Working Moms

The Amount of Time Spent With My Child Everyday After taking 12 grateful weeks off for maternity leave a year ago, I had the same feeling every working mom has when we go back to work and the child spends all day at daycare - Are they okay? Is it 4:30 pm yet? What would I be doing if I was not at work? Do I really need to work? It took me about a week to really get back into the routine and groove of going back to work and dropping her off every day. However, it wasn't until the fifth day when I was sitting in traffic that I really thought about how much time (or lack thereof) that...

One of the most stressful things about preparing to add a child to a family is figuring out parental leave. And unfortunately for us, the US lags behind when it comes to leave policies that support families. Here are some facts about parental leave from Healthline: The United States is the only industrialized nation that does not mandate paid family leave on a federal level. Only 60% of US women qualify for FMLA which mandates 12 weeks of UNPAID job protection for parents after the birth of a child. Only 13% of parents have access to any form of paid family leave. 25% of American women return to work within 2 weeks of giving birth. Suicide is the second...

17 years ago today I knew I would be a mom without my mom. I have struggled with writing this since my mom took her last breath on September 14, 2002. I was 23 years old. I had completed college and thought I was grown. I thought I was ready to face the world. And I was. I was just ready to face it WITH her next to me. However, after years of kicking cancer's butt, my mom took the deal of a lifetime. She accepted her wings and took flight for her heavenly shopping spree. If you knew my mother, you knew that she was a SHOPPER. I fondly recall a sign in our kitchen growing up that said “Kitchen...

4 years ago, I decided to open a brick and mortar business. While it’s been one of the most exciting journeys of my life, it’s also been (second to parenting) one of the most exhausting journeys of my life. Opening a business is like starting a new relationship. The first few months are exciting. Everything is new. The space is new, the paint job is new, the staff is new, the relationships are new. Sure, you hit a few bumps in the road, but overall, you feel as though you can conquer anything. Opening my business also set me down into a path of hustle culture. I lived and breathed the success of it. I did all the jobs from the...

It's that time of year, when the aisles of the grocery stores fill with notebooks and pencils. The vacation hot spots become less crowded as the little ones head back to class. Your newsfeed is full of friends posting photos of kiddos posing by chalk boards detailing the school year and other facts about their current dreams and aspirations. This school year looks a little different from my perspective. Instead of watching all the children traipse off to class, I'll be trotting right along with them. Yes, I have decided to return to school. It's funny, I remember being in grade school repeating to myself, "If I could just get out of here. Once I finish I'm never coming back!"...