This Little Mommy Stayed Home

I'm totally stealing this title from Samantha Wilde's novel (check it out on Amazon, if you're curious), but this post is not about that. I've got to stop writing reviews about books I'd never read more than the first couple of pages - what if the rest is horrible and I'm advertising it?? So I invoke my right to remain silent, though it does seem like a pretty funny book.

Anyway, this post is about stay at home moms. I never thought I'd be one - as many of my generation, I was raised to be a business woman. When I tell my friends from Brazil on the internet that I'm a homemaker, they act like I've given up on life. Ahem, I'm bringing up a life. And this turned out to be so much more fulfilling than I ever expected. [pause for Hallmark background music]

Not that working moms are any less awesome. Nowadays, women are expected to do it all, and some actually do. But one thing none of us can scape is (or we're all tempted with) mommy guilt. The fear that we're not doing enough, or that we're doing too much.

Because of that, I created a list of the pros about being a stay at home mom. I won't do cons, because I don't want to get depressed. And I can't speak for the working moms, because I'm not one of them. It's so crazy because I'd never dreamed of or searched for this life; it just happened to me. I'd never even been very good with kids. When I got pregnant, I think I went through "post conception depression", because I thought I was in way over my head. But now I love it. It was hard for me to imagine it, but now I'm the happiest I've ever been. [cue for Hallmark music again]

So on to the list. Here are the perks of my current occupation:

- cute boss. This is the only job that you hope your boss will take advantage of you. Oh, that sounded so wrong :). But seriously, there's a lot of weird and mean people out there that you could be working for. And they wouldn't care about you a tenth of how much your baby adores you.

- casual attire. Everyday is casual day. I've worn the worst pieces of clothing of my life since she was born, and it's kinda nice to take the focus off of myself. But I do try to put myself together right before David comes home, so he'll think I'd been like that all day.

- silliness is required. In a lot of business enviroments, if you try to be a little silly, they'll wonder what's your problem. But as a mom, everything I do is hilarious. She always thinks it's funny when I talk on the phone. Maybe that's the only time she hears my normal voice, not baby-ish.

- nap times. Who says I don't get a break? When do you think I blog? When my wonderful daughter beautifully falls asleep. I've gotten more writing done than I'd ever been able to do in a regular job. And more reality show watching too.

- countless others that don't fit on this list. I really can't summarize the joys of watching my daughter grow into a list. Imagine all the cheesiest commercials and Hallmark movies about motherhood. They're ALL true.