After experiencing a traumatic vaginal birth with my first child in 2017, I was not sure that I would be able to have any more babies. It wasn’t that it would be physiologically impossible for me to, but rather that I didn’t know if I could willingly put myself in the situation of a vaginal birth again. For that first year or so postpartum, I felt somewhat comfortable accepting that I may be “one and done” and let it be….
I came across a new term the other day called, “matrescence”. It is defined as the time in a woman’s life when she transitions into motherhood. Similar to the concept of adolescence, [the transformative time where one grows from a child into a young adult] matrescence takes time. It is not an overnight process. Becoming a mother and those first few years of motherhood are filled to the brim with beauty and difficulty, challenge and reward. On one hand, it…
I still remember being pregnant with Julia (my first baby) and feeling quite confused about making a baby registry. There were so many different products, so many different brands, and the part I dreaded the most – so many reviews to weed through. Ultimately, I made my choices based on two factors: things I remembered working well with my niece who I had spent a lot of time babysitting as an infant, and affordability. I tried to register for things…
Today I want to talk about the “Terrible 2’s” and how they aren’t really that terrible. Julia turned 2 in August and I had always heard about how 2-year-olds can be terrible and apparently 3-year-olds worse but I’m not sure that I really agree with the sentiment. Julia is certainly a strong-willed, fire fueled little Leo girl – there’s no doubting that. However, I refuse to believe that a strong-willed toddler, especially a girl, is a bad thing. Over time…
I can still remember so clearly the single most difficult day of being a mother (so far). I can remember this day so vividly and just thinking about it brings me right back. It was the day I made a decision to break the cycle of what I grew up around: impatience. Let me explain. On this day, Julia was about four months old and in the throws of the withdrawal process for her seizure medication she had been on…
I cannot believe that I am writing this right now – Julia is officially, a ONE year old! a Toddler! What?! How does the first year go by SO fast? I feel like she has been developing rapidly in the past few months and blossoming from my sweet little baby into my full blown, still sweet, but also very adventuous, toddler! I struggled a bit to put together 5 essentials for these past three months because really I’ve found that…
Wow! I seriously can’t believe I’m on the 2nd to last installment of this series! Julia just turned 9 months old and there have been a few new things we’ve been using to help her learn, and also make life easier. I started to see a huge jump in Julia’s development around 6 months. Suddenly she’s learning so many new things, and so fast! It is seriously a joy and relief to see her becoming a smart, determined-to-learn, little “junior…
A whole almost 8 months have passed since my sweet baby girl was born! I cannot believe she is already closer to 1 than being born! In the past, I shared my top 5 baby essentials for the 0-3 month age, so of course, I had to follow up with the products I have found essential for months 4-6! I apologize that I’m a little late with this one! Wearable Blanket In my 0-3 month series, I shared my love…
When we became parents, my husband I knew that we wanted to give our child/ren a childhood filled with warm family memories and traditions. Recently we celebrated Julia’s very first “1/2 Birthday”! I had seen photos of 1/2 birthday celebrations on Pinterest and thought it would be such a fun idea to do every year on her 1/2 birthday! This year we decided to celebrate by doing a little photoshoot with a cupcake, and let her have a little taste…
Having the opportunity to be a stay at home mom truly has been a blessing. It is both the most fulfilling thing and the most difficult thing I have ever done! I’ll soon be entering my 6th month of this crazy journey and I thought I would compile a few things that have helped me keep my sanity along the way. I think these things can particularly apply to stay at home parents, but also to any parents, because no matter…