staying at home

While pregnant and pondering how God would have us raise our children, I really wanted to evaluate my mindset about desiring to stay at home with baby. I had a strong desire to stay at home with baby, feeling that God entrusts parents to raise the children he blesses them with, but that was mostly a feeling / assumption. I didn't feel confident asserting my feelings without a little more consideration...

My knowledge of God's word didn't lead me to any specific guidance for all people at all times to have a parent stay at home. In fact, it could be argued that leaving children for Jesus' sake is condoned:

In fact, everyone who has left his homes, brothers, sisters, father, mother, children, or fields because of my name will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life. Matthew 19:29

Don't read too much into this verse -- I really haven't researched it much.

Not getting a clear message from God's word, I then looked to God's creation.

Mothers are clearly designed to provide nourishment for their babies through breastfeeding - completely through 6 months, and partially til at least one year... even 2+ years. This indicates to me that mothers should be available to feed their babies at least during this time frame.

Also, mothers pass immunities to their babies through breast milk. If mother and baby are in different environments through most of the day, mother may not be passing the immunities that baby needs to him. This indicates to me that mothers should be with their babies most of the time during the breastfeeding period.

These two observations on God's creation helped me feel confident that I should be with baby most of the time at least while he is very young. They also remind me of the story of Hannah and Samuel from 1 Samuel 1:

After the boy is weaned, I will take him and present him before the LORD, and he will live there always.  1 Samuel 1:22

Even when dedicating her son completely to the LORD, Hannah stayed with him until he was weaned.

All this said, I can make no judgement on those mamas who are not able to or choose not to stay near their babies until they are weaned, for,

Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To their own master, servants stand or fall. And they will stand, for the Lord is able to make them stand.  Romans 14:14

saving money while staying at home

I've been thinking about the areas where we are able to save money by me staying at home. Hope this info can help other people plan.

• Breastfeeding - If you are able, even in you have to take supplements for awhile, this can be a huge savings. I know many moms plan to continue pumping when they return to work, but I think most often they don't make it past 6 months. Some moms do, though. One of my coworkers continued to pump for a year and then weaned. Also, the health benefits for baby are hard to put a price on. I was super sick with a stomach bug recently, then hubby got sick, then some of our family was sick here over the holidays, and praise God, Thomas hasn't gotten any of it!
  

• Cloth Diapering - The initial investment is higher than buying a couple packs of disposables, but the savings really adds up, especially if you have more than one child, as you can reuse the diapers. And cloth diapers have a good resale value, so when you're all done with diapers, you can likely get some money from selling your "stash." After trying a number of fancier things, Mike and I would honestly recommend some good prefolds (http://www.nickisdiapers.com/imagine-smart-fit-prefold-diapers-dozen.html) and whichever diaper covers fit your baby best. I do recommend the Imagine Smart Fit Prefolds, as they fit into diaper covers better than the traditional style.
 

http://www.nickisdiapers.com/imagine-smart-fit-prefold-diapers-dozen.html

• Cloth Wipes - This can be an additional savings. We use some cloth wipes and some disposables. You don't need to spend money on fancy cloth wipes, just cut up pieces of flannel or fleece to use. You can buy fancy wipe solutions or make your own, but we just wet our wipes with water.

• Homemade Baby Food - It's pretty easy and cheap to make, and then you know baby isn't eating weird additives. For example, I paid about $1.50 for a butternut squash and made about 16oz of baby food from it. You'll want to invest in some freezable containers for food storage (which you may be able to use for storing breastmilk as well if you end up doing that. I use these: http://www.sensiblelines.com/ I'd kind of rather store in glass, but the freezer fills up quickly if you keep adding containers. With the milk trays, you can pop the frozen milk or food out of the trays and into a storage bag, which takes up much less space.

• Daycare - A huge expense -- price it out in your area. In-home can be cheaper than a center, but sometimes aren't as well regulated. Even when you take vacation and have baby home with you, you'll likely still have to pay for their daycare slot on those days.

• Other bonuses of breastfeeding and cloth diapering are that you aren't always running to the store to try to find deals on diapers or formula.

• Cooking more meals at home instead of eating out / convenience food - This is a goal of mine, but I have to say, I feel I'm still doing a lot of convenience food shopping. I hope to cut down on this.
  

• Borrowing Baby Gear - This can be done whether or not you stay home. We've been able to borrow most of the big item baby gear that is really convenient to have but that baby only uses for a little while including: infant car seat, bouncy chair, swing chair, Bumbo seat, and bouncy horse. Just ask around or post what you're searching for on Facebook. A lot of friends with little ones -- especially if they plan to have more -- are happy to get these items out of their house for a bit while they are not using them! Also, check Craigslist. We had hoped to get a crib for free, but when that didn't work out, we got a very reasonably priced one at IKEA that we really like: http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/40118818/
  

Disclaimers:

• While breastfeeding, I'm more motivated to eat more organic foods. I also eat way more food than usual, especially protein, to try to keep my milk supply up. So your personal grocery costs may go up while breastfeeding -- But, you and baby eating healthier is a bonus :)

• If you and baby are at home, your utility bills will be higher than if you are at work all day.