JUST a stay at home mom

I went out to dinner a while back with my former co-workers.  I am a licensed school psychologist and stopped working at the end of last year to stay home with my son, Hayes, who was born in August of 2010.  Anyway, at dinner, a new psychologist, completely innocently, asked, "So you're just a stay at home mom?".  If you can't hear the tone, then you don't know that he meant nothing derogatory by the question, but was genuinely interested if I was doing anything else.  I took no offense, but it also made me start thinking about how I used to view the "stay at home mother".  The dreaded denim jumper wearing, Bible toting, scrunchy obsessed, ketchup stained disaster, who sat around doing nothing all day, stay at home mom, was nothing I ever wanted to be.  I had such a stereotype of these women who had such a total lack of regard for themselves and their positions in society.  I went to school for seven years and there was no way I was ever going to become one of "them".  And yet here I am, blogging, hair three different colors due to intensive need of color and cut, boobs full of rocks from nursing, and clothes stained with applesauce and baby puke.  Somehow, though, I completely misjudged this profession.  I assumed it was for women who lost respect for themselves, but I'm finding, that we as a society have lost our respect for stay at home mothers.  Actually, we've just lost respect for mothers in general.  I intend to go back to work, eventually... But in the mean time, it frankly makes me embarrassed at how I used to judge mothers who didn't work.  Only now can I appreciate the true "career" that being  a mother is!  It is so much HARDER than being a school psychologist.  If I was stressed at work, I could grab a cup of coffee, take a few deep breaths at my desk and relax for a bit.  If I did that now, my son would be dead from either electrocution, blunt force trauma, or a hazardous fall.  Anyway, I guess my point is that we need to start thinking of "stay-at-home-moms" in a new light and start giving credit where credit is due.  Well, duty calls (Hayes whines).  I will be back, and I have much more to say....