Goodbye to Teaching (for now)

If you are close to me, then you probably know that since having my first child I wanted to stay at home and just be a mom. With my husband's job, that was never really an option because he wasn't offered health insurance through his job. Chance started working for a different company a little over a year ago, and now we have the option of health insurance through his current company. I also started my little etsy shop, Magically Made Tees, last July for some extra income. With all of this, I have decided that even though my babies will both be in school, I am going to be taking some time off from teaching to work from home and focus on my kids.

I absolutely LOVE teaching and I know I'll go back to it in the future. However, right now I want to devote my time to my own kids and make sure that I give them my full attention. When I chose the career of teaching, I did it with my future kids in mind. I thought that teaching would be the BEST job to have when raising my kids because I'd have the summers off with them and the same schedule. Don't get me wrong, it's been great, but it's not fully what I WANT. I do get LOTS of time with my kids during the summers and it's been so wonderful. BUT, my heart aches during the school year when my kids have fun events and I'm not able to attend them. Most teachers know how much work goes into planning for a sub or even getting another teacher to cover your class. Most school systems give you 3 personal days a school year, which also goes against your sick leave.

This past year, my oldest was in kindergarten, and it was definitely the toughest year for me. I did get to take a personal day and go on a field trip with Caycen. I had a wonderful team teacher who covered my class so that I could attend his Christmas party and his end of the year party, but I still missed so much. I never once got to eat lunch with him or help out in his classroom. I couldn't imagine my heart ache with having two kids in school and their programs and all. There's no way I'd be able to balance it all. Props to the moms who can!

So, I've decided that now is the time for me to run my new business from home and say goodbye to teaching for now. I want to be able to be the room mom for my kids' classrooms, make it to every single event that they have, and for them to know that I'm there for them no matter what.

I am so stinkin' excited about this new chapter in our lives and what it will bring. I'm excited about the amount of time I'll have to just be a mom and let all the other stuff go for now.

Thank you to everyone who has supported my decision to FINALLY stay at home and raise my babies. I pray that my kids will always know how much I love them and how honored I feel to be their mom.