Living the real dream

I just want to take a moment to brag a little on my life. I'm a SAHM. I have a BS and close to a decade of experience in my career field. Before I had my baby I fully intended on going back to work and continuing to pursue my career. And then I saw her face. And thought about my years of experience in education and child care. And my heart was so heavy thinking of leaving her for someone else to take care of. After a couple of weeks at home recovering and bonding with my baby, my husband talked to me about being a SAHM. We had talked about it before like something we could do in a couple of years, maybe when we had our next kid, but we crunched the numbers, and we would only be losing $200 a month in income once we accounted for the cost of child care, and all the expenses that went with me having a job 45 minutes away. So I decided to stay at home. It's been hard. Not going to lie even a little bit. Dealing with the emotions that come with putting my career on hold, feeling like my degree was now wasted, being cooped up all the time (Thanks pandemic), having almost no adult interaction, and all the other things that come with being a SAHM in the middle of a world wide crisis. But this past weekend was pure bliss.We've finally hit the stage where my breastfed baby can go 4 hours without nursing (thank you Jesus) and she's now mobile and copying what we do. My husband was off for the first weekend in 5 weeks and we had much needed family time. It really made me remember why I chose him for my baby's father. Not only is he a great and supportive husband, he is so involved in everything our daughter does. He never wastes a moment with her. We went for a ride like we used to before she was born and he was working 70 hour weeks. He fed and bathed her all weekend and he was with her 100% of the time. Just now I was sitting on the porch taking a minute to breathe because sometimes it feels like I'm suffocating after 10 months of being at home 95% of the time. I heard the most beautiful laughter from both of them. Deep belly laughs. My heart is just so full seeing the two of them together. And I'm honestly living the life that a lot of people would kill for.Yeah it sucks with my husband doesn't get home a lot of times until 9 PM and he left for work at 6 that morning. It sucks when I have to go to bed by myself some nights because he has to work 8 hours over time. It sucks when my daughter and I haven't left the house in 6 days and I've gone 4 of those days without a shower because there's no one to help and she won't take a nap long enough for me to sneak one in. But when we have days like this weekend or this evening, I just have to realize how amazing our life really is. How fortunate we really are to have all that we have. And I can't imagine living any other kind of life. I don't want another life.A few years down the road when she goes to school and I start looking for a new job, I'll miss these days so much. I'll miss the days where I get up at 5 AM just so I can have an hour alone in the mornings. I'll miss the days where when she wakes up, the first thing she does is smile and clap (it's my favorite new thing that she does). I'll miss the days where she cries from sun up to sun down. I'll miss the days where I could pick her up and hold her with one arm.I'm going to soak all of this up that I can because this is the life I always dreamed of. via /r/Parenting https://ift.tt/3jN2m3b