Encouragement

Natural Vs. Medicated :: My Perspective From Both Sides After having 4 kids it’s safe to say I have quite a bit of experience giving birth. My first two babies, I opted to be pumped full of that game changing drug, the epidural. After finding out I was pregnant with number three, I decided to challenge myself and go all natural, pain med free. I did the same with my fourth. So as a mom whose been on both ends of the spectrum here’s my take on them both. Epidural:: Best if you don’t have a high pain tolerance or just don’t want to feel much of anything at all. Not going to lie, those epidurals with my first and second knocked me...

Raising Without Religion I’m raising my kids without religion. There, I said it. We don’t attend church. We don’t read the Bible. Not that I’m against those things, it’s just not my style. It may be an unpopular opinion, especially in the South, but my children get to choose whether or not they want to follow an organized religion. I do not force it, but if they decide to go that route, I try my best to encourage it. Our children will grow into adults before our eyes and I believe they’re entitled to the right to choose their own spiritual path. I was raised as what I could only describe as a lax Catholic. My parents chose to bring me to...

The Enneagram Of Motherhood The Enneagram is a personality typing system that categorizes individuals into nine distinct personality types, each with its own set of traits, tendencies, and motivations. These personality types can shed light on how different mothers might approach motherhood, interact with their children, and navigate the challenges of parenting. Keep in mind that these descriptions are generalizations, and individuals may not fit perfectly into a single type. Here's a look at how mothers of each Enneagram type might approach motherhood :: The Reformer (Type 1) ::    - Strengths :: Organized, responsible, and principled.    - Challenges :: Struggles with perfectionism and can be critical of themselves and others.    - Motherhood Approach :: The Type 1 mom strives for excellence in parenting. She...

The One Hobby I Did Not Have To Give Up As A Full-Time Working Mom When I first embarked on this dangerous journey we call motherhood, one of the first things I did was stop putting myself first. Feeling tired? The baby had to eat first. Feeling hungry? The baby needs a change first. Need a shower? The baby can’t be left alone, have to wait for my husband to come home. And the list goes on and on and on and on. After I began the habit of putting myself last, I also fell into a routine of not making time for the things I enjoyed. Before I had babies I was an avid runner, exercised regularly, read often, tried...

Season Of Thankfulness Life is so busy. Even in the moments that aren’t automatically filled with things to do, things happen. Things keep happening that are out of our control. I just spent an hour dealing with my tires. It’s not a big deal but it is time consuming.  Sometimes it’s hard to see the wonderful things because of all of the not-so-wonderful things happening. But the wonderful things are what matters the most. Thirty years from now, I won’t be thinking about how many stores I had to visit to get the perfect glitter color. I’ll be remembering Jack and Jacob making things with the glitter. I won’t remember how much I called my parents and friends to complain about...