Audrey Roloff has a pretty great problem on her hands.
She is totally and completely in love with being a mother, something she has stated on more than one occasion.
But she also feels guilty any time she’s doing anything other than being a mother, which is likely an issue to which many new parents can relate.
Audrey, who welcomed a daughter named Ember Jean into the world back in September, outlined this internal debate in a lengthy Instagram caption this week.
It accompanied the precious photo of her child featured above.
“I never even thought I would be one of those moms who just wants to lay on the floor playing with their baby all day,” explained Roloff, adding;
“Before I became a mom I used to hear other moms saying things like, ‘oh the newborn phase is my favorite’ or ‘3-6 months is my favorite age.’
“I always figured that my favorite age would be when they can actually communicate with me and are able to do more than eat and sleep. But I was wrong. And now I get it.”
As most mothers would probably verify, the best phase of your child’s life is whatever phase he or she is in at the moment.
(Unless, that is, your child is a 14-year old girl. Yeesh!)
The thing is, Audrey is a working mother.
Yes, she works from home.
Yes, she runs her own business.
But this also means she must be self-motivated in order to make money… and that can be difficult when all she wants to do is cuddle with little Ember.
“When you run your own business or ministry you don’t get “maternity leave” or paid time off,” explained Audrey in her message.
She continued:
“Being an entrepreneur means that if you don’t work you don’t get paid.
“I love love the work I get to do running my shop @shopalwaysmore and our ministry @beating50 and I always assumed it would be so easy to keep working from home with babies.
“I used to think, at least I wouldn’t have to leave them and go into an office for 8 hours every day.”
Audrey, of course, has been criticized a bit in the past for using Ember as a promotional vehicle.
We admit that we’ve been at the forefront of this criticism.
But we’ve never doubted Roloff’s love for Ember, not one bit. Not at all.
Audrey goes on to expound here on how she wants to spend every waking second taking care of Ember and feels terrible when she isn’t doing so.
“Once I had Ember I realized that being present physically isn’t enough. It’s so easy to be physically next to her but emotionally and mentally somewhere else.
“To be feeding her but also on my phone, or rocking her but thinking about the e-mails I need to respond to.
“I feel guilty sometimes for not being able to just stay in bed and play with her, or for putting her in the play gym to be entertained by the dangling animals instead of me.’
We totally get that.
We’ve been there.
But all parents need a break sometimes.
Your mental health isn’t just important for you; it’s important for your kids, too. They need their parents to never feel stressed or burned out.
Roloff wrapped up her caption by seeking some advice and by asking if other women out there feel the same way.
Turns out finding the balance between working and momming is pretty dang hard.
Turns out that I love the newborn phase, and 3-6 month phase, and probally the phase after that, a lot more than I thought I would.
Turns out I’d rather just BE with my baby girl than DO all the other things my days demand. Turns out raising this little girl feels more like my calling than anything I’ve ever done.
I can only imagine this becoming more challenging as our family grows.
How do you working moms do it?! And by working I don’t just mean from an office.
Feel free to respond down below to Audrey’s line of questioning.
And while you’re at it, respond as well to her take on premarital sex!
