Renna Welborn is one of our sweetest Momsanity Sisters, literally. As a bakery owner and mom, she lets us peek into her world of maintaining balance with work and motherhood. She makes it look easy, so let’s learn from her insights!

How do I juggle Motherhood and a Career??

As a mother of 2 kids (Kate age 3 and Renna Margaret age 6) and owner of Ketchie Creek Bakery and Caféin Mocksville, NC people often ask how I juggle all that I do.  I work a flexible full time job and run a growing business of 25 employees.  Thankfully I am a co-owner of my house, family and business with my super involved husband, Gerald!

Before owning the bakery and having children I made my own wrapping paper at Christmas. Yes, I rolled it out, stamped it, let it dry, rolled it back up and then wrapped presents all in the same hand-stamped wrapping paper with gorgeous bows and hand-made tags.  I used to be a scrapbooker, a knitter, and a very frequent visitor of Ocean Isle Beach.  My husband and I used cook gourmet meals almost nightly in our little kitchen in Ardmore. (Winston-Salem, NC).  Every night was a kitchen adventure and we had a blast trying new recipes.  We would go exercise at the Y a few times a week and go on long runs/walks through our neighborhood.   What a life!!

In 2008 we purchased Ketchie Creek Bakery and café and in 2009 we had our first daughter.   My life changed for the better!!

The bakery keeps us super busy! I often get asked, “Do you do all of the baking?” “Do you decorate all of the cakes?”  The answer is no.  First of all, the volume of made from scratch products that we produce is amazing.  There is no way it is humanly possible for one person to do it.  It literally takes all of our staff to make this place run.  Now, my phone will ring all hours of the day with a question, a problem or someone calls in sick.  There are times when I come to work way before daylight, but not often.  I do work 12+ hours a day during the holidays but so does a portion of my staff.  We make it fun and it brings us closer together.  Our staff is awesome and it takes a team of 25 to run it! We have dedicated managers and each person that works here has their talents and strengths.  We have now owned Ketchie Creek for 7.5 years and each year it seems to run smoother. We are home every night for dinner and closed on Sunday-  that’s a goal of ours to always keep it that way.    I also get asked often, “How do you work with your husband? I could never do that.”  Not many people can work, play, and sleep with their husband.  I am honestly with him 22+ hours a day!  You can ask our staff, it does work well.  We have our differences, as all humans do, but we love being together and I couldn’t ask for a more patient person to keep me grounded and live life with.

Keep things simple and easy but special is the way I try to keep all areas of my life. Ina Garten is my FAVORITE celebrity Chef- She throws the best parties and if you look at them, she keeps it simple- One course might be involved but the rest is not.  She often says, “How easy is that?”  My life isn’t easy but I do try to keep things simple and organized- it makes everyone happier.

Pinterest party moms I hate to tell you but that stuff that stresses you out, takes forever and makes a huge mess in your kitchen is not necessary.   The party will go on, the kids will still have a blast at their event and everything will still be delicious, if not better. (Anyone ever had a Pinterest Fail?)

We eat dinner at home as a family about 5 nights a week.  Dinner is simple, easy and special because we are together.  It is typically a grilled meat and vegetables.  (My husband is the best griller around and I am lucky!)  My children are fairly good eaters because they aren’t given options at dinner.  I don’t make 2 meals and if they “aren’t hungry” their plate used to sit on the counter in case they got hungry.  Now that’s not an issue, they know the drill.

I loathe laundry!  On any given day one of our clothes baskets is always full.  I try to do one person’s laundry a week. (Yes, we have LOTS of panties to get us through those off weeks.) And who doesn’t love to re-wear a pair of jeans?  This next statement is true… My husband does his own laundry- I ruined his favorite shirt (by accident) when we first got married 9.5 years ago and he hasn’t let me touch his laundry since.  It’s now my wedding shower advice to new brides 

My house is typically clean (I may or may not hire a house cleaner every couple of months) and our beds are made daily (Thank the Lord, again, for Gerald).   Gerald and I both try to keep our house picked up daily. For us, its much easier to clean a little daily than to wait until it’s a complete disaster.  I am typically the first one up and out the door in the morning.  My gracious husband picks up the pieces behind me.

I have always had to watch what I eat and I have to stay active to keep my sanity and stay somewhat in shape.  I have always enjoyed working out and have done everything from hour long classes at the gym to 3 rounds of Insanity.   When I had my second child, going to the gym stressed me out- By the time I got my kids fed and happy, loaded in the car, and to the childcare place at the gym, someone was hungry or unhappy again.  My workouts were cut short or I would end up crying too, in guilt of working out.  I joined Momsanity about 2 years ago and I LOVE the quick workouts! 10, 15, or 20 min workouts a few sprints and I am done.  Sometimes a workout will happen in the afternoon and my kids join me.  My husband enjoys “Mansanity” workouts when our schedules coincide.  My favorite time to workout is at 6am.  Does this happen often? No! Sleep is way more important to me.  But I have momsanity friends that I use as accountability partners (Debbie, Amber, Kati, and Katherine, THANK YOU!)  I will say I am in the best shape of my life– I have a ways to go but I feel great daily. Knowing that a short workout provided for me on my I-pad is comforting.

I use the Momsanity recipes often as guidelines for quick snacks and meals. (Debbie’s Pumpkin Muffins are my family’s favorite!)  Every few weeks I try a crockpot meal but my family is happier with simple– meat and veggies!    I love when people share recipes and I love sharing recipes too- I would consider ourselves foodies- we love to eat and we work around food.  We make fairly healthy choices 90% of the time.  I hate fast food (minus the occasional Taco Bell)- My camera roll consists of kids pics and food pics! (Sometimes not so healthy choices… Grace, people!)    Many ask how I work at Ketchie Creek and not eat it all.  Truth is I do eat here daily.  I make healthy choices from our deli, most of the time.  I do have to taste test (tough job, huh?) and I love a bite of something sweet here and there. (My secret stash of Reeces Cups in my freezer warms my heart after my kids go to bed, occasionally).  Grace intercedes again!

I am the first to admit that I am weak in spending time with God daily-  Momsanity has encouraged more of that and it’s something that I am continuing to work on.  Sometimes it is reading my devotion book, sometimes it’s listening to WBFJ or what my kids call “Jesus music” on the radio and sometimes it’s just praying- first thanking Him and then asking for His guidance and forgiveness.

My presents are now shoved in bags with tissue, my kids can one day make their own scrapbook like I did, and we still frequent Ocean Isle Beach every few months.  We spend quality time together at meals, in the evenings and on our days off.  We attend church when we can but pray together daily.   We workout as a family or in the wee hours of the morning, whatever the schedule allows.

This is my MomSANITY and I wouldn’t have it any other way!!