Staying Sane as a Stay at Home Mom

Being a stay at home mom is wonderful, amazing, and challenging!  Especially for a first time mom.  I went from running a business, putting in 80+ hours a week, being on call 24 hours a day, overseeing an entire staff, to running a household and caring for a life.  I was so scared that I would mess up! 

I started out confident (thanks to my long hours of researching everything there was to know about caring for a newborn).  I breastfed her at the recommended times for the recommended duration, kept a log of her feedings and diaper changes (ya, I know, a little much but it made the doctor's day when he asked what her schedule was and I just handed him my notebook).  I did everything "by the book" so to speak.  But there was one thing I didn't count on: every child is different.  So when we went to her 3 month checkup and found out that the doctor wasn't happy with her weight gain rate, my confidence went right out the window.  When you are breastfeeding a child and are her only foodsource, there is no more painful thing to hear than you aren't good enough.  After getting some blood work done to make sure she was okay we had to start integrating formula into her diet.  Then she finally started gaining weight.  She was fine.  I wasn't.  Confidence completely shattered I became scared.  Those books and advice that i had been following so closely, I now felt I couldn't rely on.

How do you move on?  Well, take it day by day, do the best you can, and pray that everything will work out.

There are days that are pure bliss, when naps go smoothly, lots of playing and laughing, and full of photo perfect moments.  Then there are the days when it seems that nothing is going right.  When instead of feeding your baby sweet potatoes you end up wearing them.  When nothing you do seems to make your baby happy.  When it feels like everything is spiraling out of control and you end up crying with your baby, sharing in your child's frustration.  What a bonding moment.

So how do I get through the day without pulling all my hair out?  I sew.

Yep, that's right.  I sew.  Thanks to some help from my mom, I picked it up fairly quickly and starting making dresses, pants, jumpers, anything I could get my hands on.  I became obsessed with fabric and built up quite a stash for whenever the sewing bug hit me.  Why sewing?  The answer is simple.  In sewing, you can control everything!  You control every stitch from start to finish.  And if you make a mistake, you take out the stitches and you can fix it.  When you are finished you have a beautiful piece of work that you can be proud of and know is done right.  So when it feels like everything is spiraling out of control, I sew and get back some confidence that I can do something right.

This is the first project I completed.  I love the pleats!  Its way too big for her, but she will grow into it.

Sewing my not be the answer for everyone, but the point is get a hobby.  Get something that you can do well that you enjoy.  It will give you time to clear your head and hit the reset button so to speak.  Then you are in a better frame of mind to care for your little one and turn a bad day into a great day.

We just celebrated her first birthday.  There were times when I didn't think I'd make it that far with my sanity intact.  Here's to you baby girl and to many more wonderful years ahead.

If you are interested in sewing, this is a great blog to follow.  I call her Super Mom!  She makes sewing simple, offers tips, tricks, and even tutorials on projects.  I get a ton of inspiration from her posts.  You can see her blog here.