Being a "SAHM"

Let's get one thing straight, this post is NOT to knock on being a stay at home Mom or anything like that nor to be down about our each own personal circumstances.  We each live different circumstances & each live different lifestyles that has made us choose the situation we are currently in. This post IS about how MY views on the subject has changed over the course of the last 10 or so years. 

When I had my first son, I was ready to go,go,go with my little precious bundle of joy.  I could NOT stand to be in the house any longer with him- not because he was bad, just because I had cabin fever.  I wanted everyone to see my sweet faced baby & I showed him off to anyone who would let me.  By the time 6 weeks was up I was ready to go back to work & be with my friends, but I wasn't really ready to give up my baby.  Luckily, our family worked together to allow us to pay only my S-I-L and the rest of the time my Dad, Step-Mom, or Mom watched him.  I feel so incrediably blessed that they were willing to watch him during these special months.

By the time I found out I was pregnant again, I wanted needed to stay at home or at least be a WAHM!!  My second baby ended in a still born birth & you can read some of the story over on the right hand side where it says "Her Story".  I stayed home for 4 weeks after the death of my baby, but I still had the need and want to be at home for our next little miracle.

By the time our second son arrived, I was a homebody.  I liked meeting friends and hanging out but I also like the time I got to spend at home.  Our "Angel Baby" & Lil D brought something out of me that I didn't know I ever had, it was contentment.  Contentment to stay at home and be happy.  I was happy to spend time at home with the males of my household, but I was also happy to go on vacations & spend time with family & friends away from home too.  I wanted it to last forever.  It was pure joy & honestly I liked not having to be anywhere at a certain time or keep up with dates or anything.  I was enjoying the life God had given me.  The joy didn't last long, I only had a 6 week maternity leave and I was back at work. 

I wasn't happy, but I couldn't quit working completely so finally when my husband sortof agreed I quit my night time job and started to work at a local Mom's Day Out program.  It helped, it really did and the kids seemed to really enjoy that I was home more at night and all.

Then about two weeks ago I got to experience something that has brought me PURE JOY!! We actually had an ice storm (no that isn't what brought pure joy!) to our area & I got to experience complete stay at home-ness with my boys!  I even thought that it would be very easy for me to be a sahm and have the house sparkly clean and the laundry completely done and even another thought came into my head...homeschooling the boys!  I am not sure where I was going with that thought completely because if anyone knows our boys one of them will be great for me to homeschool, the other not so much!  I am Mommy, to that child..the one who cooks, cleans, cares for, etc but when it comes to teaching him things from outside of the home & of course God I am not supposed too.  

I think the older I get and the more I see my kids getting older I know I want to be in their lives as much as possible.  I also want to be able to love on them & give them the things that the need or want.  So for now being a SAHM is only a dream & it may never come true.  That is ok though for I know that going to school and then finding a job & working is what I am meant to do.  Who knows, the good Lord may find favor on me & if He ever gifts us with another child I may...just may get to be a sahm :) 

Wordless Wednesday: Tracks

My Journey into photography -in manual

I have taken the 365 day photo challenge and said that I would do most of my pictures for it in completely in manual.  I think I have done an okay job.  Here are the pictures I took today to find that perfect picture for the blog.

Thru the glass & with the flash on..otherwise pretty good picture.

This one is cute, but the flash was still on

Kindof blurry and still the flash

Getting better but the flash is still messing it up.

No flash, but it is blurry (this is a process)

He is ok, but the background is all blurry, hummmmm....

Much better, I took about 5 more in between the last one & this one but they were all kind of on the dark side.

A little blurry but still not bad...

Best one #1 for this batch-very proud of myself!!

The one that I put on my 365 day blog

My personal feelings are that the last two are the best ones.  All of these are straight out of the camera (SOOC) and all of them are in complete and total manual.  So, how do you think I did?

What can you do with a broken dishwasher?

Use it has a drying rack of course!!!

Lil D's pictures

I have taken the challenge, the 365 day photo challenge that is and Lil D has sort of join me this week. 

I think he has joined me in my love for photography partly because he has been home with me all week home (thanks to the ice storm that had most of Alabama down for nearly a week!) and partly because sometimes I let him take photos with my fancy-shamancy camera-as long as I am near him AND can see/pay attention to what he is doing. 

So I am going to share with you Lil D's pictures that he has taken (honestly 90% of them were deleted because they were of the TV or blurry, but these are ALL his!) recently and you can comment here to tell us how you think he did ;)

So anyways, Lil D thinks that I am a great subject to photograph.

I personally think that he could take pictures of his "Bubba" or Rascal or even maybe his "Nana", but no way!

I don't like to be the subject of too many pictures; I think it is shown in the one above.

Lil D thinks that I must not be as bad as I think I am.  Because he was just snapping away & smiling.  If it makes him happy than so be it.  I SO totally have to get that child his own "cramera" though!



You Capture: Doorways

Hey All!!  If you have never seen or read a You Capture post than you need to head on over to Beth’s You Capture blog post and read all about it.

This week's You Capture is Doorways so here is my "doorways" :)

The doorway to my Mom's new room :)

The "doorway" to many special things....

This church's doorway to its sanctuary

Wordless Wednesday: branches & clouds

More Ice Pictures 2011

Wow, we've been out of school 2 days now & the kiddos are out again tomorrow!  My new school (more on this later) reopened for tomorrow so I am hoping fingers crossed that the kids will go back to school by Thursday. 

1 1/2 " of snow by the house

3 1/2" in our parking lot

They have been very good these past few couple of days.  We have mostly stayed inside played video games & watched TV, but the boys have gone out to play with the snow ice. 

What Rascal & I did most of the day on Monday!

The hubster also had to go to work this morning too & after our team won the National Champions!!  He fell asleep (poor guy) at around 10p.m. so he didn't get to see the winning kick, and niether did Lil D, but that is okay because I was w.i.d.e. awake after the game!

I am enjoying being a SAHM, but I know it isn't going to last so I am trying not to get too settled in & we are going to have to work on our sleeping habits.  During the holiday break we didn't get off our sleeping habits too bad but this week they have.  I'm not sure what happened and only Lil D is still in his sleeping habits.

And now for the rest of the pictures....

Getting the snice off the car

Snice on Mom's new roof

the crazy peoples that drove on icey covered ground-YIKES!

yes, they are on a 4WD, but they started doing circles on it

The only way to travel in ice!!!

Blizzard of 2011

Well it isn't really a blizzard yet.  It is more like a wintry mix of some snow & lots & lots of ice. 

We are hoping that the snow will come-perhaps later on tonight-so that at least it won't be a very big waste of one of our weather days.  We'd prefer to be out on warm, pretty days instead of snowy, ice-y, icky days-wouldn't you prefer that too?

Here is what our front yard looked like-some of the pics were made @ 7:25 & the others made at 7:45.

Silent Sunday: Clouds on Friday

It is hard

work to play on the computer! :yawn:

Sleeping Beauty

Well I don't have a girl but I think this handsome lil guy will work for a sleeping "beauty" don't you?

I love how he wants to wear his "Bubba's" old glasses from when he was in Kindergarten. 

All because the eye Dr. said that he will be wearing them within the next 2 years too.

Doesn't he look adorable?!

Daddy joined him after awhile & they snoozed together.

Wordless Wednesday: Like Father, Like Son

Haley's Christmas presents

Normally we don't spend alot of money on Haley or her "Christmas presents" because she isn't here to enjoy them. 

As her Mom, I throughly enjoy the gifts (usually ornaments) and I feel as if people remember her, that she was really here with us & that we loved her dearly.  After all, she was and still is our precious "baby girl".

This year, Joey & I didn't get her an ornament instead we got her a purple Christmas tree for her ornaments.

And we got this pretty angel & bird, which I like.

We have several other angel statues & some at her gravesite as well.  I like for somethings to be here with us...we keep the wisp of hair, the booties for SAVE, and her memorial box in the curio cabinet that is in the living room & that is the new angel's home too.

So if you know someone who has lost a little one, no matter the circumstances, than remember their feelings and watch your words.  It has been over 6 years since I was pregnant with Haley & in March is her 7th "Heaven Birthday", but someone said something that made me very sad during this Christmas holidays...it is hard no matter how much time passes by & though we are OK 99.9% of the time we are not whole.  Just a friendly reminder from a Mom that knows...