Living the dream

'The dream' as I put it back in 2011 when I started this blog - 
"To stay as happy as we are now, to have the time we want together (and with our own family in the future) and to live sustainably on our own land. That's it really, the simple, good life."
Note the first 2 points, they are the most important to us and thats what this post is about :) 

We are definitely succeeding with the 1st one, in fact we are even happier, we laugh, hug, play, smile and joke around just as much. The 2nd point is always a balancing act, we want to work, to earn money for the 3rd point and yet we place huge importance on the time we have together since for us that is directly related to how happy we are - point 1! So both of us working full time for someone else, commuting and just being away from each other for so much of the week never quite sat right with us. We're soppy, I know :) 

Now with Ché Phoenix here too the time we spend together, as a family, is even more crucial.  


I have been working towards being, at least partly, self employed for a while with The Itty Bitty Book Company. That's going really well since being off on maternity and I'm loving spreading the positivity with them! I'm working on my time management, and getting better at it :) I'm finding little ways to be mum and business woman at the same time, like walking down to the post box with Ché Phoenix. That's my daily exercise and book dispatched in one :)


People said to us you can't do anything the 1st year of having a baby, it's crazy, you'll be exhausted, you'll have no time for yourself etc ect. We decided to ignore them! If your whole world is going to be turned up-side-down and re-arranged anyway then as you're finding your flow and settling into this wonderful new world with your baby, why not put it back together the way you want to? We knew it was up to us to decide how this first year was going to be and we decided we are going to make it amazing! It's our year of new beginnings in so many ways.

I'm not the only one making changes this year, Al has decided to start his own business too! He'll be doing freelance graphic design from home :) We are so excited about this :) This is such a special time for us, for our family and we'll never get it back so it's super important that we are happy and have no regrets about how we spent this time in years to come. Al is such a loving and dedicated father and husband and spending 11 hours a day (including commute) 5 days a week away from his son and wife during this time just wasn't acceptable to him. He's always been a courageous person who isn't scared of taking a risk if the reward will be worth it. I admire him so much for taking this step. I know he'll make working from home a success and the bonding time he'll have with Ché Phoenix will be priceless too :)

"Never separate the life you live, from the words you speak" - Paul Wellstone

12 comments:

  1. Hope you both exceed at being self employed and that it makes your life happier.....if that is possible xx
    Sylvia

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    1. Thanks Sylvia, you gotta keep working on your happiness, we make it our 1st priority always :) xx

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  2. So glad to hear you're not losing sight of your priorities on your journey :-) Sounds to me like you both have a fabulous plan! I'm right there with you, too about a baby not throwing your whole world upside down :-) You just have to find your new flow, and there's beauty in that.

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    1. No way Bee Girl, its all about the journey or we'd wake up one day and wonder what we did with the last x number of years! Gotta love every day :) x

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  3. Wishing you both the best of luck with your new (work) adventures. Eveyone is different and can only do what is right for them, but I think that you have made the best decidsion to spend as much time together as you can as a family. As you said this time is priceless and you will never get it back xx

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    1. Thanks very much :) What ever happens we'll never regret spending more time together :) xx

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  4. Your life and plan sounds very much like ours tp a certain extent. We both worked really hard to be able to afford our little smallholding. Ive done jobs where I haven't got back before 8 but it enabled us to save a lot of money. I'm self employed but be warned you end up doing more and taking less time off as its your business. One of the best decisions I made was making surei have Monday's off to spend with my daughter, otherwise on the weekend its easy to get distracted amd end up doing jobs rather than quality time with her. We've got a big mortgage to pay off but at the moment the work life balance seems to working, we've made sacrifices (like no holiday last year and we don't go out much) but its worth it. Good luck to you both (or three now) I hope you find the right balance that suits you best

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    1. Hey Kev, thanks for the tips :) We know being self employed has its downfalls and that time management will be a massive focus point so that we don't end up working MORE lol But it's exciting and so rewarding too. Also we have less pressure than most with regard to outgoings, we keep our bills down and are just renting atm, We'll not be getting a big mortgage and when we do buy our outgoings will actually be less so hopefully the wee businesses we'll be running will more than support us with plenty family time too :)

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  5. Totally agree, we're having our 1st baby and everyone has an opinion. You wouldn't believe the uproar when we said we would start without a buggy as we want to carry her with us. Life is about making the choices that suit you and yours. I do love being soppy with my hubbie and feel for people who aren't as lucky and happy as us. Good luck in your new adventures x

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    1. Congrats on the baby Nim! lol I can totally relate - we dont have a buggy either and it was quite a shock to most people. You'll never be happy trying to please everyone and they won't be happy either so do what makes you happy and others will respect you for it :) Lovely to hear about another super happy lovey dovey couple lol x

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  6. Go for it! I think you guys sound like you have it sorted, you know what you want from life and are not afraid to take on new challenges and adventures to get there. Al's new business will be both rewarding and challenging, I get the feeling he will cope with the curve balls and be flexible enough to work as required even if it is at 'non office' hours to get a job completed in order to take some time during the day to spend with you & Che Phoenix (sorry my keyboard doesn't have one of those wee thingies to go ove the e in Che).

    Our boys had to fit in with us when they arrived, sure it was hectic at times, but they are now two very adaptable young men who are not thrown at the merest sign of a hiccup or change of plan. They went out when I wanted to, slept in car seats anywhere, any time and that worked well for me. Follow your heart and parent the way that feels best to you - which I know you are.

    Change is Good - I like to think so anyway!

    Sx

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    1. It's so lovely to get such great support and encouragement here, sometimes it surprises me since we don't always get it in 'real life' - don't you wanna move to ireland and we can be friends lol

      Yes Al is really flexible and after years of working in the print industry he's really good with time management so I know he'll do great :) That sounds like just how we were brought up and I had the happiest childhood and am super adaptable and relaxed as a person and I'm sure thats why.

      Im so new to this being a mummy thing but already I'm so sure of certain things, I guess you just know what's best for your family :) xxx

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