Hi, im Nicole, and Im so glad you’re here! I am a mom, a wife, a student, and a freelancer. And I do it all from home, the library, and the park; and during the summer you will most likely find us at our favorite spot on the Tennessee River.
This wasn’t always the story though, once upon a time I was a waitress, bartender, and a glorified cashier (customer service manager A.K.A managements scapegoat). And yes that was all at the same time.
Life Before Kids
At 18 I spent most of my time working nightshift at Waffle House (where’s all my southerners at?). That was until I was 22, and found myself pregnant. The prospect of being a mom scared the hell out of me, but I was determined to do everything I could for my baby.
When I told my then-boyfriend, who had children that he adored already, he left. The world seemed like it was crashing down around me, but then I got my second job. Yes, two jobs while I was pregnant.
Working Through My Pregnancy
Pregnancy didn’t like me. I was constantly sick, I think for the first 7 months of pregnancy I lived off of sprite, crackers, and neonatal vitamins. This might have been contributed to by the long hours being constantly on my feet and doing physical work, and the lack of sleep. But I pushed through, I made that money. But my lack of financial knowledge didn’t get me that far ahead.
I worked both of my jobs until I physically couldn’t do it anymore. After discovering I had preeclampsia that was getting worse, my doctor pushed for me to take my leave of absence at both jobs early. Then we had to induce labor early at 36 weeks.
The moment that little red-headed boy was laid on my chest and looked up at me with those big blue eyes I fell in love. Love as I had never felt before. And suddenly the stress of two jobs and physical illness no longer mattered. I had this tiny, happy, baby that was curious about everything and already adored his Momma and his Nanna.
Going Back to Work
It broke my heart when I had to go back to work four weeks later. I then worked both jobs again for nearly a year after my son was born. I missed his first words, I missed his first steps, I missed everything. He had everything he needed, except for me.
This is about the time that I decided to move on to bartending, I was fired from one job when I couldn’t get a babysitter last minute and was fed up with the other job. This was a great move for me at the time, I worked less and most of the time made amazing tips. Soon we moved out of my mom’s house and into our own, I got a dog to keep my cat company, and I felt like I was finally grown up.
It was about 6 months after living on my own that I met my now-husband. I immediately felt a connection, and once I felt comfortable enough to introduce him to my son they had an instant attachment to each other.
New Beginnings
After moving in together for about 6 months, he suggested I become a stay-at-home mom. I always hated that thought because I didn’t know how to do that. The thought that I would no longer be adding to our financial resources made my anxiety levels go through the roof.
But not too long after this, I decided to give it a try. And wow, did it take some getting used to, it was so strange at first. I loved not having to worry about how much time I had left before I had to leave for work. But I felt bad because I didn’t feel I was contributing. It took me a while to realize I still had a job, and it was a hard one.
But soon, my husband got laid off from his job, and suddenly we had no income. I decided to go back to work while he found another job. I found a bartending job at an amazing place, they only required me to be there on Friday and Saturday nights. And I was making as much money as I was bartending full time.
My husband soon found another job but I kept my weekend job. It was perfect because I never had to leave before my husband came home, and I always had dinner ready before I left. The boys got to spend quality time chasing the dog around the house. And I got out of the house for a while and no longer felt bad about not contributing financially.
Starting Over… Again
But Nicole, if it was perfect why aren’t you doing that now? Well, shit happens. One day, my dad showed up at my front door and offered to move us to another state, with him. My relationship with my father has always been strained, but I was trying to heal the relationship for my son’s benefit. I wanted my son to be able to know his grandfather and his great-grandmother who also lived close by.
So we uprooted and moved to Walnut Ridge, AR. While we were here we found out we were expecting our second child, and my husband proposed on a beautiful Christmas Eve. For various reasons, we didn’t live here very long about 6 months. Mainly because my husband found a really lucrative job in yet another state.
Finding Home
That’s when we moved to Muscle Shoals, AL., where we still live and love to call home. In the meantime, when we first moved we spent every cent we had on trying to set up our new home. Not to mention traveling back and forth from my mom’s back in Nashville while setting up utilities and other things that were needed before we could move in. And then our only vehicle blew its engine.
We were close to being broke so I decided to look for a job yet again. But I was very obviously pregnant and no one wants to hire the pregnant woman (it is, in fact, illegal to not hire someone just because they are pregnant but you have to prove that’s why. In most right-to-work states it’s not worth pressing the issue).
I felt defeated like I was less than worthy, and again contributing nothing to our family. Over time this was detrimental to my mental health. I spent the next couple of months trying to gather the things we would soon need for our new baby. But Muscle Shoals receives a lot of rainfall through most of the year. That made it hard for my husband to actually get any hours in with the type of work he was doing.
Mom of Two: Down for the Count
We managed to get everything with the help of our families just as I went into premature labor. I was only 32 weeks along when my water burst in the middle of my doctor’s office just as I was being called back for an ultrasound (the nurse and I shared a look of sheer horror). They confirmed that my water had indeed broken and I hadn’t pissed all over myself like I thought.
I was ushered over to the labor and delivery floor of the hospital immediately. After 12 hours and an emergency C-Section, we had our second little red-headed boy at a whopping 4lbs and 7 oz.
I barely got to kiss my son before he was whisked away to an incubator and I was given some serious sedatives to ease my active panic attack. I woke up the next day to my husband asleep on the father’s couch in an otherwise empty room.
We would spend the next month in the hospital not only for our son. But because I had developed a severe case of cellulitis just a couple of hours after being released. Because of this, I was readmitted to the hospital. I wasn’t allowed to go into the NICU to see him because I might have been contagious.
For the first month of my son’s life, I watched from a phone screen as my husband fed our child, changed his diapers, and held him close. While I was stuck in a hospital room not allowed to even get up to use the bathroom on my own.
It’s impossible for me to describe how heartbreaking it was. Not only could I not see my youngest son but my oldest was with my mom back in Tennessee while we were stuck in the hospital (thank you, Mom). I had neither of my children, I was sick, and I was depressed.
Thankfully I had a wonderful nurse while I was there, who managed to get me a 10-minute visit from my youngest in a portable incubator. I couldn’t hold him but I was so happy just to see his little face so peaceful and happy. It wasn’t too much longer before my doctor prescribed me anti-depressants, on top of my regular anxiety medication.
The Light at the End of the Tunnel
A few more weeks passed and the baby and I both were cleared to go home. We met my mom at our house so we could finally introduce our oldest to his little brother. Those first couple of weeks were rough, I had three people needing me for different things, a pile of laundry, a sink of dishes, and 3 hours of sleep.
Not to mention, we were really broke at this point. My husband had basically taken a month off of work in order to help feed our son and learn all the things we needed to know about having a preemie.
My whole life felt like one big mess, and I felt like I was spiraling out of control. That’s when I decided to check out my options on writing for a living. I mean what was I gonna lose at this point?
Working from Home: The Beginning stages
I waded through link after link of scammy websites and finally found IAPWE or International Association of Professional Writers and Editors. This is a great free resource in itself but also has a paid membership that gives you access to their job board. It was this job board where I found my first gig at freelance blogging.
It was for what’s considered a content mill, where clients pay for content to add to their blogs and make them appear higher in search engines. Not long after that, I started at Full Sail University in their Game Design Bachelors program. Suddenly, I found myself with a lot to do, with not so much time anymore.
I found myself struggling to keep up with my daily life, school, and working from home. It took me a while, and a lot of resources, to finally feel like I had my feet on the ground.
Working from Home Through 2020
Then 2020 happened, and we all know that story. As the world shut down I didn’t get as much work during the first part of the pandemic but quickly picked back up once everyone else started to work from home too.
Once everyone started working from home, a lot of parents were struggling because of a lack of childcare, among other things. Little did we know we were navigating a new world.
Filling a Need
Now that the world has started to go back to some sense of normality, working from home seems to be the new American dream. Even though most big corporations are now fighting to get their employees back in the office.
This is causing more and more people to turn to freelance work. But they seem to be struggling with balancing life, work, and everything in between. Just like I was when I first started my journey to working from home.
Why I am Here
This is why I decided to start this blog. To help stay-at-home parents learn to navigate this new world and help give them the tools to succeed. I want to help you with those finer points of working from home that no one seems to want to talk about.
So whether you’re just thinking about quitting your day job or in a situation like I was, I want to help make your dreams a reality. Join me as I share my secrets to living life as a freelancer and stay home parent.
Everything I’ll be sharing is from personal experience and what ive found that works for me and my family. I’ll also be sharing some of my favorite resources, tips, tools, and maybe even a few recipes.
At Home With Nicole 