The BiG Story

0: Were you fulfilled?

ready to enter the next stage of
your life: full-time motherhood?

A.L.: Yes, but after two years
of staying home full time, I
was ready for a little more
responsibility. After taking a
Creative Memories scrap-
booking class with a few
friends, I decided to get
involved as a consultant in
the Creative Memories busi-
ness. Now I am an instructor
on scrap booking classes
and a unit leader in training
other people how to have
successful businesses, as I do
today from my home.

KJ.: I kept up the "I can do it
all" pace for about a year. My
daughter, Ashlee, caught pneu-
monia when she was 2 years
old and was hospitalized.
Although she recoverec fine, I
realized my mind could not be
on the job at hand when I felt
Ashlee fleeced me at home, not
a baby-sitter. It was a bitter-
sweet ending leaving the hospi-
tal. I felt a perfect job was slip-
ping through my hands, yet I
wantec to be with my daughter.

Q: Are you able to balance
it all?

Q: Do you still battle with those
feelings?

Amy Lazare: "I set up my household like a system."

KJ.: Today I am a busy stay-at-
home mother, as Randy arid I
now have a second child, Matthew,
who is 2: Looking back, I completely
know I made the right decision to stay
home and raise my family. Yet, I do
reevaluate the situation from time to
time, asking myself if I made the right
choice.
To keep my mind stimulated, I attend
meetings and functions with groups
such as Hadassah Nurses Organiza-
tion, where I enjoy being with other
nurses. I am keeping up with the
required continuing-education credits
needed for my nursing license, so that
when I am ready, nursing will be
there for me.

0: Does that mean you will go back
to work?

KJ.: I think once Matthew is in
school, I will reconsider working
again. But for now, I am content in
my role as wife to Randy and mother
to Ashlee and Matthew.

Amy Lazare: Making the decision
to stay home with my two kids
after a 10-year, demanding, suc-
cessful career that I loved was
the hardest decision I ever had to

,Z6

make — even harder than when I
married my husband, Mark, nine
years ago. Vice president of
sales for my family business, I
had a job with big responsibili-
ties that demanded my attention
five days a week. I went back to
work six weeks after my daugh-
ter, Cara, was born, with a full-
time nanny in the house. Working
60-hour workweeks, I thought I
could do it all — until 21 months
later, when our second baby,
Jarett, came along. With a differ-
ent personality than Cara, Jarett
was the kind of child who need-
ed his mommy.

Q: How did you move forward
with both parts of your life in such
demand?

A.L.: The hard part for me was
that I was at the pinnacle of my
career, with a nice income corn-
ing into our household. Yet at the
same time, my family needed me.
I was battling with the thought
that I was giving up all I had
gone to college for and won-
dered if I was letting my educa-
tion stand idle. I didn't want to be

a quitter, yet I wanted to nurture
and raise my children.
Trading in a briefcase for a dia-
per bag, four years ago I made
the decision to stay home and
raise the kids. Listening to my
heart, I knew I wanted to be at
home.

Q: How did it feel the first morn-
ing you woke up and realized
you did not have to put on panty-
hose?

A.L.: I felt a huge weight off my
shoulders. On the other side,
though, my ego took a huge
slam. You have to realize I was
important to a lot of people for
many years. I built a career that I
was succeeding in, but instead I
consciously devoted my good
mind and skills to Cara and
JaFett. To increase productivity I
set up my household like a system
and became an overachiever. The
kids and I took adventure trips,
baked bread, planted herb beds
in the garden and talked about it
all along the way. I took my role
seriously and discovered the mer
its of being a mom.

e

A.L.: For me, work is what I
choose to do for myself. I
work before the kids wake up
and when they go to sleep, as it
is my rewarding and relaxing
time. I have never gotten a baby-
sitter because of my business, yet
I would not be able to succeed
without the support of my family
and my husband, Mark, who also
owns his own business, Check
Mark Printing. We both make
sacrifices to accommodate each
other's schedules.
Seeing the differences in Cara,
who is now 6, and Jarett, 5,
Mark and I are both firm believers
in doing whatever it takes to have
a mother at home to raise the
children. Yet, we know it is easy
to rationalize when it is the other
way around. We did it when I
went back to work when Cara
was a baby.

Q: And how does your decision
feel now?

A.L.: When you think about
you realize that
your child's
the early years really go fast. My
decision has changed the history
of our family. Finally, I feel like I
am the all-encompassing mom. I