returns to school. 

*** Please note that I ONLY use [Therapeutic Grade] essential oils on my family. You can purchase the oils I use here. And I am always happy to answer any questions you might have about Essential Oils!