Ingenue Mom

10 years ago I was barely 20 years old. I see 20 year olds now and they seem like babies. I can’t imagine what people thought when I told them I was getting married. At the time, it felt so easy. I love him. He makes me want to be a better person. I feel grounded in the peace he brings to my life. To me, it wasn’t even a question. This was the man I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. 10 years is a blessing. You have a partner, a friend, a lover, a confidante. Walking through life together is an extraordinary gift. Through laughter, joy, passion and adventure, we have loved and loved deeply. We have gone from two fresh-faced kids who quit their jobs to tour with his band to become parents of two girls. Our days are filled with princess gowns, Pinkalicious and shoes of every color and style. I still love to curl up and talk about our day, our ideas, our future. Marriage is truly a blessing. 10 years is a challenge. We have cried as hard as we have laughed. Th...

First of all, let me tell you, there are lots of things my family is working on. There are lots of things my family doesn't do well. There will always be something that I can find to improve on, but lately I've been feeling the need to just sit back and appreciate the things that we have done well. To celebrate and emphasize the positive as I continue to seek to improve. My family does well at serving each other. I think every family tends to emphasize some aspect of life, discipline or behavior. Every family has their language they use with each other, whether spoken or unspoken. For us, it's service. My husband is the pillar of this in our family. I truly am blessed by his serving heart with me and my girls. He is actively serving us in love the whole day. He just tends to find whatever way he can to do things for us to demonstrate his love. No one would question the love he has for his family because if you walk into our home, you'll watch him demonstrate it...

It was a really wonderful year! This was the year we became a family of 4! This was the year Isis really went from being a toddler to a child! This was the year I finished my first year of teaching & began my second year, which is wonderful because it's not considered an intern year anymore! Here was my top 10 for the year!   1. Isis turned 2 years old ! 2. We found out we were pregnant with baby #2 ! 3. I finished my first full year of teaching (& KTIP)! 4. Isis was potty trained !!! 5. Isis took her first swim lessons at the YMCA! 6. I joined the gym - which if you know me well you know that's CRAZY. 7. We found out we were having another girl ! 8. Lewis and I celebrated 8 years of marriage on October 2! 9. Lux Violet was born on October 12! 10. We celebrated 1 full year in our house, right before celebrating our first Christmas as a family of 4! And then in honor of the new year, here are 5 resolutions for 2013! 1. Read...

It's so crazy to me how different it has been going from 1 child to 2. The transition from 0 to 1 for us was really rough. If you read back through some of my posts from when Isis was first born, you'll find that it was incredibly emotionally draining. I didn't know how to deal with the emotions, the hormones, the lack of sleep and the fears. It took me at least 2 months to really work through some of that and probably the first 6 months before I felt like I was really back to myself again. This time, it has been completely different. I think part of it is knowing what to expect. It's also helpful when your labor is a total of 4-6 hours rather than 21. I didn't start Lux's life with a huge sleep deficit just from labor. It's also different because I have lots of tools in my belt to figure out how to adjust to Lux's needs and personality. I know what I tried with Isis and I have been able to try those things with Lux and find what works. It was a l...

Lux Violet Born Friday, October 12 at 3:56pm 7 lbs 15 oz 20 inches long I've been enjoying the last week or so & haven't taken the time to blog about everything. Lux finally arrived & it has been really amazing! Welcoming a second child into the world was extremely challenging, but also so fulfilling! I have loved adding a new member to our family & seeing how it changes the dynamic between all of us. It has been a really enjoyable change & I'm happy to say that Isis is dealing with it really well! She loves helping & holding her & always wants to tell me how pretty she is.   I've been working on my birth story. It's a little long, but I think I'm just going to leave it as it is. I want to remember it fully. I also had a birth photographer this time & I'm excited to share some of her pictures! All of that is coming up in the next week!

2011 has been quite a year for my family. I slacked a little in the blogging, but mainly because there was so much going on! I love the New Year because it always makes me want to take time to look back & reflect on a year passed & then to look forward to possibility for the next year. January Isis turned 1 and we celebrated with a birthday party ! I reflected on what it meant to me to be a mother and what I was learning from the experience . We also put our townhouse up for sale in January!   February I found out in February that a bunch of my friends were pregnant ! Isis took her first steps ! I got a little frustrated that things had not yet regulated after having Isis. And I shared 10 of my Favorite Things ! March Isis dropped to 1 nap a day ! I shared some of her favorite books and some of her technology milestones at 14 months. I also shared why I think my choice to be a teacher was great for me as a mom and also great to my future stu...

This is the story of a boy. He has given me permission to share this story. My brother’s fall into drug addiction began when he was 13. It started with smoking pot. At the time I had a hunch that he was doing it, but as a high schooler myself with friends who smoked pot (although I was never really interested in it), it didn’t seem like that big of a deal. The people I knew who smoked pot were really laid back & easy going. They had a sort-of “whatever...” attitude about life. Nothing was a big deal. You’ve never heard a story of someone who died from smoking too much pot. It just seemed like something he started doing & in my mind it was basically harmless: my brother is a pothead. Well, it’s harmless until one day you realize it’s not just pot. One day your world flips around & you realize that this pot smoker has turned into a cocaine user & a drug experimenter. I don’t think any of us knew exactly how bad it was until he was arrested with a needle...