Welcome to the Hellmonth-Motherhood ain't easy!

Today’s guest blogger is a photograblogger. (Get it? Photographer. Blogger. Photograblogger. Whatever. I’m not finished with my coffee yet.)

Say hello to Karen Lisa! Karen Lisa writes the blog Bright Autumn Sun and has been blogging in some format since she was 13 years old. Karen was a teacher at one time in her life and left the field to pursue her passion–photography. And pursue she did.

I mean, just take a look at some of her photos, would you? Go here now.

(I mean, WOW. Seeing the photos of weddings she’s shot makes me want to get married all over again. And the wee babes! BE STILL MY UTE!)

Karen is also a Boy Mom to a sweet little guy named Zachary. (We seem to be quite the community, us boy moms…)

But Karen is a WAHM (That’s work-at-home-mom for those of you not in the know) and she, once again, proves that none of us has it “easier” than any other. Stay-at-home Moms, Working Moms, Working At Home Moms. We’re all wearing a whole lot of hats.

(Except I maintain that one of the perks of being a SAHM or WAHM is YOGA PANTS. There are some days I’d trade all the professional accomplishment in the world to be able to wear yoga pants to work every day.)

Anyway, read how Karen decided to send Zachary to preschool and some of the perks she found in doing so! Then leave her some love!
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Preschool & the road to freedom

I was always super adamant that I would not be putting my child in preschool until after his second birthday. I wanted him potty trained and talking. But by the time he was 18 months old, he was a typical active, happy toddler… And me? I was so overworked from being a work at home mom and staying up all night trying to run my business that I quickly began running myself into the ground. I didn’t even blog about it because it was an awful feeling – besides, I was too tired to blog. My husband helped me make the decision that it was time to look at preschool for Zachary, and it was the best decision we could have made for ourselves and for our boy at that point in our lives.

I never realized it could be possible, but now that my little guy is in preschool, I feel more & more like a supermom each day. No, I’m not perfect… My house probably won’t ever be spotless, I’m not the best at getting laundry done or anything like that… but now that I have more time to myself, I can spend more time doing those things. And sure, I still stay up til 2 or 3am to finish my work more often than I should, but if I decide to crash at 10pm because I need to sleep, I no longer feel guilty about it. Feeling guilty about not working was bad. But I have set office hours now, and when those office hours are over, so is my day of work, unless I choose to get more done after Z is in bed.

I know that my son is in an environment where he’s learning every day and he’s truly having quality time socializing with other children & his teachers. And the best thing about our situation is that when I pick him up for the day, we’re able to enjoy our time together. Since my work day is basically done the moment I leave to pick him up, I enjoy the time I spend with my son even more than I ever did before. I can focus on him rather than worrying about when I’m going to get my next chance to edit a few images or fire off an email.

We spend time going to the park, playing, reading, cuddling, and best of all, having dinner together as a family. Most of the time, getting back on the computer can wait til the next day, and I’m able to watch TV with my hubby or blog after Z’s in bed. From 3pm when I pick Zachary up until he goes to sleep, that’s our time, and I feel free to enjoy it however I want. Unless I’m working on a big deadline, I don’t feel on-call anymore. A few times a month I may have a weekend wedding or a photo shoot in the afternoon (thanks for the babysitting, Grandma & Grandpa!) but otherwise, the time I spend off the computer has, for the most part, become my own.

Preschool has given my child the opportunity to experience life in a completely different way, and it’s given me a freedom I never could have imagined.

By the way, there ARE days when I do miss having him home. It just makes picking him up from school that much more fun! 🙂

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