In one month, I will be leaving the place I have been gainfully employed for the last six years.

I am both terrified and excited by this prospect. Six years of my life have revolved around walking in those doors five days a week. I love my job and my colleagues, and (for the most part) the six years have been fulfilling and enjoyable. (Every job has its down-sides, and this one was by no means perfect.)

However, here are some people who can give 40 hours of their energy a week at a job and still care well for their families, and I am not one of them. Even before having children, I slept most of my days off or spent the days staring at the computer or TV screen. Add a baby, now toddler, into the mix, and I have been running at the ragged edge of what my mind and body can sustain.

We will be paying off our last credit card in the next 3-4 weeks, thanks to 10 months of hardcore debt snowballing. At that point my salary becomes nice, but unnecessary. Jesse is now at a job that covers all of our monthly expenses, with career development opportunities available.

So what are going to be doing with yourself?

First and foremost, I will be loving on my daughters while they are awake. Right now, I get AJ up to get her dressed, fed, and out the door to daycare. She doesn’t nap incredibly well for anyone (me, my mom, or daycare), so that means she usually falls asleep on the way home, and I carry her in to start the bedtime routine. The longer it has gone on, the less bearable it has become. (I will admit to some days being rather gleeful at dropping her grumpy butt off with someone else.) :D

With the addition of another little one, it is both financially unsustainable to pay for full-time childcare and emotionally unsustainable for our family. Since part-time employment is not an option in my current position, I am choosing to leaving the corporate world, perhaps permanently.

But Amy, you just don’t seem like, you know, the domestic type.

Tell me about it. But I am going to give my best shot at being the domestic support my husband and children so desperately need and haven’t gotten.

But aside from that, I am starting a freelance web development business. My hope is to be able to keep my skills sharp and continue to be involved in the industry I love so much. I am going to be working on my discipline by keeping fairly strict “office hours” for myself. It wouldn’t do any good to stop working full-time for someone else only to move on to working (more than) full-time for myself. I am hoping to find a balance somewhere around 16-20 hours a week.

For those of you interested, (I’ve heard there are a few) I am not currently accepting any new projects, but you may contact me at amy [at] tuimaladesign [dot] com.

On top of that, I started designing jewelry last year. I would like to spend some time expanding my line & refining my designs. I also just haven’t had the time to get my eCommerce site set up, so all my sales have come by word of mouth and personal request.

I would also like to finish up that novel that I started for NaNoWriMo, and working for myself gives me the ability to put projects on hold while I spend the brain energy on that process.

In short, I’m going to be one busy mama. But I’ll have time to be a wife &amp, mama first, and everything else can flow into place after that.

Wait, did you say daughters?

Yes. Yes, I did.

We cut these cupcakes open to reveal the gender to our family.