My name is Rosemary, I am 29. I live in California. I have been married to my high school sweetheart for the past 6 years. We have a two year old daughter. I am an elementary school teacher. I love Disneyland and like to sew when I can.
My name is Rosemary and I am a full time elementary school teacher. I started my career before I became a mom, which wasn’t part of the plan. When I started working I wanted to be a mom so badly, but I also knew that may not be in the cards for me.
During my first year teaching I was on my last few infertility treatments when it finally worked after three years of trying, and I got pregnant with my miracle baby! I was so excited, and I started thinking about all of the things to look forward to when my little one arrived. One thing I did not look forward to was going back to work.
When she was born the countdown began. The countdown until I had to leave my little miracle baby and go back to work.
At first it felt like I had forever to be home with her, but before I knew it, I was holding my little baby, crying and telling my husband about how I wasn’t ready to go back to work tomorrow. The day I was dreading the most came, my first day back at work.
To be completely honest the first day was a blur. I was so busy that there was literally no time to be sad. The sadness didn’t hit me until the second day back, when things were a little more routine at work. I just remember feeling so guilty and thinking about how much she needed me.
As time went on being away from her during the day got a little easier. She had a nice routine at daycare with people who loved and cared for her. The fact that she was in a daycare that I loved helped to ease the mom guilt that I felt. There are times when she is sick or having a bad day and I get a message from my daycare provider that she is having a hard time and my heart breaks. I feel so bad that I am not there to help her feel better or teach her lessons about playing nice or any other thing she needs. I try so hard to remember: I do what I do for her.
I have learned many things about myself since being a working mom.
1. I value my time a whole lot more than I used to. What I mean by that is that every minute I have with my family is precious. Also, anytime I get to myself to do a hobby, exercise, watch a show with my husband, hang out with my mom friends is after my daughter goes to bed. And to be honest after working a full work day sometimes I don’t have the energy to do half of those things. And that is okay.
2. Don’t take what people say so personally. I used to get my feelings hurt when my friends would make comments like: I love my kids too much to let a stranger raise them. I would be so offended and start thinking about all the reasons why I do work. And you know what? All of those reasons come back back to building the best life for my family. I have come to realize that people don’t understand my situation, and I don’t need them to. What we all need to do is love and support each other where we are at.
3. Another thing I learned was to use all the time I have at work wisely. As a teacher it feels like there is always work to do. When I first started teaching I would take work home (like grading) and just do it when I was watching TV. Once I became pregnant I realized that work gets enough of my time throughout the day, that it does not need to take any of my time after hours too. I make every minute at work count and I don’t bring any work home. That has been a huge blessing for me. Work stays at work and when I get home I am just a mom and a wife.
4. Self care is a must. It is so important to take care of your needs, and not just your human needs. In the last year I have made (with the help of my husband) exercising part of my weekly routine. It’s unbelievable hard for me to motivate and get out of the house at 8pm to exercise after an entire day of work life and mommy life. I have noticed the positive impact that routine has made on me. My girlfriends and I try to have girls nights once a month when we can and that time with friends is so refreshing.
I am not saying that being a working mom is easy by any means. Recently I have been trying to focus on the positives.
Some of the positive for me are: I love picking my daughter up from daycare. She is learning so much, and so quickly! I also love hearing her yell my name and run into my arms when I walk into the door.
The hard days still happen. But everyday I have her is a blessing because she is my miracle.
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Danielle is the owner of Today's the Best Day. She strives to provide creative and uplifting content in order to enrich the parenting experience for women everywhere. Danielle hopes to help you and your family to make every day the best day! 
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