Today’s guest post comes to you from a very dear friend of mine, Heather.  Currently Heather can be found on her blog Life Through Heather’s Lens where she chronicles her adventures with her two darling children through photos (and some stories).  She used to blog over at Riding the Short Bus where she could be counted on to always have a hysterical story to share.

I’ve known Heather for, I guess about 4 years now.  We used to work together in what we lovingly refer to as HELL, and are now stay-home-mom buddies together.  One of the things I learned about Heather very early on was that Heather has a way with words and can tell a story like nobody’s business.  When she finally started blogging I was so excited, because I knew it would be a fabulous read, and I was right.  However, when Heather started caring for “The Others” she stopped blogging (when you read her post you’ll understand why).  Even though I get to hear all her stories in person I still missed reading her blog.  I was happy to give her the opportunity to do a little writing again.  Without further ado I had the floor (or blog) over to Heather, enjoy

A little over a year ago I basically walked off my job, my career of 10 years, to stay at home with my two children, then ages four and one.  That sounds way more dramatic than what it actually was.  I hated that office and all the unrelenting, back-stabbing politicking that came with it.  I knew I would never miss it for a day.  The big question was:  Now what?

I had crunched the numbers and the numbers were grim.  Sure, it was doable…  if by doable you mean spending exactly $100 a week on groceries for a family of four, cutting out most activities that involved entrance fees, dues, and/or gear, never getting sick and having a doctor’s bill larger than a co-pay, and avoiding the ultimate worst tragedy:  never, and I mean NEVER, allowing a car to break down.

But I was a girl used to decent dual incomes and the lifestyle that accommodated.  I wasn’t sure I could live under such tight budgetary constraints.  Having neither the sales presence to enlist in AVON nor the creativity to start my own home based business, I decided to try and make money at what I was leaving work to do anyway – caring for children.

Sadly, I didn’t have any friends or even acquaintances who were in the market for childcare at the time.  Knowing nowhere else to turn, I printed up flyers and distributed them around my neighborhood, and put an ad on Craigslist.  The flyers generated zero in the way of phone calls, but the ad I put on Craigslist generated a few calls and emails per week.  I started scheduling interviews.   Things were looking up, and quickly.  My husband went from sweating bullets to perspiring mere raindrops.  My fingers, wrapped tightly around my debit card, started to unclench.  These people must be crazy, I thought, to trust me – ME – no experience with other children, no background in nursing or early childhood education, really no idea what the heck I’m doing ME to take care of their children full time!

And what is it they say about instinct?  That you should listen to it?  Because when you start thinking people might be a little nutty, chances are fair that your gut is in fact trying to tell you something.  So when The Others showed up, proclaiming that their eldest child, age three, was “ALL BOY” and “likes to stay busy,” perhaps I could have gleaned from that conversation “our child has ADHD and will drive you constantly crazy with his incessant need for your attention which will include, but not limit itself to, Olympic-caliber couch jumping, artistic development of your drywall via chiseling, spontaneous removal of curtain rods and works of art from your walls, and the complete saturation of your son’s bedroom…in urine, all the while never ceasing from calling your name no less than 90 times per minute and bombarding you with the same question at least 400 times an hour.”

It’s been over a year now since I took on The Others.  In one way I am grateful.  They took a chance on me and made up just enough of the gap of my paycheck that our lifestyle hasn’t suffered much.  In another way……I’m freaking exhausted.  Ten hours of daily ADHD daycare plus All Boy’s infant sister, not to mention taking care of my own two (fairly) normal children, have completely zapped my energy and patience by 5 p.m. and I have almost nothing left to give my own family at the end of the day.  From 5:00 on Friday to the time I go to bed on Sunday I am dreading and fretting over Monday morning.  I recently asked my doctor for “happy pills.”  If there were such a thing as “energy pills” I’d have asked for those, too.  The light at the end of this tunnel is that All Boy will be leaving me in August for a full-time professional daycare, which will be a better fit for him.  I get to keep Lil Sis, and who knows – without All Boy around to steal the spotlight, I might actually enjoy her.

The big question:  would I do it again?  Absolutely.  What wouldn’t a mother do for her family?  If I’d had more time to work things out, I would have been a bit more selective in the children I chose to bring into my home.  Live and learn, I always say…….um, is it August yet?