Real Talk: Deciding to Stay at Home

I've never really talked about my job on this blog because I always felt it was better to leave this blog and my work separate.  As my life has changed so much over the past 9 months I thought that I should share what I've been doing with work and what I ultimately decided to do. 

Long story short I was a real estate agent before I had Miller and I actually went back to work when Miller was just 4 weeks old. I had 3 deals that were closing in August 2013 and the guy who was supposed to be helping me completely bailed.   Thankfully I could do most of my work from home and I was lucky to have the help of my sister since she was off work for the summer.  After I closed all those deals in August I kept on working as much and as often as was fesible with a newborn and no outside help.  I continued to work as I still had a listing until October 2013. It was stressful and not fun at all.  I had the worst attitude about it and the guy that I was working with at the time, another agent who has children himself actually said to me numerous times that he thought I really should have been working harder.  Mind you I hadn't even planned to go back to work until the end of September and I was still running on 3-4 hours of sleep so I my head would just be fuming anytime he spoke to me.  At that point I decided to take the rest of the year off to be at home, enjoy my baby and not have any outside stresses.  I'm very lucky to have that flexibility in my career.    As you may or may not know real estate agents work strictly on comission so if you aren't working then you aren't making any money.  So all of my time off was unpaid.   

Miller- 4 weeks old

My husband was very adamant about me staying home once Miller was born.  At first I was excited because to be honest I never thought I would stay at home.  It was just assumed that I would be going back to work, I knew that it wouldn't maybe be in the same capacity as it was pre-baby but I never thought that I would strictly be a stay at home mom.  While Kyle felt this way I was really still on the fence about everything.   
Real estate is a hard career to get started up in so I didn't just want to cut the cord 3 months after Miller was born and be done- what if once he got a few months older I got bored?  What if I didn't really like being at home?  What if I wanted adult interaction? What if I wasn't good at being home alone with a baby all day?   All of these things went through my head often and I worried about how I would handle my role at home. 
Ultimately we decided that in January 2014, when Miller was 6 months old, I would start working part time again.  I would mostly work from home but try to pick up clients/work on weekends and evenings as often as I could. My manager was very open to this idea and was willing to work we me to help make the transition smooth which was so nice to hear.  Well fast forward to January and with the kitchen renovation and Kyle traveling pretty much every single week that month it just didn't end up being fesible.  I was doing my research and learning the market again but I just didn't have the time to really reach out to clients the way I wanted to and dedicate time to them.   I then said February would be it and then March. 

Eventually we realized that without putting Miller in daycare or getting a nanny I just wasn't going to be able to go back to work.  Kyle's schedule is just too busy and unpredictable and with no guarantee of income on my end we just couldn't justify paying someone to watch Miller if I was only maybe going to make money.   
 So while I have unofficially been staying home since October I am now officially staying home full time.  I put my license in referral which means I can refer clients to other agents and get a small fee off of it, plus it's an easy way for me to eventually get back into the business in a couple of years when Miller is going to school and has a more set schedule. 

I'm not going to lie, not having my own income for the first time since I was 16 years old is hard but so far I LOVE being at home with Miller so much more than I ever thought I would.  I really think I was made for this, it just feels more comfortable to me that any job ever did.   Not everyday is rainbows and sunshine but I would take this over cranky clients every day.    I know that staying at home is not an option for everyone and I feel so incredibly blessed that I am able to do this while Miller is young.  
I also want to give props to working moms.  My mom worked my entire life and still does and I just cannot imagine how she did it.  She always looked incredible, kept an impeccable home, had a thriving career and marriage, and managed to raise two kids and take us to all 100 of our sports and activities all with a smile on her face.  Now that I'm a mom I constantly ask her how she did it and managed to stay sane!  

So do you work or stay home?  Are you happy with your decision?  I'm not trying to start a debate on the subject just more interested in others opinions!   If you don't have kids yet do you think you'll work or stay at home once you do?