Pressing On

SAHM - acronym for "stay-at-home-mom" That's me. Yes, I stay at home with my children. Before we ever had children I informed my dear husband that if we did, that would be the end of my career.  And then we had one. Major gulp. My convictions never waivered, it was just one of those jump in the cold, dark, deep-end moments. I didn't look into the blue eyes of my baby boy and feel I could never leave him (quite the opposite, I kept waiting for his parents to show up and take him home!).  We weren't so wealthy that my income was disposable (I made more than my husband at the time and didn't make much!).  I wasn't the housewifely, motherly type (man has THAT been a learning curve).  It wasn't the circumstances it was just what I needed to do if I was going to bring new people into the world. They were MY responsibility. I have to be able to look back - no matter how they turn out - and say "I did the best I could. I left no stone unturned, no f

So further to my last post which was an introduction to pondering the questions that are frequently directed at me, I thought to start with the most basic: "4 kids!  Wow."    I don't know if you can hear the tone of that "wow", it's not a "wow!  That's amazing!  You're so lucky!".   More often than not it's more like, "wow, that's insane"  But really the question is "WHY?" , why would I inflict this kind of existence on myself?  Why?  (I cannot answer for others with "larger" families, so no generalizations allowed :)  and I certainly mean no disrespect for those with small families, so I hope no one's feelings are hurt.  Disclaimer complete.) I freely admit my family size is reactionary*, completely based on my family experience both growing up and as an adult.  I ended up being an only child at 6 mos, after my adopted brother drowned at age 2.  My parents had adopted the 2 of us aft

I guess I live some kind of radically counterculture sort of life - based on the reactions I get from people anyway. Maybe I do?  I have 4 children, I homeschool them, I manage my home, I used cloth diapers (gasp), I don't know, is this a revolutionary way to live?  I bumble through life making the best decision I can at any particular time and it's led me here. Not a very radical or countercultural approach to designing a life... I thought I'd blog about some of the questions I'm plied with on a regular basis, for myself, to work through  the answers and for anyone who might be the least bit interested in why I would choose to lead such a nutty existence. By the way you might notice that I don't have comments enabled. That would largely be because I just don't have time to monitor and/or respond and that's just not very nice!  My apologies if you have something you really would like to say.  Feel free to email me if you know me!