I beg your pardon, I never promised you a rose garden.

The photo above is not me. Not in the literal sense of the word, nor in the figurative sense. I didn't realize that when I signed on -in joint agreement, and with encouragement, from the father of my child - to stay home with my baby that I would be expected to live up to the standards of these modern times we inhabit. Yes, these modern times referred to as 1950. Oh the modern convenience of a machine that cleans your carpets! A box that expedites the process of preparing food! Ladies! We live in a time of such revolution!

To be a housewife is to be a member of a very peculiar occupation, one with characteristics like no other. The nature of the duties to be performed, the method of payment, the form of supervision, the tenure system, the "market" in which the "workers" find "jobs," and the physical hazzards are all very different from the way things are in other occupations. Barbara Bergmann

I don't know if i'm alone in saying this, but good-golly I don't believe I should don my high heels and apron and meet my man at the door with his plated dinner on a daily basis. Do not take this the wrong way - I am INCREDIBLY grateful that I get to spend these days with my boy. I'm amazingly fortunate! I wouldn't have it any other way! HOWEVER, I do not believe that today's "housewife," "stay-at-home-mom," "housekeeper/maid/domestic servant" has to be what it was in the past.

I call myself a 'domestic goddess.'. Rosanne Barr

I'd like to embrace my time at home with a different approach all together. Yes, I want a clean and tidy home. Yes, I would like to embrace my culinary curiosity. Yes, I want to take pride in where I am fortunate to live. Most of all, however, I want to LIVE. I want to spend time playing "I'm gonna get you" in the floor even if it means I have to re-wash a load of laundry. The world will keep on spinning if just one day, I decide to nap with Jett for two hours OR watch a WHOLE movie while he snoozes!

In the beginning, I took it all on my shoulders and loaded the pack on my back with weight upon weight upon weight of "status quo" ideas. I had to keep this house super spotless. I had to have dinner prepared in chef-like form. I had to have it all together. That mentality quickly drove me looney, as in batty. It was stupid to think that someone who had ZERO domestic prowess would be able to make that Grand Canyon-size leap. I am no Martha Stewart.

I decided recently that i'm going to make my own status quo. I don't have to do it that old way. I can take care of our baby, our home, our health the best way I can, and that doesn't mean i've got to keep my hair tied nicely in a tight, little chignon to match my freshly applied red lipstick and pressed hem of my skirt. Nevermind my mid-20th century sarcasm... When it comes down to it I want to be able to look back and hum a little Frank. "I did it myyyyyyy way." Then I can say, "Look, we lived through it. We survived!"

No laborer in the world is expected to work for room, board, and love--except the housewife. Letty Cottin Pogrebin

I appreciate more and more, every single day, my female friends who are mothers and workers. My favorite coach who takes care of her baby while taking care of a slew of hormonal girls on a daily basis and managing a classroom and high school politics. The two uber intelligent stay-at-homers who I love because they are SO incredibly smart, yet they don't get near the appreciation for their intelligence that they deserve because they're not on the floor of a courtroom or an emergency room, but rather settling disputes over trucks and trains or applying bandaids to boo-boos because they CHOOSE to. My "Susie," the closest to Martha one may ever come across, who I condiser so brave because she takes on new and creative tasks with such an optimism and excitement that I envy, but is not afraid to reveal even she has her moments of chaos --all the while raising a baby and BAKING another! No pun intended. I love them all dearly, and even those who I've not mentioned, who do it all, and still manage their highs and lows, conquests and failed efforts, pains and joys, tears and smiles.

I love that in this year of modern convenience, it can be acceptable to be a MODERN mommy. I'm going to let it be my new outlook. I'm going to live and love my baby and love my loved ones and be happy. Oh, and I guess I'll still do the laundry and explore in my kitchen, too. On my own terms.

Now why can't our breadwinners just be convinced of this grand theory of mine?