Am in a bit of a spot. Am a self-employed artist that works from home. I have two children DS 4 DD 6 months. My painting brings in money sporadically (always the bain of s/employment but sometimes good money sometimes very little) but is really good for me to do mentally even for just an hour a day and I think, makes me a much better and happier mummy to at least get my brushes wet of a day....
For the past year have had an au pair due to difficult pregnancy with now happy and healthy six month old dd. DS goes to nursery 3 days a week. DH took vol redundancy from long term job 3 months ago to go freelance which thankfully is working out well thus far but of course, things are very tight and we have a large mortgage to cover each month.
Our Au pair finished and left a month ago and am on my knees with exhaustion with absolutley no chance of painting in sight - very hard. Would love to get another au pair to help out, I have a range of stationary being launched this coming Autumn and have been offered some work organising shows but its a gamble for cannot guarantee that either of these things will bring in the bacon and fast. Am pretty sure that I can cover the £300 per month for au pair payment but am I being unreasonable not working like a dog painting, doing all childcare myself and not putting every single penny into mortgage pot?
Am too tired to work it out - your advice would be most appreciated.