Wow, your oldest child was born early! I have a cousin who was born at roughly the same gestational age as your child. She's an adult now and doing well. Medicine is truly amazing. I hope your oldest is also doing well.

And I love reading books about families and genealogy and history, too. Such interesting stuff.

My post: https://lydiaschoch.com/top-ten-tuesday-characters-whose-job-i-wish-i-had/

That's so cute that your sixteen-year-old son said he still needed you at home. And The Lost is one of my all-time favorite nonfiction reads. Fun TTT!

My mother and her family did the big root dig. She got some interesting information. A very interesting post.

These all sound so interesting! And I honestly wish being paid to just read was an actual job.

I'm a stay at home mom too and honestly I'm pretty much good! I can't imagine doing anything else really. Though I would like to make professional genealogist happen. I'm reading a Brynn Bonner book right now and enjoying it. I need to go back and get the others. I've only read the Morton and the Perkins and enjoyed both and now want to read the rest you have on your list!

Being a wonderful mother is the best and most important job out there. I worked while my children were young, but I am sure enjoying spending time with my grandchildren. What a great twist Susan. I am going to check out that site you suggested, who knows I might find some of my father's family.

I love how you always find cool ways of putting a personal and creative spin to the weekly TTT topics. Happy to hear your oldest boys are doing great! Will have to look into some of your book recommendations on family history

What an awesome post, Susan! I love that you have been living your dream job. I am too. I've always kind of have been stuck and a wanderer. I came really close to becoming a Librarian when I worked at the library. I decided to pivot and it took sooo long to get pregnant and stay pregnant was a challenge but I LOVE being a SAHM. I would say, it's really one of the hardest jobs but so rewarding. The fact that your 16 year old said he still needs his mom at home.. is just the best!! <3 Also, yes to a professional reader.. we are close there with all the reading and talking we do about books!! <3

We have a lot in common. I've been a stay at home mom for more years than I probably should have been by this point. I also would love to be a professional reader. ;)

I've never read a single book from this list, but thank you for sharing.

I am going to write all of these books down. My sisters and I are into genealogy.We can trace our mother's ancestor's all the way back to before the Mayflower, the French Huguenots to 1500s. Unfortunately our dad was orphaned at age 7 and half and does not remember much so we can only go back to our great grandparents. We only know three came from Ireland and one from Holland. Happy Genealogy searching.
Marilyn

I'm fascinated by genealogy and have recently been exploring a family history that one of my great- aunts put together. I am definitely going to check out those sites! I can't wait to see what I discover. And I love a good cozy. A cozy mystery plus genealogy sounds like a definite win!

I was also an English major who ended up staying home full-time! No regrets here, either. :) We've dug a bit into our genealogy but we've never used RootsTech before. We'll have to check it out! I have The Forgotten Garden on my shelf waiting to be read. Happy to hear you enjoyed it. <3

I love family stories and family sagas crossing generations. So much in those reads. Thank you for the list.

How lovely. I gave up my full-time job when my oldest was born and then my work from home job when I had my second child and we moved to England. My boys appreciated it that I was always there for them, so I know exactly what your son meant.

But it was always a great opportunity to volunteer anywhere, school, church, boy scouts, whatever groups they participated it. So, I wasn't just there for them at home but also in their other activities.

Genealogy is another thing we have in common. I worked on our family history with my mum as long as she was still able to do it and now we have quite a decent list.

I haven't read any of the books you mentioned but since we talked about "The Forgotten Garden" recently, that's on my wishlist.

Thanks, as always, for visiting my TTT earlier.

Hi from another stay at home mum! I loved every minute (well, there may have been *some* days...) of bringing up my girls and have so many great memories. I did do volunteer work for charities when they got older but only a couple of days a week, plus I was active in the PTA. People think stay at home mum must be bored and 'boring' but it really is not the case in my experience. I had so many hobbies and interests that I shared with my daughters, the biggest being Star Trek. LOL

Thanks for sharing, Susan! I feel I'm knowing you a bit more through these TTT posts. :) Stay-at-home mom is never an easy job but it's such a fulfilling one as you watch your children grow up and not to mention those bonding time. Those moments will stay in your mind for a long time. :)

And I do enjoy a good family saga book and I agree Kate Morton is one of the best at this genre.

I was a stay-at-home mom for twenty years while my two sons were at home, and I loved it, too. And I still had time to work fulltime as a librarian later and even retire from it!

P.S. I'm fascinated with family history, too.

Wonderful post, captivating books and fabulous topic. I have read most of the books listed here and they are all memorable and unforgettable. I knew my background but 3 years ago I received the Ancestry as a gift which confirmed what I was aware of. 100% Askenazi. Thanks for your most interesting post.

I wish I could be a stay at home mom! I have a 4 month old at home, but we just can't survive on just my husband's teacher salary. Luckily, my mom is our full time babysitter so I know she is in good hands during the day. I've done some genealogy work too. My mom recently found out she had a first cousin she never knew about through Ancestry.com.

Great post! I love the topic that you chose. My dream job would also be to be a professional reader...

My mom worked from home when my twin sister and I were 4 years old and I am so glad that she did. The three of us are very, very close and I will always cherish the time we spent together. We were also homeschooled/did independent study (aka what everyone is doing now for virtual classes lol) from the 4th grade until we went off to college ... we were also competitive figure skaters so we got to spend even more time together. My mom has no regrets about her choice to work from home for all those years and swears it makes a difference in the upbringing of kids. My sister and I live in a different state now than my mom does and we are now almost 23 years old and we are just as close as we were when we left home 5 years ago. While she was not the traditional stay at home mom and she was more of a hybrid, I have such respect for mothers and stay at home mothers... you are all amazing, selfless human beings and we are so very thankful for you all.

Great post and happy TTT!

I like your twist on the topic! Family history can be so interesting and I love stories that span generations of one family. I remember reading Roots when I was younger and enjoying it, but can't remember much other than that it was good!

Such a great post. I've wanted to learn more about my family history for a while now but haven't really known where to even begin so I will definitely have to check out the resources you shared.

I want to read Inheritance.
www.rsrue.blogspot.com

I always love hearing about your genealogical research, but I didn't know there was any kind of accreditation program. That sounds really cool.

And whoa, there's still a whole post about books below your cool stories/helpful facts?? What a great read this week's post is, late as I am to it. I haven't read any of those but they all sound good. And I actually have a possible book/author rec for you on this topic -- I might have posted Root, Petal, Thorn on a TTT TBR post once, but if not, have you read that or anything else by Ella Joy Olsen? She seems like someone whose books would be right up your alley.