Developing Your Mom Style!

Seven years ago, I totally changed my life. I went from being an independent businessperson, who wore designer shoes, to a mom who had to take out her earrings because her daughter kept trying to pull them out of her ears. Little did I know that a promise I had made before I got married to stay at home with the kids would change my life so drastically. I lost the designer clothes and started to wear clothes that could handle things like having dirty hands wiped on them. I also learned to keep my sense of self and my sanity.

Becoming a stay at home mom is both the most rewarding and frightening experience of my life. Prior to having my daughter, I thought most stay at home moms just stayed home to watch the kids. Little did I know that all of a sudden I would become the chef, nanny, and housekeeper. I grew up thinking that there were two types of stay at home moms out there, Donna Reed, who was the icon of supermom in the 1950's, and Rosanne Barr you could call her the mom of the 1990's. Neither version prepared me for the challenges I would face in finding my own "Mom Style."

What's "Mom Style" you may ask well it the balance between me as an individual and me as a mother and wife. Once you start staying at home very rarely will you hear your own name. As a matter of face, in the first year I stayed home I think I only heard my name when I called my own mom! You'll hear whatever endearment your spouse calls you and the word Mom. I reached a point where I was starting to forget the art of conversation because I was dealing with was one child, who couldn't talk and a husband, who was too tired to talk!

I was starting to lose myself; I didn't have a self-image anymore! I became my job and it wasn't even a job! That's when I decided that I had to find my own style of parenting, a place where I could be me and still keep my child and husband happy. I wanted to get to place where I didn't feel guilty buying myself a new shirt because I wasn't bringing in any income. I wanted to feel like I was a part of the world again. I needed to continue growing as a person.

I realized that I had finally gotten my "Mom Style" on the day my daughter threw up on me at the grocery store. As she was upchucking all over my clothes, I started laughing. Not because anything was funny mind you but because I realized that it was the first time I didn't upchuck myself! I really felt sorry for the man that was also in our isle that day. I thought he would faint! I know he thought I was nuts but I took it all in stride. That's when I knew that if I just did the best I could things would workout. After all, even if I scared her for life that day because I laughed at least I didn't yell at her.