[funcall]

My wife and I made this same decision about 5 years ago when we were expecting our first child, for pretty much the same reasons you cited. We were extremely fortunate to have found a niche for which we could build a product, and find paying clients relatively quickly.

It took us about 18 months to reach a level of stability - literally, our business grew alongside our first child. But, even during this phase we were able to spend quality time with our child. Although, as one of the other posters indicated a lifestyle business doesn't automatically mean tons of free time and no stress. It's just that relative to a traditional startup life (which I experienced as a principal when I was still single), it's still night and day.

My wife and I are extremely grateful for the time and freedom our business afforded us. We were able to spend more time with our children during those precious first few months and years than we would have even working for a big company, let alone a startup. There were still stressful times, especially finding clients, or when servers went down in the middle of the night (funny how that always happened just as soon as you go back to sleep after walking a crying child to sleep :), but it was all worth it.

I wish you best luck in your path.