Working on not working... I've been trying for months now to calculate HOW to stay at home longer with my daughter, who is rapidly approaching her first birthday and soon after my deadline as a stay at home mom. I LOVE being home with her. I would not trade it for any career in the world. Unfortunately, it doesn't bring home the bacon and as much as I dont like bacon, my family is in need of more bacon. I recently tried taking in 2 children as a babysitting job, thinking since I have a background in child development it would be an easy way to make a few extra dollars and still have that time with my daughter. Little did I know that the children would not be the problem, but the parents on the other hand could be certifiably insane and stretch me to my limits. I thought about a night job, but I am already sleep deprived so I dont know how I would manage that. As I muster up all sorts of glorious ideas, I just grow more and more stressed out knowing that going back to work is just around the corner. I listen to other moms' advice about going "back into the work force" (making it sound like I'll be blasting off into space on this amazing adventure) they say brilliant things like "there are women who work 12 hour days AND go to school yada yada yada" and that is great for THEM, but I don't want someone else to raise my child. I want to be here every step, every laugh, every coo, every mama and dada... I don't want to miss a minute.