My new full-time job

Many of you already know this, but for those who don't, I am now, officially, a stay-at-home mom. My maternity leave ended on Friday, April 10 and I signed my termination papers at the office on Monday, April 13.

But it wasn't as simple as I make it sound. Although I had been toying with the idea of quitting work and staying home for months -- I had decided to go back to work, even if it was only to see if I liked it vs being at home with the kids every day.

Then, I sort of got laid off. My position within my department was eliminated and I was given two choices -- take the severance package offered, or take a nine-month contract being offered in hopes that a full-time job would come available before the contract ended.

Although the job looked like it could be interesting, it wasn't really what I wanted to be doing. So, after a lot (and I mean A LOT) of debate, discussion, sleepless nights and support from Ryan -- I decided to take the severance package. But instead of immediately looking for a new job, I'm going to take on the full-time role as mom and spend this time with the kids -- at least until Austin goes to school in September 2010 and maybe even until Alex goes to school two years later. After all, they're only young once.

As a writer, I'm also going to try to pick up some freelance work, mainly to keep my skills up and to keep my resume from having a big black hole on it when I do go looking for work in a few years.

So, that's it. I'm now a full-time mom and I'm excited about it. I love being with the kids every day -- going on fun outings, watching them grow and learn and teaching them new things. Although I did warn Ryan that he'll know if I'm having a REALLY bad day with them, because he'll come home from work to find the kids in a box on the front lawn holding a sign that says "Free".