It’s true.

My toughest days as a SAHM are 100x better than the best days at a job.

Being a SAHM can be beyond exhausting, and confusing, and the most challenging puzzle that seemingly has no solution because it changes every time you blink…

But woven in between each of those most challenging moments is a smile that fills your heart to overflowing, a touch that says “I love you”, and the witnessing of a life expanding before your eyes.

And it makes the toughest of moments dissipate like smoke in a vacuum. Immediately changing your despair to joy and restarting the clock.

As though each giggle, each smile, each hand hold, or new discovery by my angel, wipes the slate clean and we start over fresh, new, ready for anything – challenges overcome and forgotten.

There are times where I feel completely crazy or at my absolute breaking point, ready to curl into a ball and cry my heart out for my utter failure as a mom. Then he flashes a smile and bats his baby browns and I feel like the most fortunate human that ever lived, and like the best momma in the world.

There are also the truly uneventful days where I feel from morning to night like a good mom doing a pretty good job and all goes well. No highs, no lows, just us doing our thing.

And those days too are better than anything I’ve ever done before. Because I find just being with my son so joyful.

I love watching him as he figures out how to put a Mega Blok together with another, or how to put a wooden ring on the peg, or stack blocks and knock them down, or how to couple his wooden train. I love watching as he plays the same song over and over again on the preprogrammed drum/song play thing he has and as he bops along to that song! I love reading him stories and seeing him start to discern preferences, flicking to his favourite page or staying on one page for a longer time pointing out the things of interest to him. I love that he points to things and waits patiently for me to name them, over and over we say the names of things “fire alarm, lamp, mat, door, oven, chair, blanket, pillow, light, nose, eye, ear, lips, mouth, head, hair, shoulder, arm, leg, foot, toe, knee, fingers, hands….” on and on it goes.

You see while I have had some jobs in the past that I’ve enjoyed, and even loved, nothing compares to the honour of getting to watch the incredible human that grew inside of my body discover the world around him.

An absolute honour is what it is for me.

And he’s a funny little human. With a weird sense of humour that cracks me up and matches my own weird sense of humour (did he get that from me?).

He’s also super serious. Observant.

When we’re out in public it is amusing to me to watch people try to get a smile out of him (why do people do this?), and then say “he’s very serious isn’t he?”, when their efforts are unrewarded.

Yes, he likes to watch and work out what and who people are first. I admire this completely and feel a rush of pride when people comment on it. That’s right…my son is no dancing monkey, he chooses his own timing. LOVE!

I can’t help but think of all of the things I would miss in his life if I wasn’t at home with him. There is no where I’d rather be than with my son as he grows into himself. I want to be there with him and don’t want someone else to get that privilege.

It is unfair to expect a mother to hand their child over to someone else to get to experience these moments with their children. ALL parents should have the opportunity – if they so choose – to stay at home with their children.

And I know many who couldn’t wait to get back to work and that’s okay too…no judgements here. But for those of us who want nothing more than to sit on the lounge room floor every day with their emerging child, it should be a viable option for all.

It’s not for everyone and it is by no means easy all the time, in fact it’s the most challenging “job” of my life, but I love it more than I could have imagined.

And for now, I have the honour and I’m so grateful.

May the stars align to keep me home with him for as long as I love and adore being here.

How about you? Would you love to stay at home with your little ones?

Warm smiles and Love,