My daughter recently turned three. I’m learning that as awesome as Three has been so far, three year olds (and thirty-somethings, for that matter) can be extremely particular and demanding. For several months before her birthday, SB had become increasingly interested in what she was wearing AND extremely stubborn when I chose the “wrong” things. For our family, we’ve found that giving her autonomy helps make the day go smoother. I…
One of my biggest goals as a mother is to understand my daughter as best I can. Not only do I want to a good mother, I want to be the kind of mother she needs. I want to be able to be flexible to meet her needs and in the her unique ways. I don’t want to just randomly pick a parenting style or technique because some expert said…
As much as we all want motherhood to be sunshine and roses all the time, the reality is that in between the beautiful and perfect moments, the majority of the time it is the most difficult thing in the world. Not just simply because of manual labor and exhaustion involved, but because of the emotional upheaval that just comes with the territory. Childbirth and motherhood preparation is about self-discovery…
I know that I was put on this planet to help mamas and babies. No matter what I have done that last past 15 years, it has been some sort of manifestation of helping mamas and babies. And now, I am pleased to announce that the From Maiden to Mother eCourse is here! This course is exclusively available inside the Art of Motherhood School. Oh, y’all! I am so…
Last week my friend Heather posted this picture on her Facebook page last week and I thought it was funniest/coolest thing I have seen a regular doc do in a long time! I asked her if I could share it on the M+BL Facebook page and she said of course! Then we both realized that she forgot to white out the numbers of the doctor’s license, so I took it…
When I was pregnant with Penelope, I worked in an office full time doing project management/marketing type stuff and I really enjoyed my job. The pay was not great because it was a non-profit, but the benefits were good, plus I loved my co-workers and I had flexible hours. The plan was to bring Penelope to work when she was a baby as well as work from home. But when…
My daughter was the perfect baby. She was born after an easy, drug-free, natural labor. She took to breastfeeding like a duck to water and consumed nothing but breastmilk for her first seven months. She didn’t even know that bottles existed. I practiced ecological breastfeeding and wasn’t separated from her for more than a few minutes for her entire first year. I made all of her baby food, cloth-diapered,…
That’s a picture of Miss Penelope. She is almost three-and-a-half. I don’t know where time goes! Seems like just yesterday I was giving birth to her. It’s weird no longer being a postpartum mom and making the transition to having a kid and not a baby. Did you know that postpartum is technically three years long? I have no idea when, where, or why the world starting thinking it was…
When I had my first baby, I was so focused on the pregnancy and preparing myself for a natural birth that I didn’t do a lot of mental preparation for motherhood. And I soon discovered that motherhood is hard. For me, one of the most difficult transitions was getting used to the idea that I was not in control – particularly regarding my time. Suddenly, there’s a tiny, adorable…
When my daughter was little she would hug me a million times, anytime we had to go our separate ways. Me to work. Her to daycare, school, a birthday party, grandparent visits. Sometimes tears would flow, hot and fast. She’d become a streaky red ball of snot with golden hair. She’d grab my neck and wrap herself around me like a kudzu vine. Then 4 becomes 6. I’d get…