I didn’t feel it when I pulled my car out of the parking lot on my final day at work like I thought I would, though I was happy to finally be headed home. And even when I was greeted by The Hubs and The Munchkin that evening it still didn’t hit me (though it was a very happy reunion).

But when I woke in the wee hours of the morning on Tuesday, my head swirling with thoughts about a client event that had occurred over the weekend, I suddenly realized that it was no longer my concern. My primary responsibility now is my family – exactly what I felt it should be. And with that understanding, it suddenly began to sink in.

I felt the knots that had been living in the pit of my stomach for the past two years start to melt away. I easily slipped back into sleep for a few more hours until The Munchkin decided our day should begin.

The day was long and tiring and absolutely wonderful.

We ran errands and played outside. Practiced potty time and read books. We sang songs and had a blast getting messy with a fun finger painting project for Grandparents Day. We had just bought the paint that morning, never having had much of an opportunity to do many craft projects together before.

I watched with glee as The Munchkin dipped and swirled and amused herself with the colors and textures she was experiencing. The Grandparents Day project turned out perfectly imperfect. But we were having too much fun to stop there. By the time we were really done, our entire kitchen table was filled with blue-, orange-, green- and purple-swirled pieces of artwork and handprints.

All throughout the day, and especially during this project, I was fully aware that I would be missing all of this if I had been working that day. And it was bittersweet to realize that this is what I had been missing all that time.

While The Munchkin napped, I actually got laundry done and cleaned our refrigerator. I had dinner cooking when The Hubs got home from work. And for once on a weekday, I actually enjoyed the cooking process.

After The Munchkin went to bed, exhausted as I was, I even found the energy to clean up after our day of fun and prepare our home for another day together.

By the time my day was over, I could barely keep my eyes open. But tired as I was, I didn’t feel worn out. In fact, strange as it may sound, I felt refreshed. Accomplished. The way you feel after a really great workout. And I couldn’t wait for the next day to begin.

I still have a lot to learn about this whole stay-at-home-mom thing, for instance, when to actually find time to shower and get myself dressed and ready for the day. But I’m so looking forward to figuring it all out as we go.

And I’m so incredibly thankful to have the chance to learn it.

No more saying, “Someday…” or “I wish…” or even “When…” I can now proudly say I am a stay-at-home-mom. And you know what? I really like the sound of that!

This post is linked to Thank You Journal over at Alli-n-Son. Head on over there to see what else people are appreciating this week.

Anything worth having is worth the wait, and that, loyal readers, is what we’re doing. Waiting. Not long, just two more months.

I know, I know, I already said that I was going to quit my job at the end of June. And I wanted to. Man, how I wanted to. But there’s this thing called reality. And the reality is: we’re not financially ready quite yet.

See, June was a bit more of a challenge for us than April or May. There was this thing called vacation wherein we visited my father who lives far away, some unexpected car repairs, and I’ll be honest: we were lazy and ate out more than we budgeted for in June.

And while we still came in under budget in terms of living on just The Hubs’ salary, we fell a little short of our six-months-of-expenses rainy day fund. Because the reality is this: we needed this three-months-on-one-salary trial to determine precisely what amount six-months-of-expenses would be.

Having documented and completed three months of our spending habits we now have an exact number. We averaged our total spending for April, May and June and then multiplied it by six. Our actual savings came out a bit short.

Two more months of working should easily make up the difference.

So that’s the plan. I will officially be a stay-at-home-mom as of September 1 – and oh, let me tell you that day will be glorious!

We have a firm, realistic date and a plan – something that in spite of the fact that it means I will miss the summer at home, is an incredibly wonderful thing, and I’m thankful for it. Because, while I want to stay home with my baby girl more than anything (I hate missing just a single moment of her life), I want to be able to do so responsibly.

Remember, this is a choice we’re making because it’s what’s best for our family. And in this economy, job security is not what it used to be. That is something we need to take into consideration. We certainly don’t expect The Hubs to suddenly lose his job without warning, but in this day and age, it’s becoming a more regular occurrence and we need to be prepared in the meantime. This rainy day fund, six months of living expenses that will not be touched, will give us the padding and time to make a sudden transition should that ever be required of us.

So yes, our plans have been delayed, and I’m not going to tell you that it’s not devastating a bummer, because it is. But on the positive side of things, I know that when I’m finally able to leave my job on the last day of August, I will be able to plunge confidently into this next phase because we took this time to prove to ourselves that we could do it.

We will be prepared financially for any curveballs life throws at us. And there will be curveballs – you can count on it. With these extra two months we’re taking to plan for them though, we’ll be able to tell whether or not to swing.

This post is linked to Thank You Journal over at Alli ‘n Son. Head on over there to see what others are thankful for.