She's Winning

Though I didn't get the best night of sleep last night, I am feeling quite energized today.  Perhaps it is from all of the coffee I drank.  Or could it be because it's International Women's Day and I've been reading uplifting quotes all morning!  For me, today is not going to be about going to any events or doing anything extravagant.  That's not really where I'm at in my life.  In all honestly, I'm still in my PJs and glasses sitting with my kiddos, my coffee and my laptop.  The view from here is pretty darn good though.  For me today will be about celebrating the women around me and taking a look in the mirror to determine what I can be doing better to demonstrate my own strength for the little girl watching me. This morning I've been thinking about my grandmothers, my mother, my mother-in-law, my sisters, my sister-in-laws, aunts, cousins and girlfriends.  I have truly been surrounded by amazing women that have set wonderfu...

Hard, it’s really really HARD. It’s pulling my hair up, drinking coffee & pushing through sleepless nights. It’s multitasking on steroids & never having enough hands. It’s worrying, worrying & worrying some more…  usually at 2am . It’s valuing my mommy friends & our play dates to keep me sane. It’s saying “no” when it would be so much easier to say “yes”. It’s sand in the carpet, dirt on the tile and dents in the furniture. It’s negotiating bites at meals and minutes left at the play place. It’s slowing down the pace so they can “do it by myself”. It’s getting pooped on, puked on and sneezed on. It’s kissing boo boo’s, scrubbing dirty knees & wiping poopy butts. It’s holding sticky little hands to cross the street. It’s finding time for me.   I’m still more than just Mommy. It’s forgiving myself every day for the many mistakes I make & things I could have done better. It’s reminding myself to be a good role model b...

  If I've learned anything about birth plans since becoming a mom it's that the best plan is to NOT have a plan.  With my first son, I walked into labor & delivery on the big day with a detailed written birth plan in hand that basically said I wished to have a completely natural birth.  15 hours later this suddenly seemed like a terrible plan that was not for me.  I asked for the epidural and proceeded to have a beautiful birth experience far different from the one I had planned.  I walked into labor & delivery for the second time 18 months later confident that I knew how it would go this time.  To my surprise after reaching 9cm dilated my cervix started to swell and close likely because of the positioning and size of my son's head.  A c-section became medically necessary and I'm so thankful for modern medicine to help me bring my son into the world.  Though that was far from the plan in my head, I was happy to have a healthy baby boy. ...

Because I think it's going to be easier?  <insert belly laugh> No, not at all! In some ways I feel like I've been experiencing a mid-life crisis at 35.  Or at least a point in my life where I felt it was time to stop, re-evaluate and re-invent myself. You can choose to let these moments pass and go about your normal routine or you can take the time to evaluate what the top priorities are in your life and make sure you are living accordingly.  After a lot of soul searching I'm re-defining what success means to me.  And here is how I made the decision to become a stay at home mom… I was a marketing chick long before I was a mom.  I say "marketing chick" because "professional" sounds too stuffy to me and I think my career has been pretty damn cool.  I'm not one of those people that hates their job.  I think marketing is the bomb-diggity and was definitely the right career choice for me. I always knew my husband and I w...

Featured on Scary Mommy I often reminisce my childless working days and remember the many working Moms that made it look SO easy. They had it all together; reports ready, prepared for the big presentation, with their hair tied back perfectly. I had no fear of the day I would become a working Mom.  If they can do it, so can I!  And then when it actually happened to me, I was completely dismayed as I learned more about what REALLY goes on behind the scenes. Life as a working Mom is like a secret club that you don't truly understand unless you become a part of it. But if you promise not to tell, I'll let you in on a few of our secrets... Before we get to work, we've already had a day.  We've been on our feet for hours. The baby woke up at 5:00 AM AGAIN for no apparent reason.  Will he EVER sleep in?  We raced to get a flash shower in when our other child started knocking on the shower door to, not-so-politely, ask for breakfast. (Kids aren't exactly patient ...

This week will mark the beginning of the third trimester of pregnancy with my third child.  My current state of mind can best be described as a cocktail of emotions garnished with pregnancy hormones... I'm excited.   I'm dying to meet my third child!  Who is this little person moving around inside of me?!  Is it another sweet boy or will this be my first and only girl?  What will their personality be like?  Will they look like me or my husband or our other kids?  What new joys will they bring to our home and what new challenges will they bring to me as a mother?  I can hardly wait to find out! I'm scared.   How will I manage three very little kids?  Right now there are so many days that I feel like my hands are completely full and I'm pushed to my limit with patience.  Do I really have what it takes to care for a baby in addition to these two energetic little boys?  I know I'm not the first mom to take on the r...

I’m more than halfway through my pregnancy with my third child.  It won’t be long before we meet this precious new member of our family.  I’m over-the-moon excited and my pregnancy hormones are coming on strong!  I’m dreaming.  I’m nesting.  I’m IN LOVE. This time I don’t know the gender of the baby.   I knew with both of my boys by now.   When my husband first suggested that we shouldn’t find out the gender this time I laughed.  I thought he had to be kidding knowing that patience is not one of my strong points.   Though my kids are working on that with me.   It turns out he was dead serious and after he did a great job romanticizing the moment of him and I in the delivery room hearing the magic “It’s a ……”, I agreed to wait.  To my surprise it hasn’t been as hard as I imagined.  A lot of people have said to me that they couldn’t wait because they are planners.  I get that, although, I think I’m a...

The sickness has past.  My energy is coming back.   As   much as it can with two little boys, of course .  I’m in the sweet spot of pregnancy and have a very visible bump now.  I’m getting the second trimester glow and my thoughts are full of excitement and dreams for my next little love.  My inner Martha Stewart is even coming out as I’m starting to catch myself nesting.   Oh, how I missed her!   But even better than Martha, my all-time favorite milestone throughout pregnancy is feeling my baby moving inside me; from the first baby flutters to the strong kicks of the third trimester.  While feeling the baby move is a “normal” part of pregnancy, it feels nothing short of magical and here is why: BABY FLUTTERS ARE THE FIRST PURE & NATURAL SIGN OF LIFE MOVING INSIDE OF US.  While the first view of the baby via ultrasound and hearing that little heartbeat are truly awesome, they are both brought about by technology.  Yet ...