Wow! Only a week and and a half and we will be open for business. What a process so far. What a process it will continue to be. I sometimes wonder why I started on this adventure to begin with.
It has been long, it has been hard.
There has been joy & frustration.
There have been late nights.
There has been support & encouragement from friends, family, & strangers.
There have been times I have felt as though I have neglected family.
There has been accomplishment & small successes.
These are only a handful of the things that have taken place and there will be many more feelings and events that accompany this journey in the future. I haven't cried yet. I am sure that will happen in the future. I haven't given up, even though at times I wondered if I would really ever get to this point. I have pondered. I have pondered how I will handle a business while raising a family. It is hard with one child, what will happen when I add more to the brood? Luckily I am not alone in the process of learning.
The other day I was wondering how I would manage being a working mother (even though I am working far less than those mother's who actually have to leave their homes and go to a 9-5 job) and still be able accomplish all I want to with my first and most important job of being a stay-at-home mother.
The LIFE LESSONS section of the March 2010 issue of Real Simple addressed just that. Author Michelle Slatalla a writer for the New York Times gave ten simple advices to help each and every working mother. Whether your work be an office job, a home job, full time, part time, or a volunteer position. I will share a couple.
#7 GO WITH YOUR GUT, AND DON'T SECOND GUESS IT LATER. If you've spent days preparing for a meeting that starts in an hour and the school nurse calls to report a painful, though not hospital-worthy, monkey-bar injury, there's no one right thing to do. On any given day, your instinct might be to skip the meeting. Or suggest that the nurse apply an ice pack and send Shorty back to class. Make a snap decision and then-this is the key-don't question it later. Let it go. Really. I mean it.
#10 STOP THINKING OF YOURSELF AS SPLIT INTO SEPARATE BUT EQUAL ROLES: MOTHER, WORKER, ME. Listen to Philosopher John Lock, who said that a person recognizes himself as the same being throughout his life, in different times and places. You are one person, indivisible, who just happens to wear many hats. And while I get that the weight of all those hats can bear you down, at least be happy you've got something important to do.
I have found another passion in my life. Helping families save money. Helping babies be happy. Helping preserve the beauty of the world. And though it is not my only passion it is one that I needed to share with all of you.
I am excited to get to know you. I am excited to pass along my knowledge. I am excited to help dress your babies bums in organic cotton, wool, hemp, bamboo. I am excited to make this un-common & un-understood notion of reusable cloth diapers a thing of the past.
Look out! Here we come to change the world one diaper, one bum, one tree, one garbage can, one home at a time. So make sure to check in with us every once in awhile to see what is new in the life of the uncommon bottoms.
Uncommonly,
Laina
