Guest Post by Amy Wengreen the founder of  www.tinytouches.com.
The year was 1997 and my first baby boy joined our family. I was thrilled and excited for him to arrive, as it took him 3 years to get to us! I happily left my teaching profession to be a full time stay at home mom. I knew I could do this! Moms have been around, well, since the beginning of time. How hard could this really be? (oh the innocent thoughts of a first time mom.) I got through those sleepless nights. I figured out how to nurse, bathe, hug, sing, snuggle and keep this little human being alive! Phewww….that is a big deal. I was doing okay getting everything figured out when we decided that since it took so long to get #1 here, we better start trying for #2. Well #2 decide to come quickly. So right before my first little guy turned 2 years old, we welcomed baby number two into the family. Ahhh…..it was going to be so great. I had done this before. I was now experienced and ready for the challenge of two little boys.
  
But something was not quite the same. After a few months of adjusting to our little family of 4, I realized I was not feeling back to myself. I was down, depressed and miserable. I couldn’t shake it. Bad case of the baby blues? Actual depression? I didn’t know. I was scared. The sadness, dullness and lacklusterness was not going away.
When my baby turned about 6 months or so, I decided to go to the doctor to see if I could get some help. After a 15 minute appointment, I had a prescription for Prozac. Take this and things will be better. So I did. I took the medication and I felt worse. I felt like a zombie. I would sit in our big chair in the family room and just stare at my children playing on the floor. I felt nothing. I could not figure out what was happening to me. After 3 weeks of this I walked over to the sink and poured the pills down the drain. This was not for me. (note….I do realize that medication is needed in many situations and I am not making light of that fact, I just knew it was not going to help me).
Still, sad and depressed and not sure what to do with myself……..I happened upon an idea. A business that I could do. Once it was in my head I couldn’t get it out. I knew I had to do it. I knew it was for me. I planned, plotted, studied, and focused on how I would start this business from my home. I found that as I focused on something other than how sad and depressed I was, my mood and depression shifted. I found that I started to get excited again. I had something for myself. I think leaving my career as a high school teacher had been a little more difficult than I thought. I loved being home with my children. I loved that I was blessed to be able to stay home with them and that was priority number one. But as many of you know, we women, still need to be thinking, striving, learning and growing. I understand that starting a business is not the answer or solution for everyone. But I feel strongly that each one of us need to find that “thing†that fills our soul. That is just ours. Our children would rather have a happy mom than a sad mom. Find what tickles your fancy and make it work in your life and the lives of your children. There are many ways to keep oneself happy and productive while staying at home with children, but for me, this worked. I was able to stay at home and have a very flexible business that could grow as my children grew. To me, it just made sense. Almost 12 years later I am still running my business out of my home and I credit it to pulling me out of my UGLY depression.
I am Amy. I love life. I love my kids. I love laughing. I love creating. I love books. I love enlightened conversation. I love chips and salsa. I am also the Owner/Creator of Tinytouches.com. I help others find a fun way to work from home.  You can find me here: www.tinytouches.com, tinytouches.blogspot.com, https://twitter.com/#!/
