I run 3 businesses out of my home and I am a full time Stay-At-Home Mom – I think that makes me what we call a Work-At-Home Mom or WAHM!

I started my journey as a birth professional in 2010 and had my first my daughter in 2011. My activity slowed down significantly after having my baby. I've always wanted to contribute to our household income, one way or another, so I decided to also start 2 online boutiques – I’m An Organic Baby and I’m An Organic Mom. Now, I run the 2 online stores from my home and I also teach childbirth education classes out of my home. I meet birth doula clients in their homes and that is really the only time that my work activities take me outside of my house.

I also am a full time mom to my 3 year old daughter and I had a new baby daughter 3 weeks ago. I often wonder how I survive juggling all these roles and I think I narrowed it to 5 essentials:

1. I have a supportive partner.
   
   I honestly don’t think I could do it without my supportive husband. He knows that when it is nap time for my daughter, it is my time in front of the computer. And we both spend most evenings working.
   
   He also does his fair share of cleaning, grocery shopping and cooking. To be perfectly honest, at the end of my recent pregnancy, he did almost all of it. But in general, we share the household tasks.


2. I actually enjoy what I do!
   
   If I didn’t, I would just quit it all. I am very passionate about birth and babies and I love to connect with expecting moms and couples. It is such a privilege to be present at the birth of a new little baby.
   
   I also enjoy running my stores. It is fun and very different from what I have ever done. I also only sell products that I would buy myself, so it makes it easier to be involved in the business.


3. Family life is still my priority.
   
   Weekends are family only, no work (unless of course I am on call for a birth and I receive THE call from a couple, in which case I have to drop everything and go).
   
   When I am with my daughter I am with her 100%. I don’t check my emails, and I focus all my attention on her needs.


4. I carve out time for myself.
   
   Just me, Aurore. Not the mom, not the business woman, not the wife, just me. I work out – I tried pole dancing last year, it was a lot of fun and I may go back to it after this pregnancy. I love to walk. I wander the neighborhood or nearby trails with my little pug and soak up some vitamin D. I feel so refreshed after a good walk. I go to the library and browse the hundreds of books that I will never have time to read. And I see my friends. They are probably the ones that keep me sane the most. Great friends are rare to come by and I am lucky to have several. We chat, we laugh, we listen, we are there for one another.


5. I cut myself some slack. 
   
   I am fortunate that my 3 jobs are self-employed so I don’t have a boss imposing hours upon me. I set some high expectations for myself but if I have an off day, I don’t stress about it. Sometimes, I’d rather read a book than work. I also don't give myself a guilt trip if I have to let my daughter have an additional 30 minutes of TV because I am finishing something related to one of my businesses. These extra 30 minutes help me give her my full attention later on.

School starts back up this September and my daughter will attend 3 mornings a week. That time to myself sounds like heaven, but I now have a newborn so I feel like my working days are limited until further notice. For now, they look like this:

Being a WAHM means that I am often tired and I get very little time for myself but who doesn’t? Stay at home moms are busy from mornings to nights and full time working moms have to juggle everyone’s schedules.

I consider myself very lucky. I get to see my kids grow up but I also grow as a professional woman at the same time. I definitely don’t develop my career as quickly as I could without the time I dedicate to my family, but I’m okay with that!