WAHM: Cindy Heteau

My name is Cindy I live in Rural France in the Loire valley with my husband, my 12 months old son and our 3 dogs.

I am a Yarn retailer and a newbie indie dyer. I help crafters discover the pleasure of colorful, soft hand dyed yarn which is, according to me, the ultimate expression of self care. 

As I started my business not very long before being pregnant, and was already working from home I thought that taking care of my child daily while working won't make a huge difference. I was so wrong !

Morning Routine / Business Support System:

 Every day is pretty much the same and starts with Hiro waking up around 6:30. He is our alarm clock really! While Hiro is enjoying his bottle I check and answer both my email and the comments on social medias. At 7:30 my husband leaves for work. I then, try to keep my little H man entertained for the next three hours for he scarcely sleeps during daytime. My husband takes over when he comes back at 10:30. That is when I start working for my business during a couple of hours. I try to grab 2 or 3 more hours in the afternoon if possible and if I still have enough stamina I work again 1 to 2 hours after dinner (but not everyday) .

Everything needs to be neatly planned so as to make the best of those very short times. I use Evernote a lot. On Sundays I prepare my weekly business planner for the week to come. Each day has it's own to do list. The whole thing evolves during the week depending on what comes up, but my objective is that by the end of the week, everything on that list has to be done. I also came up wih an additional system to “run “ the family stuff but I will tell you more about it later.

Mommy Guilt / Struggle / Family Support System: 

“Mommy guilt” has really torn me appart lately probably because on top of everything I decided to follow the Master Brand course which is quite demanding and leaves me with fewer time to spend with my son (and husband). 

Nontheless, I have to say that I feel really greatfull for being able to spend so much time with him. In my former corporate job I would have never have had the opportunity to see him grow day after day like I do now. I honestly think that as a mom, this is the greatest gift I could ever indulge myself with. He will only be little once after all! 

At the same time, I can't help torturing myself with the same questions probably many business moms ask themselves: Am I doing enough for him?, Am I spending enough quality time with him? Will he resent me later? And it goes on and on and on ! 

Being a work at home mom is nothing like what I expected. I thought my baby would sleep a lot so I could work, that everything would go smoothly... Well, that's not the way it is, not at all! I find myself struggling day after day with my desire to be a successful entrepreneur and the guilt that my business success can lead me too fail as a mother. Although I'm present next to him every single day I quite often find myself not really being here with him. Either because I think of all the things I shoul be doing for my business or I keep running back and foth to my office so as to check one thing or another. My mind is always busy with my job. It really is difficult for me to say: “ok let's spend the next 2 hours together and forget about the rest”.

To make things a bit more bearable for me and the family, I decided I would schedule our family routine in the same way I do with my job. Thus planning some 101 quality time with Hiro and my husband as well. (Being here as a wife, sometimes is, I feel, just as difficult as being here as a mom!) I've also planned half a day per week when Hiro goes to the day care center and asked both grandmas for help. These are definitely the best times for me to work with efficiency. I achieve a lot during those hours like deying for instance. That is the only thing I refuse to do when Hiro is at home. While dyeing I recharge both my batteries and my creativity. This is the closest time I have to leasure time. Although dyeing is tiring I do enjoy it immensly ! 

Once our new schedule will have become a routine I think taking time for me myself alone, will be the next step to enhance my system ! 

You can find Cindy on  Ravelry, Instagram, and Facebook as @MonSheepShop.

 Visit her website here: www.monsheepshop.fr  and http://www.monsheepshop.fr/18-laine-mon-sheep-shop for her recent shop update!

She is also offering a 10% discount for orders over 55€ until June the 5th.

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Is there a work at home mom in the fiber arts you would like to hear from? Leave a comment below and I will do my best to represent them on the series!