Am I lazy??

I am a stay-at-home mom. I have been staying home since 1995. I left the working world while I was pregnant with my first child. I was having pregnancy complications and was unable to work. The plan had always been for me to stay home once the baby arrived. We just never planned a date for that to end. Some moms stay home the first twelve weeks. Some stay home until the child starts preschool or kindergarten. I guess in the back of my mind, I assumed I'd stay home until Robbie was firmly established in "real" school (a.k.a. kindergarten.)

Fast forward to August 2001. We were living in a new town, and Robbie was set to start kindergarten. Everything went according to plan, except that I loved volunteering in his classroom. So, I postponed going back to "real" work. Then September 11th happened, and I found myself re-evaluating our choice to have just one child. Something about that time period made me take a closer look at what I wanted for my life. Reuben and I decided our family would never seem complete with just one child. We would always wonder if we should have had one more child. We decided it was time to have another. God blessed us with a quick conception before we had a chance to change our minds.

Being pregnant again, working outside of the home was the furthest thing from my mind. I had a good five years to contemplate that decision, right? I did dabble in real estate when Brady was about three years old. It wasn't for me. I liked the work. I hated the atmosphere. I'm not competitive or accomodating enough for that field. It was a hobby for me, and a livelihood for my co-workers. This doesn't make for a good combination.

Anyway, here we are nearly eight years after Brady's birth, and I'm still at home. Does this make me lazy? It's not like I sit around doing nothing all day every day. My life is consumed with laundry, cooking, dishes, and housework. Evenings are full of dinner, homework, and ballgames. I really don't know how working moms manage their homes. I guess by being gone all day the house may stay cleaner. Reuben is home with me a majority of the time. His boilermaking job allows him to be home for months at a time. If I weren't home to stay on top of the housework, the house would swallow us up.

I guess I'm just looking for some validation. Is my job an important one? Would I contribute something more significant to society if I worked outside of my home? Would I be a better wife and mother? I don't know what the answers are. Sometimes it helps just to ask the questions, even if the answers are elusive.