2 years!

The 18th was my official "regular" job quit-iversary. It's now been 2 years since I've been fully self employed and I feel so blessed! I'll never forget the look on Justin's face when I calmly (okay probably more crazily) announced that I was quitting my job. From the second that I had Isabella I was sick about going back to work. I know tons of mamas that work and love it but it wasn't for me. I wanted to be the one with my kids during the day. I didn't want to rush them off to a sitter's house or daycare and then only have a few hours with them in the evenings. I wanted to be the main influence in their lives.

So on the sunny May day that I quit, Isabella was almost 14 months old. I had been back to work for about 9 months and I hated every second of it. I had my Etsy shop and it was going well.. but I was having a hard time keeping up with my little one, a full time job and my Etsy shop. I knew that my business had potential but knew that I couldn't grow the business while working full time. I'd get up in the morning and get Bella and I ready to be out the door by 5:40 am, drop her off with my sister and be to work by 6:30 am. I'd work until 3, pick Bella up and then come home. I'd cook and clean, get Bella to bed and then work on our vinyl business until 1-2 am.. yeah that wasn't going to last forever. I thought about letting my business go and working at Citi forever but I knew it was the wrong decision. One day a co-worker told me that "sometimes you just need to take a leap of faith" and so I did..

Katelynn isn't even 3 weeks old and I'm back to work. Do I miss 13 weeks of paid maternity leave that Citi would have given me? Absolutely! I'll admit there were some tears involved opening my shop back up when Katelynn was not even 2 weeks old. But this is the life that I've chosen, that I dreamed about and created. We are extremely grateful for being able to support our family while being home with them. It wasn't long ago that we worked 40 hours a week and lived paycheck to paycheck. Our life is very different now. And I know that this crazy, sleep deprived stage will pass. I'll never again have a 3 week old again. So I'll choose to cherish every second of it.

I was reading one of my favorite blogs, House of Smiths the other day and came across this post. Shelley is also a Utah mama, she is an incredibly successful blogger and I just love her. The following  phrase jumped out at me..

"I hope that along the way, as strange as it may seem to them now, that through our examples of working together, accomplishing tasks and successfully supporting our family doing what we love... that we are teaching our children the concepts and principles of hard work, passion, creativity and most of all, love for each other."

Thanks Shelley, I couldn't have said it better. I hope more than anything that my girls learn from our example and that they always follow their dreams.