On Becoming a SAHM...

take a shower first thing in the am.

go someplace almost every day. can be a walk to the park .. but get out of the house.

the house will be more trashed cause you are home all day. when you work no one is there all day to make a mess.

try to clean something everyday.. but if you dont that is oK too.

kids are only little once..

I made the transition to a SAHM a little over a year ago (well, actually I still work from home but that's a different story). I think the biggest thing that helped me to keep "in check" was that this is just like any other job, albeit the most important job you'll ever do, and like any job you'll have good days and bad days. Days where you love what you do and love your bosses (the kids! lol!), and days where you want to lock yourself in the bathroom and never come out again. But the good days usually far outnumber the bad days, and you'll have those no matter where you go anyway.

I'm still working on this part myself, but my goal for this year is to let go of the things I feel like should be done since I'm home, and focus more on my kids. That's why I started staying home in the first place, right!? Not to cook and clean all day!

Lots of mamas mentioned on here getting out at some point for the day. That is super helpful! But also, cut yourself slack on the bad days where you never make it out of pjs, still haven't showered, and the house is a disaster. Oh well, tomorrow will be better! And lastly, take everything with a grain of salt. Kids can be EXHAUSTING. So do the best you can and leave the rest to God.

Best wishes to you as you embark on this awesome journey of being a SAHM! There is nothing better!

Hmmmmm....I work PT but that switch was a MAJOR gear-change for me after working FT for almost 20 years.
I guess the best advice I would have is kind of a "plan for the best, but expect the worst" kind of attitude.
Some days, things will just roll right along--you'll be checking off your to-do list, baby is on schedule, being very efficient, all planets aligned.

Then--some days--not so much.

A sick child, a headache for you, unexpected things pop up....so all you can do is kind of roll with it.
For me, the "bad" days just really stunk! I felt SO unproductive some days. But the good days and the bad days balance out overall.
Have a bit of a plan for the next day so it has some direction. You don't want to get caught in the n-e-v-e-r-e-n-d-i-n-g w-e-b of "I'll do it/go there/finish it" tomorrow zone. That's a drag too.
Overall I'd say to have a plan, but expect plan modification!
You'll love it because you'll appreciate it after having worked FT for years. Good luck!

Try to make time for yourself each day. Also try to get out of the house each day (even if it's just for a little while). Try to connect with other SAHM's so you don't feel so isolated. I quit my full time job when my second was born, and didn't know any other SAHM's. My first year or so doing it was very isolating and lonely. Eventually I met some moms when my oldest went to preschool, and after 6 years (and a 3rd baby) I am very happy and adjusted.

Definitely like some others have said, get out of the house at least once a day. Staying at home can be isolating. Schedule some "adult" time for just you and some friends and don't bring your kids. It is a miraculous sometimes how I just crave adult interaction. :) Sometimes I talk so much to my husband when he gets home, he jokingly says, for me to not forget to breathe. ha ha.

Shower as early as you can so it motivates you for the day. I have found that the longer I stay in my pj's the less I get done. With an infant, try to do your grocery shopping after she has been fed. Nothing like racing through the grocery store with a screaming infant and ice cream melting in your cart.

Enjoy it while she's little! They grow up too darn fast. I miss the baby stage!

:)Good luck and have fun!

For me the secret to staying sane and tiring my youngest one out is to have a schedule and staying busy. We go do something almost every morning, so she has fun and is stimulated and I get adult interaction with other stay at home parents (local library music/story time, local environmental center toddler/preschooler time, hike with other moms/kids, farmers market, etc). One morning a week I go to my friend's house (or she comes here) and we take turns running while the other one watches the kids. This gives me exercise which helps keep me happy too! (Then I run again on Saturday morning). One morning a week I stay home and bake/clean. After the morning activity we have lunchtime and then naptime. During naptime I let myself totally relax and veg out on the computer or I will do art (something I like to do!). After naptime my oldest comes home from school. I clean the house a little bit each day so it never builds up. I do laundry a little each day also. One evening a week I do something for myself as well. I am relishing this time as a SAHM bc I know it is short lived. Next year I will start job hunting for a half time job. I really really am enjoying this time now...I hope you do too!!!

My main advice is be good to yourself and cut yourself a huge amount of slack! I LOVE being a mommy at home but my transition to it was really tough, yours might be smooth and super easy, everyone is different. But I would say if you can just approach it as a new job that you will be in on the job training for that will have things you love and things you hate, that would be awesome. For me being at home is a lot of hard work, like grunt work equivalent to filing for hours in an office. You know the kind of filing where you have to get a ladder climb up and down it all day and put millions of pieces of paper inside bracketed folders over and over (I was not a fan of filing, can you tell :) , but it is also fabulous bc your schedule is set by you, you run your day as you see fit. And of course the perk of not having to hand your beautiful children off everyday is the greatest gift ever :) So I think if I would have just given myself the freedom in the begining to be ok with having aspects of my job at home I didn't like, I would have accepted it more initially. Now I just suck up the grunt work so I can get on to the good stuff like playing with my kids, taking them to the park or doing little projects with them and the really good stuff like sipping on some coffee and having some down time. Wish you the best, and you are right to be excited, it is an awesome way to live :D

don't become a slug! It's very important to remain active & a part of "some" community...whether it's a mom's group, a church group, etc.

Keep up with your bankable employment skills....to prepare for the future. That's where I am now....having to catch up on those bankable skills.....& it sucks!

& most importantly, please remember to focus on your child & not that pile of laundry. The time flies waaaaay tooooo fast! Enjoy!

I put myself on kind of a schedule......not at first with the newborn, but maybe when she is like 2-3mo old or something. Mine was something like
Monday - clean bathrooms and floors
Tuesday - do bills, misc "paperwork"
Wednesday - Laundry
Thursday - grocery store
Friday - clean, etc

This was a very "loose" list, but it made me feel slighty organized and accomplished. I would make my list every Sunday for the week. I would also write down the fun stuff too - Playdate at the park @1pm etc.
And get up and get dressed at least most days......just cause you're at home doesn't mean you should get frumpy!!!

Well, definitely make it a rule that you have to shower daily! I know to many SAHM's that skip a shower and head to the park, Target, doctor appt. etc. and it's shameful to look like that!

I've been a SAHM for almost 6 years and have honestly loved it. I would suggest taking a lot of video, pictures and journaling a lot of your joys and challenges. It's fun to look back on it when the kids are older and they love to read it too.

I'd say the only pitfall is the lack of respect from other woman who don't stay at home with their kids. The whole "well you get to be at home all day, so you can do _______" get's annoying. I am rarely home all day. We get out and do lots of things and enjoy it!

My tip - Just relax. Really! I was layed off 2 years ago and have enjoyed every minute of it. I got to do all these great things with my kids and have spent the time just watching my kids grown. I didn't stress over the house being clean for when hubby came home or if I had a perfect dinner on the table. I just went with the flow and really just tried to enjoy each day.

I go back to work on Monday. Ugh - so nervous! But I hope I can keep reminding myself to relax and enjoy our evenings. I don't want to get back into the stressful "have to get this done" schedule. We will see how it happens.

Good luck!

I have always wanted to be a SAHM so I knew I wouldn't work when I had kids. So, I was surprised when I had my first and quit working that I actually missed working quite a bit. I would have missed not being with my daughter much more than I missed working, though:-) So, just be prepared for the possibility that you might feel similarly. Some of my friends have felt the same too. They are very glad to be SAHMs, but there was an adjustment period to it. It's well worth it, though! I am now going on baby #5, and I couldn't imagine not being here everyday for them (except maybe on the days I'm going to go crazy! hehe).

It depends what kind of mom you are. If you love to stay home and the decision makes you happy. It also depends on the age of your children. My firstborn was exclusively breastfed, never drank a formula or from the bottle so I felt like a walking buffet and it was hard to be the only source of feeding. I absolutely love it, love it, love it. Now i have two kids and its tough to be outnumbered double stroller etc. most of my friends are SAHMs so we do lots of activities together. Stricked schedule and structure works for my household well. I plan around their nap, so they
sleep in their crib not their carseat or stroller. I don't have family close by and I don't believe in sitter in addition my husband travels, so not getting a break makes it challenging at times. I wake up at 5, go to the gym before my family gets up :) I also do beach spa with friends once a month and girls drinks and dinner at least once or twice a month.

Be prepared on more housework, because you serve the food all day and there are lots of clothes changing, and the house gets messy through all of the cupcakes baking, painting nails, art projects, house pool activities and home cooking meals, and lots of laundry :) also your water and electricity bills are much higher.

I would say to reflect on your needs/wants and make the days as conducive to your needs/wants as possible - it may be impossible sometimes, so having the option out there may help. Those things may also change from month to month.

I wanted to be cleaning/cooking dinner by the time my son was 6mos - that didn't work out, but I was able to dust on Mondays, clean the sinks/toilets on Tuesday and that kind of thing. I was able to cook on the weekends, so I didn't feel bad about not having dinner ready on the weeknights.

Try to be as flexible as possible. The moms I know that have the toughest time are very inflexible.

Don't ever think that doing something that your newborn won't remember isn't necessary - its all about what they observe, not what they remember. For example, some think its silly to take a newborn to a park or a museum. But exposure is great for them.

Being SAHM is the best ever for me :)

Try to have some structure and of course get out of the house! Join a mom's group or church group whatever your interests are. Most importantly stay connected and focused on tasks at hand so you are getting the fullfillment you need. You'll have your hands full with a newborn and any other children. When I was home for a time..The days flew by fast!! Congrats to you.

Try to get out once a day. It's amazing how that can break up the day.