Yolande

Moms Make it Work Leah from Texas

Hi, my name is Leah.  I'm a newly thirty year old wife and mama to a 19 month old sassy girl, Avery Grace. I have a family focused lifestyle blog, Everyday Love and occasionally share my kitchen and crafty creations over at Simply Made with Love. My days are filled with playdates, working from home, toddler meltdowns and some crafts here and there. You can find me on IG (LeahEverydayLove), where I share an abundance of pictures of my mini and our everyday life.

I am thrilled to be a part of this series. I've enjoyed reading all of the other posts and getting to take a peek into the lives of so many other mamas out there. I can't tell you how many times I've been able to relate to a story shared through the series.  Most of all, I love how this  series is bringing moms and bloggers together. Thank you for having me Julia! 

-What is your background story? What was your career/schooling before you became a mom? And now where are you?

For as long as I could remember, I dreamed of being a teacher. It was the first job I told my parents I wanted to have, my mind never changed.  After high school, I decided on staying close to home (45 minutes away from where I grew up) and attended the University of South Florida. After almost five years of college, I received an offer to teach at the school where I did my final internship in Tampa, FL (along with my Bachelor's Degree in Elementary Education.) I was hired to cover a maternity leave for the remainder of the school year in Kindergarten.  It was the perfect opportunity for me.  It allowed me to get to know the school.  I learned it was where I wanted to start my teaching career. The following school year I was offered a position in third grade, which is where I stayed for the next seven years. During that time I continued my education and received my Master's Degree in Reading Education. I loved going to work, making a difference and working with a wonderful group of women.  Teaching was everything I had hoped it would be and so much more. 

During those first years in the classroom, lots changed in my personal life. My husband and I originally met when we were in college. We were both involved with greek life and had the same circle of friends.  We dated briefly back then but it never really went anywhere. During those early years of teaching we reconnected (thanks to a friend and the Great American Teach In.)  A year and a half after dating, we were engaged. A year later, in 2010 we were married and bought our first house.  

After we were married, we started thinking about starting a family.  We took the we're not going to prevent it method, hoping things would just happen.  Unfortunately, that is not how it played out.  You can read (the long version) about our journey to parenthood here.  In short, after over a year of trying and two miscarriages, we finally made it past the first trimester with our third pregnancy. 

While I was pregnant, I noticed my feelings towards teaching started to change.  I was the kind of teacher who spent the majority of my nights planning lessons and preparing for the following day.  I stayed at work late, went to my students sports games and was very invested in my job.  Little by little, things changed.  I stopped working late.  Stopped taking work home with me.  Started spending my lunch period planning the nursery and doodling baby names. It was about four months into my pregnancy when my husband and I started talking about the future of my teaching career.  

I never dreamed of being a stay at home mom full time.  I dreamed of being able to do both, stay home and teach.  I had hoped I would be able to do a job share once children came, meaning I would work only in the morning or afternoon totaling 20 hours a week.  In my eyes, it was the best of both worlds.  That plan changed when we found out our daughter would be born in August. The week school was supposed to start. I couldn't imagine leaving my little one after 6 weeks and at the same time couldn't imagine missing the beginning of a new school year (the time where are the rules are set, foundation is laid and so on.) So hubs and I started crunching numbers and saving money in preparation for me to take off the entire school year. 

In August of 2010, Avery Grace was born.  In that moment, my life changed forever.  I was a mom, something I had dreamed of for so long.  Motherhood, although hard, was everything I had hoped it would be and so much more. 

Staying home during Avery's first year was the best decision we made. I cherished my time home with her, celebrating milestones and soaking up the newborn and baby stage. Enjoying each day. Although I missed teaching, I didn't miss it enough to want to go back.  I spent a lot of time talking with hubs about my feelings, our options, and what would be best for our family in the long run. Ahh the joys of being an adult! 

During the year we learned that I could financially be able to stay home full time with Avery. We had to stick to a budget, but we would be able to make it work.  I still wanted to do something to financially contribute to our family, so I started my own business, Simply Made with Love.  I had been doing embroidery and appliqué for about a year as a hobby.   I sold things here and there. Nothing consistent enough to be considered an additional income though. After starting the business, I started a FB page and things have steadily grown from there. I enjoy being able to do it while staying home with Avery. It also feels good to contribute, even if it was just covering our car payment and some groceries.  

Even though the business was going well, I still wanted to keep my foot in the teaching world.  Part of me still wanted the best of both worlds. While I was gone, a lot had changed at my old school and I knew it was no longer the best place for me.  I did a lot of research and looked into a lot of schools. I interviewed at a new private school in the area that specialized in reading.  I was offered a job working about 8-10 hours a week pulling small groups for remediation and enrichment.  It was my dream job. Working with kids, without the stress of a classroom. D.R.E.A.M. The best part of that situation was that Avery would be able to come to work with me.  There was a toddler class (the job started in August after her first birthday) she would go in on the days I was working.  It seemed everything was falling into place. Or so I thought... 

In June, just after I accepted the job, talk of a promotion for my husband started to come up. It was one of those career opportunities that you can't pass up. The catch was that the job was in San Antonio, TX. When the job talk first came up, I immediately shot it down.  One thing I said before we were married was that I would NEVER move.  NEVER leave my family, friends and all I had ever known.  The thing I said over and over was no amount of money could buy what we had in Florida. I wrote a lot about my feelings, spent countless hours talking with friends and my family and ultimately decided that I needed to support my husband and his career.  Our deal was that this would be a temporary move and we would be back to Tampa sooner than later. 

So in September, we packed up our lives in FL and moved to TX. I had to tell my new job that I wouldn't be able to start but hoped to be able to come back there one day. The move was really tough for me.  To this day, it still is.  We've met some great friends.  I've joined a moms group that I spend a lot of time with.  My goal each day is to keep busy. I try to make the best of the situation but with the more time that passes, the urge to move home grows bigger and bigger.  

A positive about moving is that I was able to invest in a new embroidery machine.  It's a commercial machine, which allows me to do a lot more in a quicker amount of time.  I put a lot of energy after we moved into growing my business. These days I work about 25-30 hours a week, which is a challenge with an 18 month old at home at all times. What I love about it is how flexible it is. Somedays I don't work at all, while others may call for a 10 hour catch up day. 

While I do love what I do, my most important job is mama. My first priority is my little one. From the minute she wakes up to the minute she goes to bed. Her activities come before the work I need to get done. If she has a fussy day, work can wait until she's in bed.  I know how blessed I am to be able to stay home with her day in and day out. I will never take that for granted, no matter how tough some days can be. 

-What are the best parts of your situation? What are the biggest challenges? 

The best part of my situation is being able to be home with Avery everyday.  Making her breakfast in the morning.  Snuggling on the couch watching a show as she drinks her milk.  Going to library time or gymnastics or to playdates.  Rocking her before she goes down for her nap and reading books.  Hearing mama on the monitor when she wakes up. The list goes on and on. Little things that may seem mundane but are the highlights of my day.  There is no better sidekick to have day in and out. 

The biggest challenge is finding a balance. Most days I don't have any down time. I try to keep the mini entertained, answering work emails here and there, attempting to keep the house clean and hoping I can have dinner made before hubs walks through the door. Which honestly is only accomplished half of the week. I'm sure most moms are thinking "story of my life" right now, whether your a SAHM or a working mom. Even though I do get a 1-2 hour nap break each day, I work during that time.  After hubs walks through the door, I go straight to my office and work for another hour while he does bath and bed. It's exhausting most days.  But it is also my choice. I do have little rules in place to help keep things balanced. I make sure to wake up early in the morning for some me time. I also stop work at 8pm. No exceptions. 

In the past I used to stay up until midnight each night working and get up at 6 to get started the next day.  I quickly realized that wasn't good for me or my marriage.  I realized I needed to cut back on my orders and the time I spend blogging.  Family is the most important thing, I don't want to look back and realize I didn't enjoy those early years because I was too busy trying to do it all. 

My advice for new moms is to do what works for you and your family. There is no right or wrong answer. Each family is different. One thing that may work for one may not work for another. There is absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to go back to work after baby or walking away from your career to be a SAHM. Also, things may change and that is okay. You may decide that staying at home isn't what you thought it would be and going back to work is the best decision for you or vise versa.  Do not feel guilty if that is the case. Focus on what is important to you. 

Thank you, Leah! Find the rest of the Moms Make it Work Series here.

Diposting oleh Rania di 17.00

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