A Little About Me and This Site
Hi! My name is Pam. Most importantly, I am a Christian and I believe that everything that has happened in our lives up to this point has been part of God's plan. I believe it will continue in the future. I simply try to make the best decisions for our family based on the idea that life is not in my control.
Our family consists of my awesome techy husband and three kiddos (Girl, Boy, Girl). Our fur baby, the English Bully, Lucy, passed away at 11.5 years old early June 2017. We had her for six years before kiddos. She will be missed, but we know she isn't suffering.
November 2013, I left the best job I had ever had to stay at home with my kiddos (Again, God leading the way). This is a new and very exciting chapter in my life and we are finding a new normal. This blog is to document this journey and share my successes and failures and learn from you as well.
I am passionate about: God and growing my faith, being the wife my husband needs me to be and a mom my kids need me to be, living naturally, eating clean, living within a budget, organization and structure, taking back responsibility for our health and lastly fertility issues, specifically polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). These items will be the inspiration of my posts as I work toward my goals as a stay at home mom.
I grew up on a family row crop farm in the midwest/southern region. I definitely have an accent and it gets stronger the farther south I go. ;) I have always been interested in agriculture; so much so that my degrees are in Agbusiness and Agricultural Economics. I never would have guessed back then that that I would be such a nutrition and health nut, but here we are. Everything I have learned in agriculture and my experiences growing up affect my views today, but they also help me stay within moderation. I love nutrition and learning more about how the body works, although exercise is definitely my weakness.
My husband and I started dating in high school and got married after college. We moved to Oklahoma for me to attend graduate school - Go Pokes!! Then we moved for my first real post-graduate school job and for my husband to go to school (again). Our last move between states was to Mid-Missouri. We are a half a days drive to family and absolutely love the town we live in now, our neighborhood and the friends we have made, who have actually become our family.
If you are reading this then I am incredibly excited and would love to hear from you. This blog is primarily my outlet, but would love to connect with other moms and women. Visit my other pages to hear more about my pregnancy and birth stories (Baby Girl and Little Man and hopefully soon baby #3's story). I decided to include specific information regarding my beliefs, trials and errors and overall general information on the other pages listed. I realize this site is not your typical blog setup, but it's how I felt I needed to include the information.
Just as a disclaimer, I am in no way an expert in nutrition, fitness, children, or anything else. What you read here are only my opinions and personal experiences. It is also not my intention to be controversial. I believe everyone has to make decisions for their own family and that is exactly what I do. It may not work for your family and that is OK, it's what makes us all unique and able to learn from each other.
Thanks!!
Pam
Our family consists of my awesome techy husband and three kiddos (Girl, Boy, Girl). Our fur baby, the English Bully, Lucy, passed away at 11.5 years old early June 2017. We had her for six years before kiddos. She will be missed, but we know she isn't suffering.
November 2013, I left the best job I had ever had to stay at home with my kiddos (Again, God leading the way). This is a new and very exciting chapter in my life and we are finding a new normal. This blog is to document this journey and share my successes and failures and learn from you as well.
I am passionate about: God and growing my faith, being the wife my husband needs me to be and a mom my kids need me to be, living naturally, eating clean, living within a budget, organization and structure, taking back responsibility for our health and lastly fertility issues, specifically polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). These items will be the inspiration of my posts as I work toward my goals as a stay at home mom.
I grew up on a family row crop farm in the midwest/southern region. I definitely have an accent and it gets stronger the farther south I go. ;) I have always been interested in agriculture; so much so that my degrees are in Agbusiness and Agricultural Economics. I never would have guessed back then that that I would be such a nutrition and health nut, but here we are. Everything I have learned in agriculture and my experiences growing up affect my views today, but they also help me stay within moderation. I love nutrition and learning more about how the body works, although exercise is definitely my weakness.
My husband and I started dating in high school and got married after college. We moved to Oklahoma for me to attend graduate school - Go Pokes!! Then we moved for my first real post-graduate school job and for my husband to go to school (again). Our last move between states was to Mid-Missouri. We are a half a days drive to family and absolutely love the town we live in now, our neighborhood and the friends we have made, who have actually become our family.
If you are reading this then I am incredibly excited and would love to hear from you. This blog is primarily my outlet, but would love to connect with other moms and women. Visit my other pages to hear more about my pregnancy and birth stories (Baby Girl and Little Man and hopefully soon baby #3's story). I decided to include specific information regarding my beliefs, trials and errors and overall general information on the other pages listed. I realize this site is not your typical blog setup, but it's how I felt I needed to include the information.
Just as a disclaimer, I am in no way an expert in nutrition, fitness, children, or anything else. What you read here are only my opinions and personal experiences. It is also not my intention to be controversial. I believe everyone has to make decisions for their own family and that is exactly what I do. It may not work for your family and that is OK, it's what makes us all unique and able to learn from each other.
Thanks!!
Pam
From Working Full-Time to Staying at Home
I reluctantly went back to work after maternity leave with our first child to a job half an hour from our home. I had always wanted to stay at home when we had kids, but it was not an option at the time. I had also been praying for knowledge with my job situation. There were several months that required nights and I hated being away from my family. A few weeks later, what I thought was my dream job, literally fell in my lap.
My husband saw in the newspaper where this company had applied for business license (this was not a job posting). It was a company that was exactly what I studied in graduate school. I cold called and several months later had an interview and started within two weeks. It was a huge salary increase and a mile from our house. It was doing what I thought I had always wanted to do. The problem? The hours were killing me. I did not have the same desire anymore since having my daughter. With hesitation, because I do not believe in job hopping and giving up so quickly, I started looking for a different more family friendly job. I started in March 2012 as a data analyst with the company that I recently left to stay at home.
Little did I know that a data analyst was actually my dream job. The people were great, my supervisor was an amazing Christian woman and I felt like I had worked there forever in my first week because I loved what I was doing and for the first time, I felt confident in the work I was doing. We had also decided around this time that if we wanted another child that we should probably start trying, not knowing how long it could take. To our surprise, I was pregnant by April. The thought of me staying at home after the second was born lingered, but it wasn't until my husband received a promotion that sealed the deal. The promotion required more hours for him to work and he was not going to be able to be as flexible about taking off work. My job was very, very family friendly, but I didn't feel like I could give 100% to my job in a way that made me feel successful while still giving my family 100%. It was a difficult choice, to leave this amazing job, but one that I am glad I did. So, in November 2013, I became a stay at home mom with my daughter and my son was born the end of December.
I go into detail because I believe it was all part of God's plan. I honestly believe that I had to leave a job that I did not necessarily want to leave. I was not leaving the job, I was choosing to be home with my kids. There is a very real difference. It is amazing how God works on our hearts and in ways that we cannot see until later, sometimes much later. I still believe that there is even more to come in the plan God has laid out for me and my family.
I do have a dream of someday sharing my knowledge and experiences about nutrition and PCOS with people in a way that could hopefully help them, maybe this blog is a start, not sure yet. I feel very passionate about these topics although I am not perfect. I am not going to say that you would never see me eating some delicious frozen custard (with M&M's please), but I believe in moderation and making choices in the given moment that is best for me and my family. I do want to eat more organic foods and start my own garden. I also want to have a better routine for cleaning my house and feel not so overwhelmed by the multiple loads of laundry that need to be folded, but that is what this blog is about. This is my journey to becoming the stay at home mom that I need to be while focusing on God for direction and wisdom.