SAHM

These past 3 months I have been living the life of a SAHM, or Stay At Home Mom, for those not up to speed on their mommy acronyms.  (To be fair, it took me all three months on the various blogs and websites to decipher the acronyms and I still don’t know them all: LO = Little One, STTN = Sleep Through the Night, EBF= Exclusively Breast Fed, FTM = First Time Mom, DD = Dirty Diaper, and DH = I still have no idea).

But I digress, this post is not about acronyms, but my time being a stay at home mom, especially since I am heading back to work in two weeks and Oskar is heading to daycare tomorrow.  Trying to articulate the internal battle of wanting to work vs. wanting to spend every hour with Oskar all the while knowing that I will be a better and more present mom if I can work and knowing Oskar will do great being around other kids in a more structured environment is not even possible.  I have yet to fully understand all of these emotions let alone be able to describe them.  So instead, I want to pay tribute to the group of women I have met these past few months being a stay at home mom. 

I was warned that having a baby can be very lonely in those first few months, so I made every effort to leave the house and get engaged in the community.  Before Oskar was even two weeks old I ventured out of the house and down the street to Carmel Blue for their weekly Mommy and Me play group.  Designed for parents and babies under 6 months old, this weekly meet up became my touch point for the week to interact with other new moms and share stories and advice to make me feel saner. It was through this group that I met some amazing women that parlayed into “mommy and me yoga” and me hosting my own playdate at our house (complete with champagne for the moms…I may have changed, but I am still me).

Through Carmel Blue I was also able to learn about various other activities in the neighborhood to keep Oskar and my days’ occupied.   We are in the process of learning sign language, how to introduce foods to your baby (so we will be ready when the time comes) and I will be taking a sleep training class here shortly. 

Prior to having a baby, I never realized how baby-friendly our neighborhood and San Francisco overall is.  It is amazing how many things there are to do both locally in North Beach as well as throughout the city with a baby under 6 months old.  There is enough each day to get us out of the house and socializing with other moms and babies, so much that we didn’t get around to doing everything!

And so while I know going back to work is a good thing (and required), I could easily imagine myself being a SAHM. 

Two of Oskar's future class mates at Tel Hi... Franny and Rory

Playdate at our house with Rory, Micah and Jack

Mommy and Me Yoga with Yulia, Roxanne, Annabelle and Elisa!