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Okay, here is my delima. Back at the end of June I took a job with them knowing that I was pregnant. I told them it would be no problem, that i would be back after the baby was born. Well now I'm so torn. In the beginning my mother-n-law said she would watch the baby and I was fine with that but their are a couple of problems with that. One being that my husband would be the one dropping off the baby but he would have to wake the baby up at 4:30 in the morning to do this. Plus I just found out that i only get 6 weeks maternity leave. I guess that is normal but I thought it was 12 so now i'm having a hard time knowing I have to leave my baby after just a month and a half. I would love to work from home or stay home but we can't afford it. I'm not looking for any quick fix for this. I know that some people post on here saying where you can do this but i'm not into that. I'm just torn on what I need to do. I actually graduated from Culinary school and would love to cook on the side to make up for my lost income if I quit but I dont' know how to get that started. I love to bake. Do I just bite the bullet and go back? This is my first baby and I know it is going to be so hard to leave. ↓
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| Name: jamberrt | Date: Oct 30th, 2006 9:02 PM |
Cook or bake...or both??? Try approaching smaller restaurants and offer to make desserts. Advertise in a ritzy area of town - flyers in the mailbox to provide food for cocktail parties...with Xmas coming - baking??? I work from home and in an office. If you're interested...I don't share here because I'm not here to recruit!!! [email protected]
I can't imagine leaving after six weeks. I'm in Canada and we get a year! ↑ |
| Name: marija | Date: Oct 31st, 2006 2:00 AM |
| hi my cousin does wedding cakes and novelty birthday cakes from home and delivers them locally. she started off by word of mouth and it became a hit, she now advertises on the net and has two other mothers helping her. ↑ |
| Name: marija | Date: Oct 31st, 2006 2:01 AM |
| i actually thought about taking up a cake decorating course and joining in...im not very artistic though..ho hum ↑ |
| Name: babywilson | Date: Oct 31st, 2006 2:32 PM |
| I've thought of all of these ideas myself. I'm just not sure how to get started. I'm actually going to try and get my husband to help out with the "selling" of me!! He is good with people and would make a great sales person. I get kinda shy with this stuff. Getting better though. I actually started looking into getting a booth at our local craft/food fair. Hopefully that will work.too ↑ |
| Name: KarenM | Date: Nov 1st, 2006 6:09 AM |
| After 5 months off with my little, my first day of work is tomorro...husband will take baby for Wednesdays and Daycare for Fridays (I was lucky enuff to go down to two days a week instead of three). When we first got preggo, I thought I would only get 6 weeks off (well 8 in my case cause I hadda have a c-section). But it turns out that the family leave act allows you 12 additional weeks of "bonding time" with your baby. I am not sure if this is across the States or just in California, but I would check into the availability of it at your work. To clarify, only 6 weeks of those 12 weeks is paid, but at least thats something. You have the choice of when you want the 12 weeks to kick in, andif you want to take all 12 or only 6 or only 4 or whatever. I didn't surf to see if it's across the States or not because I really have to get to bed (up at 4:30am), but I thought I would at least throw out the idea. Hope this helps...and good luck! ↑ |
| Name: KarenM | Date: Nov 1st, 2006 6:10 AM |
| off with my "little one" I meant...me tired ↑ |
| Name: babywilson | Date: Nov 9th, 2006 5:07 PM |
| Well an update to this, is that I got in contact with my cities Travel and Toursim office and they want me to bake the desserts for their Christmas party. The bummer is that it is being done for free. Just a way to get my name out there. I think the lady felt a little bad about it so she said if it got to expensive then I could write up an invoice but the way I see it is that you have to give a little to get a lot. I hope that everything goes wonderfully at this event and that they will think of me for all their future events and then I will get paid. Plus she said she would put my flyer and business card in all the packets that she passes out to those that stop by the office. I'm really excited about this. ↑ |
| Name: billy22 | Date: Nov 9th, 2006 9:28 PM |
| Isn't it a law in your state that they have to give you the 12 weeks maternity leave? 6 weeks is just not enough...I'm sorry you have to deal with that! GEEZ! ↑ |
| Name: babywilson | Date: Nov 10th, 2006 3:24 PM |
| As far as I know it is only 6. I guess I should check into it. It may be that they have to pay you for 6 but you can take 12 ↑ |
| Name: marija | Date: Nov 11th, 2006 12:00 AM |
goodluck babywilson i hope the dinner goes great,
it is a great way to get your name out there especially if its going to the crowds that require your type of service..businesses..
i would suggest you spend a bit of money on the business cards and work out your approximate costings on your flyers, people will usually give the person with costs advertised a ring first and try to negotiate from there
goodluck ↑ |
| Name: angelmama | Date: Nov 18th, 2006 11:30 AM |
Oh, Gosh. I really can feel for you. My first baby just turned 20 in October. I was the office manager of a radio station when I went out on maternity leave and knew all about the six week thing...then when she was born I couldn't imagine giving her to someone else to take care of. My heart was just torn and that's the only way to describe it. My employer made it easy on me when he said that if I came back, I would have to take a huge salary cut, which was completely illegal, but it helped make up my mind. I do not regret my choice to stay with my baby at all. And I should say, I wasn't married and never did marry the father. (Whoops) You indicate you are married. That's a blessing. Relatives to help or not....check carefully in your area for what daycare will cost if that falls through. It's extremely expensive, especially for newborns, not to mention being able to find someone you can trust. Consider fuel costs to get to work, etc. I ran the numbers. In my case, I realized that killing myself in a management position so I could earn enough to pay someone else to raise my baby just wasn't worth it. I actually was able to find a very flexible job cleaning other people's homes and they paid me very well. At the most, I would be away from my daughter for 7 hours at a stretch and NEVER at odd hours. In fact, we're talking 9 to 4, tops, and NEVER on a weekend. I was lucky also in that a guy I went to high school with and lived around the corner had a baby exactly 30 days before my baby was born. I baby sat for them as he and his wife alternated weird night shifts for Safeway. So I got paid either to be home with our little ones or be around the corner at their house with them. I got paid very well for making sure someone else's baby slept well through the night. And changed him, held him while he had his bottles, etc. It was work, DOUBLE babies, but I was able to be with MY baby in the meantime. You are not alone in your feelings, you CAN figure this out, and your husband BETTER be being nice to you at this time.
My advice is to follow your heart....don't fall for any on-line making money tricks. I'm the office manager of an insurance agency now, but if I wanted to bake, every business in my town would let me sell things in their stores because they know me and my children so well. Culinary school graduate? You may have something there! A degree.....get a business license and check health ordinances pertaining to where you can cook, packaging, etc.
How good are you? What about starting your own catering business? Weddings and special events? Flexible and good money!
You have a beautiful new baby that you are in love with and you have a million options! Don't get discouraged!
Are you perhaps entitled to an extended leave of absense under FMLA? Talk to your doctor and ask the Human Resources Department where you work.
Trust me....I felt the same way you do. That's why I responded.
I have faith you will find the solution that works for you and your family.
Take care and enjoy your baby time!!!!!!!
It truly does go by too quickly. ↑ |
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