It is interesting to go from working full-time for 10 years to staying at home with an infant. A friend asked me the other day if I enjoyed it, and I said yes, certainly, but it is an adjustment.
My sense of productivity is being rearranged. I have my weekly to-do lists, but they are pretty much the same: grocery shopping, cleaning, laundry. And once one is done, it is immediately undone. Sometimes I think, why make the bed if I'm just going to sleep in it in a couple of hours?
I suppose life is kind of like that, no matter what your job.
Also, the sense of collegiality I had in my jobs has shrunken to almost zilch. I know very, very few SAHMs who are not homeschooling or working out of their homes. That makes for a certain sense of isolation, even though I have many friends and get out of the house a lot. Again, an adjustment.
I have made for myself my own "village" of family, friends with and without kids, gym buddies, and fellow musicians. And my days are full beyond simply caretaking, as I love to read and create projects for myself (music, art, writing, fixing up the house). But sometimes it seems I merely exist.
I have to fight that, reminding myself that staying at home with my daughter is a great privilege, and the most important time to teach her about the Lord and our family values. Even at such a young age, I am singing to her, using baby sign language to teach her new words, and reading to her. And, to my surprise, we have begun disciplining her (I'm sure her first word will be "no"!). That sin nature sure starts early!
In many ways, these days staying home with my daughter parallel my Christian walk. Day by day, step by step. Nothing big or grandiose or horribly tragic going on. But lived with purpose, having a reason for the things I do and an end goal in mind. With my daughter, it is the hope that she will grow into an ambitious woman who loves the Lord. In my life, wanting to hear at the end, "Well done..."
My sense of productivity is being rearranged. I have my weekly to-do lists, but they are pretty much the same: grocery shopping, cleaning, laundry. And once one is done, it is immediately undone. Sometimes I think, why make the bed if I'm just going to sleep in it in a couple of hours?
I suppose life is kind of like that, no matter what your job.
Also, the sense of collegiality I had in my jobs has shrunken to almost zilch. I know very, very few SAHMs who are not homeschooling or working out of their homes. That makes for a certain sense of isolation, even though I have many friends and get out of the house a lot. Again, an adjustment.
I have made for myself my own "village" of family, friends with and without kids, gym buddies, and fellow musicians. And my days are full beyond simply caretaking, as I love to read and create projects for myself (music, art, writing, fixing up the house). But sometimes it seems I merely exist.
I have to fight that, reminding myself that staying at home with my daughter is a great privilege, and the most important time to teach her about the Lord and our family values. Even at such a young age, I am singing to her, using baby sign language to teach her new words, and reading to her. And, to my surprise, we have begun disciplining her (I'm sure her first word will be "no"!). That sin nature sure starts early!
In many ways, these days staying home with my daughter parallel my Christian walk. Day by day, step by step. Nothing big or grandiose or horribly tragic going on. But lived with purpose, having a reason for the things I do and an end goal in mind. With my daughter, it is the hope that she will grow into an ambitious woman who loves the Lord. In my life, wanting to hear at the end, "Well done..."