It’s officially been one year since I became a stay-at-home mom (SAHM)! I feel like I just blinked and an entire year has passed!  This has me feeling ALL THE FEELS!   Today, I’m answering a few questions that I often get asked, sharing a short review of the past year,  and sharing a few random thoughts/opinions from other stay-at-home friends.

1. What is the hardest part? I became a stay at home because I wanted to spend more time with our kids and I didn’t want to miss any more special moments. But… I was naïve and honestly thought my life would become drastically easier, I was in for a rude awakening. I had a stressful job but being at home all day chasing two toddlers around is way more exhausting than work ever was.  There has been so many times that I thought “what I would give to be at work right now.”  My husband jokes when the kids are being a handful that he can’t wait to head into work to get a “break”.  What we mean by “getting a break” is when you have twin toddlers, it’s nonstop.  Working isn’t technically a “break” but it’s a change in pace, it’s a change in scenery.  When you’re a stay at home mom, you don’t ever really get a change in scenery, you’re always with your kids and you never have any me time. At work, I at least had time by myself and time to not be focusing on my kiddos.
2. How do you afford to stay home? My husband and I have always lived off of one income even when we were both working full time. We made the decision while we were engaged that one of our incomes would just go straight into savings for the future. When we decided that it was best that I stay at home while the kids were young, we just said goodbye to less money going into our savings. A big thing for me is I didn’t want our family to make any sacrifices financially for me not working… if we had to cut out anything in our life or change our lifestyle in any way then I would or will go back to work.
3. What’s the best part of being a stay-at-home mom? Not waking up at 5 am anymore… just kidding! The best part by far is spending my days with Camden and Ella! I am so grateful for this extra time I get with them. I will never take being a stay at home mom for granted!

This picture was my last day of work (even though technically I’m employed until January 2019, my wonderful work approved a leave of absence for a year in case I change my mind), it was so exciting to come home and realize I could spend 100% of my days focused on my little family.  Can you tell how happy I was? This will forever be one of my favorite pictures because I was filled with joy and so excited for the future.

Soon after, we celebrated the kiddos first holidays…

Halloween

Thanksgiving

Christmas

Judd got an amazing job offer in Charleston and we started building our dream home.

We played, played, and played.

Camden and Ella turned 1 and we had the cutest little birthday party for them! You can read more about this here.

They were both teething hard around their birthday! 😦 

We were so proud of surviving the first year as twin parents!

We took our first international vacation as a family of 4 to Canada.

We played hard…

They kept growing and growing.

We went on vacation to Florida. You can read about that here.

We stayed very busy playing at home, visiting family, and going places…

We sold our first home and moved to SC!

We couldn’t be happier in Charleston!  Our days are spent at the beach or at our new home…

The area we moved to is a kid (and SAHM) dreamland.  We live in a master planned community… the neighborhoods all have pools, playgrounds, ponds, and bike trails connecting everything that we have access to.  When the kids are older, we will get to ride our bikes (or a golf cart) to school every day!  SO fun, right?

I am so excited to see what the next year brings us.

As you can tell, I love being a SAHM.  I won’t do this for forever but for now it’s perfect for me and it’s perfect for our family! I am going to continue to soak up every minute with my two miracles…

I asked my Instagram SAHM friends if they had anything they’d like to share for this post.  Here are some of their thoughts:

• “It’s the best job in the world!”
• “If you can somehow swing it financially, do it! You won’t regret it.”
• “It’s not all glamorous! Somedays I am so happy and somedays I cry.”
• “It can be lonely. I miss interacting with people.”
• “Your kids are only little once. When days are tough, I remind myself that someday I won’t be at home with them. That puts everything in perspective.”
• “I am a SAHM. That doesn’t mean I am uneducated, I have a PhD.  That doesn’t mean I am lazy, I don’t get lunch breaks. I chose to be this and I’m proud!”
• “I used to worry about my career potential being wasted but then I realized, the workforce will always be there. My son won’t always be young.”
• “It’s the best and the hardest job in the world.”
• “It’s best for our family that I stay a home. I miss my job but my daughters need me.”
• “You can’t forget about self-care, as a SAHM we usually get put on the backburner.”
• “Oh my, there is no down time, no lunch. I feel like my days fly by.”
• “THIS IS NOT A VACATION!”
• “I worry everyday if I’m doing enough but when I see how well my kids are doing, I know I’m doing plenty.”
• “The days go SOOOO damn fast and the years even faster.” 
• “Even though we want to be home with our children, it doesn’t mean we don’t need a break too. Sometimes we want a break and need one.”