Worth Every Penny

     Being a stay-at-home mom requires a lot: patience, time, understanding.  But, I guess what it requires the most, is money.  After all, that's one of the main reasons most moms don't stay home with their kids.  It's too expensive for them to give up their job.  They can't afford for one of the parents to stay at home and live off of one income.  Or, they don't want to cut back down to the bare necessities. -They want to maintain a certain lifestyle that they've achieved.  Sure, there are a few fortunate families out there where the mom stays at home while the husband makes more than enough to make up for the missing income.  But, for the majority of us stay-at-home moms, there are sacrifices that we have made.          

     Boy, what I would give to be able to wake up after 6am.  What it would be like to take a long, hot shower, BY MYSELF.  How it would feel to drive to my favorite, sit down restaurant and take all the time I needed ordering.  To be able to go shopping afterward for things I wanted.  Then to come home, relax on the sofa, and watch TV til after midnight.  -Just to wake up after 6am the next morning and do it all over again.

     Instead, my baby girl wakes  me up at 6:15 in the morning.  My two year old son insists that I should stand in the back of the shower, while he enjoys the warm water.  We frequently visit the local McDonald's.  When I shop it's for diapers, juice, and Mickey Mouse.  And nighttime is reserved for baths, story time, and monsters under the bed.  And guess what!  Once 6:15 crosses that alarm clock, it starts all over again.

     Now, all you women out there that don't have children, don't read this and automatically run for your birth control.  It's not as bad as you think.  What's under the surface is far greater than all the superficial requirements of childcare.

     At 6:15 in the morning, I wake up to a beautiful 6 month old that smiles at me like I am her world.  My son loves to pretend he's taking care of mommy and wash my hair in the shower.  Yes, we still eat at the fast and easy restaurants; but to see my son sitting and acting well behaved makes me smile at the man he'll become to be.  I enjoy providing for them and buying them what they want as well as what they need.  And those ritual nighttime routines- I enjoy them as much, if not more, than they do.

     It's those little moments in my life that I find myself in love.  In love with my kids.  In love with life.  In love with being a mommy.  And I wouldn't want it any other way.  Yes, there are days when I want to run down the street screaming "Free kids... they come with juice and snacks."  But, when my son looks up at me and says, "Mommy, I luh you."  Or when my daughter smiles at me and laughs at my silly faces.  -It makes my heart melt.  It makes all the dirty diapers, all the back-to-back-to-back Mickey Mouse episodes, all the sacrifices in the world I gave up to be a mom... ALL OF THAT, worth while.  And to me, it's been worth every penny.