Balance

We discussed it in advance and we decided having me home was a smart choice. When I was younger, I observed many coworkers return to work 6 weeks after having their baby, leaving infant care and discovery to paid help. Yes, they were earning money for multiple cars, boat, vacation timeshare, several tvs, but in the big picture -- who was cherishing their baby through those early months of discovery? Who was imparting who knows what values 10-12 hours a day to their toddler? Who was walking their child to the school bus and meeting the bus at days end to hear all the excitement?
In the grand scheme of things - how many quality waking hours did these coworkers have to spend with their precious children?
I didn't want that for our kids and neither did my husband. We made adjustments in how we budgeted and spent our income instead, so I could stay home (and had my career been the higher paying one, it would just as easily have been Mr. Dad staying home.)

Regrets? Perhaps I could have returned to part time work sooner, to model how to women balance career, hobby, aging parents and homelife better -- I'm doing that now for our youngest. The older two are grown and quite independant. At times I wonder if they saw me sacrificing too much of me for being "just a mom" -- that's not terribly healthy.

I think we all grow through different times in our lives, and do the best we can - compromise and balance and prioritizing are all valuable keys.