Greetings!

You know there’s a trend or a change happening in society when a well-educated, suburban Chicago twenty-something decides to pass up more hours at work in order to have more time with her baby. Yes, I am talking about me.

Zooey and I love taking walks and being outdoors!

Recently, I was offered the chance to pick up more hours at my part time job as a children’s librarian. The job would still have been part time, but would really just have been a few hours short of full time. After being offered this, my husband and I poured over possible babysitting arrangements for our 8-month-old baby daughter, Zooey, but the decision boiled down to our beliefs about family life. Being offered more hours sounds appealing, especially when you like your job and know you’ll be making more money, but we thought about what we valued most. I thought, if I were to look back on my life, what would be most important to me and us? Would it be having more money, or would it be spending the most amount of quality time possible with our daughter and creating a warm household? You already know I chose the second—I picked being a mommy and running a household.

HBOs Sex and the City was filled with
images of "successful" urban women.

Growing up in the 80’s and 90’s, I saw images of strong, career-driven women laughing over martinis with their girlfriends at clubs in cities, with all notions of domesticity thrown out the window. It seemed that anyone who was a “stay at home mom” was considered uneducated, didn’t know what to do with themselves, was a gold digger, a slacker, a waste. Take Charlotte from HBOs Sex and the City. When she gave up her career to be a full time mom, the general reaction from her friends was that she was giving her whole life up. Of course Charlotte was not even pregnant at the time, but you can imagine, based on how they treated other full time moms that they would not have reacted too differently even if she had been. The 80’s and 90’s were much more consumerist too, so the idea of cooking, crafting, and being a mommy every step of the way had less value. It was more about fast, quick, and convenient. Today, people still value fast, quick, and convenient, but women are also valuing the importance of the home life at a Crockpot-cooking pace. Being a mother and a homemaker requires wit, creativity, and the utmost care and love.

Today, we’re experiencing a rebirth of what motherhood and homemaking truly is. At one point in time, women ran the household, doing everything from preserving strawberry jam, to making the candles, to knitting sweaters, and today, women are preserving strawberry jam, making the candles, and knitting sweaters. Well, sure, not everyone. But for goodness sake, if backyard chickens are considered trendy, I think we are in for a revolution!

So, considering this revolution, my blog, Middle Coast Mommy, is here as a guide, an inspiration, a friend for all those other mommies or homemakers who LOVE their families and love to cook, garden, craft and create. I look forward to sharing my ideas and experiences with you and hearing your stories and ideas in return!

Happy reading!