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If you are a mom, I don't have to tell you how having children changes everything.  It happens the moment we hold our babies for the very first time. 

Suddenly we go from working women to working moms. Everything changes, especially our values and priorities in life.  We have a new passion – being a mom.  That's what happened to me after having my sons Ben, 7 and Larry, 3. 

Don't get me wrong, it didn't happen at the flip of a switch, but slowly over time, as I started to miss out on the little things that mattered most to them: tucking them into bed, waking up with them in the morning, baseball practice, swim lessons and fourth of July fireworks.  Prior to having kids, I missed out on so many simple things people do with friends and family.  It was a sacrifice I was willing to make when I chose to start a career as a broadcast journalist almost 20 years ago. 

Since then, I missed happy hours with my girlfriends, Thanksgiving dinners with my family, birthday parties, baby showers and friends' weddings.  I was okay with it because "the news" was my baby, one I gave all my time and attention.  The 12-14 hour days, week in and week out, were worth it to help realize my dream of being an Anchor/Reporter in Philadelphia.  I loved my job, worked hard to get there and was proud of my accomplishments.  But sometimes, God has other plans than the ones we make for ourselves.  And I realized, as I watched my children's disappointment night after night, for having to tuck me into bed instead of me tucking them in, that my life was not just about me and what I want anymore.  I owed it to my family to find a better work/life balance, to give my boys more of myself.  So, I left my job and a very successful career, just like that.  I shocked everyone, my friends, parents, and quite frankly, myself.  I stayed home with the kids and enjoyed my first Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Eve off in more than a decade.  It felt great! 

The kids were happy, my husband was happy, I was happy, and it stayed that way…. for all of about six months.  You see, I have worked since I was 14 years old, holding part time jobs through high school and college.  Call it a sound work ethic installed by my parents.  Fortunately one day, unbeknownst to me, God set me on a new path, one I could never have dreamed.  I do pilates, and my instructor, who happens to model part time for QVC, knew I was struggling to figure out a new career and I would be prefect hosting at the Q.  I thought she was crazy.  Sure, I knew how to talk in front of a camera and how to have a conversation on live television, but talk six minutes about cotton sheets? Eight minutes about a flameless candle?  I knew nothing about retail.  Give me a crippling snowstorm, raging fire, corruption at city hall - now those I can talk about!  But clothes, makeup, cookware and computers?  No way! Then my husband told me to give it a shot.  Now I thought HE was crazy.  But, he was quick to point out my LOVE LOVE LOVE of shopping and how I buy and use everything I feared having to speak about.  So, when QVC announced an open casting call last summer, I heeded his advice.  I made the trip to New York City to audition and gave it my best shot.  If anything, I thought the adventure of just being in the big apple and doing something completely foreign to me, would be a great memory-making experience.  I could have never predicted that 10,000 applicants and two more auditions later, QVC would choose ME to be one of its two new hosts.  FUNNY WHERE LIFE CAN TAKE YOU. 

Sure, being a working mom still has its sacrifices. I am now "the new kid on the block" having so much to learn and to prove myself all over again.  And, like news, QVC is a 24-hour, seven day a week operation, which also calls for working crazy overnight hours and holidays (but not Christmas!!! Huge for the kiddos!).  However, the difference with QVC is I was able to be up front about my desires to put my family first and not one single manager looked at me as if my head was blue and turning 360 degrees.  I no longer work 14 hour days standing in snowstorms or hurricanes in far off places.  I can stick close to home, working out of the same studio, and never have to worry about Susan Graver's fashions catching fire and putting an entire city block in danger the minute I am about to walk out the door (breaking news almost always happens just when your shift is about to end).  Now, I can get home to my kids and make good on my promises that Mommy will be there.  For that I am so thankful and I am so looking forward to the privilege of proving myself to you and growing as a host here at QVC!

I will still be working late night/early morning hours, but I’m excited to be filling in as the Social Host and chatting during AM Style with Leah Williams on Saturday mornings at 8AM. Please join us and also join me on my facebook page; www.facebook.com/StaceyStaufferQVC

-Stacey