I figure if you’re going to write a blog you might as well start at the beginning…well at least one of the many different new beginnings that create a life lived. When I started on this adventure as a Stay at Home Mom aka Corporate Dropout 10 years ago I had no idea what I was actually getting myself into. I had worked in product development for the last 10 years and my husband and I had 3 boys aged 6, 2, and 9 months. Frankly we were exhausted, between my husband and I, one of us were travelling half the year leaving the other home with the kids trying to manage our shit show. There was an overwhelming feeling that I was not doing well with my job, my kids, or my overall life. It’s the old saying jack of all trades master of none. I quickly realized that at the pace we were going that we were either going to get divorced or raise delinquents and I wasn’t okay with either option. So after much deliberation we decided that I would take a step back from my job and focus on the boys. I’d like to say I was completely confident in our decision but in reality I was scared to death. I was excited for the adventures that awaited us but I had a huge fear that I was making a terrible mistake. While the job I had was incredibly stressful, I enjoyed most parts of it. I truly liked so many of the people that I worked with that I felt like I was leaving a part of an extended family. I vividly remember going through my exit interview and I got all the standard questions that come with someone leaving a company. One of the last questions was “What do you look forward to the most in your new role?” My answer…Yoga Pants, still to this day I hope the people that had to read my responses got at least a chuckle out of that answer. My last day at the office was filled with tears and I’ll never forget the President of our company carrying my boxes to my car and telling me if I was ever ready to come back to let him know. As I sat in my car I had to wonder if I had absolutely lost my mind, was I actually going to leave? Was this what I was supposed to be doing? Should I really walk away from all of the work that I had done and the identity of who I thought I was? That weekend didn’t feel any different than any other. I remember we had a wedding on Saturday and we relaxed with the boys on Sunday. I felt especially exhausted that weekend, I couldn’t put my finger on it but something felt off. I woke up on Monday for my first day on the job, selected an extra comfy pair of yoga pants and was ready to attack my new role with a vengeance, all be it a very tired one. After feeling out of whack all morning I decided to check something and low and behold I was right. At lunch Adam decided to come home and see how I was holding up on the new job. I met him at the garage door, I couldn’t help myself I was in full panic mode. He got one foot in the door before I blurted out “I’m PREGNANT!!” My loving husband of 12 years, who I had 3 boys with, the last 2 only 15 months apart, simply replied you could have at least let me have a ham sandwich first. I started laughing, he started laughing and that was the how I dropped a nuclear bomb on my husband about baby number 4. At one point during that lunch Adam looked at me and asked what I was thinking and I said, All weekend long I wondered if leaving my job was the right thing or if I had made a terrible mistake. Now all I can think of is well played God, well played…And that marked the beginning of our family of 6.