Month: September 2018

It seems like in the age of social media, the pressures to be the perfect parent are even heavier, and the help to achieve said perfection is more scarce.

Everywhere you click, there are articles about how you’re messing up your baby, reasons why you are a terrible person for not using cloth diapers, pressures to go to 100% organic and home-made food, guilt-trips to make you feel like you have to be a stay at home parent and home school your child if you want them to have any chance for success in life. It’s exhausting, and frankly, impossible to be the do-it-all parent.

I don’t use cloth diapers. Shame on me.

I feed my baby formula instead of breastmilk. How dare I?

I send my son to daycare so my husband and I can work full time. We’re so neglectful!

Continue reading Breaking Free of Mommy Guilt

Dear Kaden,

Love is a funny thing.

It has a way of sneaking up on you when you least expect it, or when you need it the most. It never seems to come when you’re looking, and it never seems to show up in the manner you had imagined.

It has a way of changing everything, and making you blind and deaf to everything but your sweetie.

Love can bring you to the highest levels of euphoria, and drop you to the heaviest, most crushing pit of despair and pain.

It is so unpredictable, but when you find it, my dear son, I hope you hold on and never let go.

When I found your father, it pulled me from the life I knew and dropped me into a whirlwind of unknowns (and I am sure by now you have picked up on the fact that I hate the not knowing, and it drives your dad crazy).

So how did I meet your father, and why did I uproot everything to be with him? Let me tell you the story.

Continue reading How I Met Your Father

In honor of September being NICU Awareness Month, I want to extend an offer to anyone that would like to share their NICU story, here.

Everyone’s journey is different, but I can promise you that someone, somewhere has experienced at least something that you went through.

I would love to be able to write about everything that happens in the NICU, but I just don’t have some of those experiences to draw upon.

Continue reading Share Your NICU Story on My Blog

I had always wanted to be able to surprise my husband with a beautiful, out of the blue pregnancy announcement. I didn’t know that we were going to end up needing medical assistance to get pregnant, and I didn’t expect my husband to be so observant!

Since we were actively trying to get pregnant, he knew my announcement was coming, just not when. He was determined that I was not going to be able to catch him off guard, and he was watching and scrutinizing my every move, just waiting for the announcement.

It’s so hard to surprise someone that’s expecting the news!

Continue reading How I Told My Husband About My Pregnancy

Before I became a NICU parent, I had no idea what it meant to have a baby in the NICU. While we were still in the hospital, we had many people try and be helpful, but it didn’t always feel helpful. I know their hearts were in the right place, but sometimes it was more frustrating than helpful.

September is NICU Awareness Month, and in the spirit of spreading awareness, I’ve compiled a list of things you need to know about NICU babies and their parents.

Continue reading 5 Things to Understand About NICU Parents