Hello, let me introduce myself first..
For the first 30 years of my life, everything was smooth and worry-free. I was my parents’ most beloved child, found my true love in college, and happily married him after graduation.
At work, I was my boss’s most valued employee. Whenever I was in charge of a project, colleagues would inevitably say, “Oh, then I’m totally at ease.” I was constantly named “Employee of the Year,” with generous bonuses every year.
Later, I started my own business. Within just three months, I had broken into the market and started making money. By the fifth month, I was earning twice my previous salary. Growth was steady month after month. Right when the business needed more hands, I serendipitously met an amazing partner, and the company reached a whole new level.
Really, it seemed like at every step, whatever I needed, a pair of hands would always place it right in front of me, just in time.
My Two Girls: Ellie & Mia
Meet Ellie, My Firstborn
In 2020, my husband and I decided to have a child. After trying for over a year, we finally got the news in 2021 that a little one was on the way. In 2022, we welcomed our first child, Ellie. She made me a mother.
She is utterly adorable—big eyes, rosy skin, chubby little hands. Every time I look at her, I can’t help but give her a kiss. She is pure joy, and I love her more each day.
But as a first-time mom, I faced unprecedented difficulties. The postpartum tearing wouldn’t heal, and the pain was excruciating. Clogged milk ducts made my breasts hard as rocks. The severe sleep deprivation… And what was even more crushing was that, with zero parenting experience, I was clueless when faced with her unexplained wailing, night terrors, refusal to nurse, constipation, diarrhea, fevers… I desperately searched online, longing for one accurate, truly useful answer!
It was during this time that I thought, once I make it through this “dark” path, I must leave a light on for other new moms.
And Then Came Mia
Ellie had just turned one when I got pregnant again. In 2024, we welcomed our second daughter, Mia.
Completely different from Ellie, Mia is a great eater and sleeper. Although she had her fussy moments in the first two months, starting almost from month three, she became super easygoing. She feeds on schedule, gradually sleeps through the night, loves her solid foods, and adapted quickly when I had to stop breastfeeding due to mastitis.
This made me realize just how vastly different babies can be! It made me even more determined to write about my experiences.
Why I Had to Start This Blog
The Catalyst: A Life Pivoted
After Mia was born, my business also began to decline sharply. I had no choice but to close it and become a full-time mom. My work no longer involves Excel and Word, but instead revolves around changing diapers, washing bottles, making baby food, and managing household chores…
This has been a monumental challenge for me. All my past achievements seem irrelevant now. Managing two young children has brought me a sense of frustration I’ve never known before.
The Daily Reality
They are always fighting over things. When one is in my arms, the other immediately demands to be held too. When I try to cook, Ellie wants me to read her a book. When I attempt to load the washing machine, Mia has a diaper blowout, and I must drop everything to change her…
By the time I finish all that, I see the cup of hot coffee on the table has gone cold again. And it’s not until evening that I remember, “Oh my goodness, the clothes are still in the hamper, unwashed!”
Of course, being a mom is filled with happiness, but that doesn’t negate how hard it is.
My Promise to You
Because I’ve walked this path myself, I won’t just tell you how joyful motherhood is, like many websites do. I want to share my real, unfiltered experiences so every new mom can find a “companion” here.
I want to tell you: you are not alone. What you’re going through, I’ve been there too. Your breakdowns, your helplessness, your moments of losing control—I’ve had them all. You don’t need to feel guilty. This is just a small, necessary stretch of the journey for every mom.
My Hope for This Space
I really want to share my parenting experiences—not just the warm, glowing moments, but to honestly document the pitfalls I’ve stumbled into, the tears I’ve shed, and the “survival wisdom” I’ve scraped together in utter exhaustion.
The Goal: A Mom’s Toolkit
I hope this blog becomes a “mom’s toolkit,” filled not with vague theories, but with:
- Practical Tips: Like how to quickly figure out why a baby is crying, tried-and-true methods for dealing with clogged ducts, or how to efficiently manage the daily grind with twins (or two under two) solo.
- Pitfall Avoidance Guides: Sharing the baby products I regret buying the most, and those “game-changer” parenting hacks. Letting you know which parenting anxieties you can let go of, and which principles are worth holding onto.
- A Community for Moms: I hope my stories connect me with more moms like you. We can cheer each other on in the comments, share our own tricks, turning the storms we face alone into a journey we walk together.
The Bigger Vision
My previous career taught me to analyze data, solve problems, and optimize processes. Now, I’m applying all those skills to this new “position” of Mom. I want to prove that a mom’s value is absolutely not confined to the home. The mindset, resilience, and creativity we built in our careers can shine just as brightly—perhaps even brighter—in this more complex, long-term “project” of raising humans, and can even be transformed into a force that helps others.
My hope is simple: that every mom who opens this blog can let out a sigh of relief and say, “So it’s not just me.” Then, she can find a bit of practical info, a dose of comforting solidarity, and return to her sweet, chaotic mom-life with a little more confidence and a little less weight on her shoulders.
This road? Let’s walk it together.
2brides
member
Re: Weekend Plans
Fri: Pick up Ky and apparently go tv shopping? This is what Ann has planned for us. I HATE electronic stores so it should be fun.
Sat: Errands and house cleaning to get ready for our joint birthday party. Ann's birthday is Saturday and mine is on Tuesday. I will eventually drop Ky off at my mom's house and then people start coming over around 8.
Sun: Pick up Ky and head to lunch with DW's family. Every year we get together and have lunch the first weekend in February to celebrate the January/February birthdays. Then coming home and relaxing. DW will watch the Super Bowl and I will probably read.
It's moving weekend. C gets back into town tonight, and we'll finish up any packing (just the pantry at this point) and work on cleaning the house tomorrow morning. Tomorrow afternoon we pick up a rental minivan and pack it. Sunday we drive to Chicago, unpack the van, and I settle into our new home.
I've done a ton of work on the house this week, and frankly I'm exhausted. So ready to be done with the packing/moving/home improvement/house selling part of this.
AMH 0.5, AFC 5-8, FSH 7ish
IVF #1 - antagonist. Empty follicle syndrome. 1 retrieved, 0 fertilized.
IVF #2 - antagonist. Ovulated early. 3 retrieved, 2 fertilized, 0 blasts
Tonight, no idea. I need to work out and if I'm feeling ambitious I might go grocery shopping to avoid the weekend crowds.
They are having open houses at our place on both Saturday and Sunday from 1-4p, so the house has to be clean-ish, and we can't be there. Ugh. This timing really stinks. So I will be cleaning Saturday morning, and then we're going to see The Artist, and probably having lunch or early dinner somewhere. Will probably do some packing on Saturday night - I have some clothes that are ready to go into the wardrobe box, and I could pack books I won't be using over the next three weeks.
Sunday I'm spending all day at the Newseum, since I never got around to that. We're going to see The Woman in Black on Sunday night since neither of us care about football and the commercials were so lame last year.
Good luck! It's almost over!
Good luck Two! She's a smart little cookie, I have no doubt she'll pick up on it quickly.
Happy Birthday(s) 2mommies
Best of luck with the move hlke!
We dont have too much going on this weekend. Tonight friends (our gay boyfriends) are coming over to discuss their wedding planning. My fave topic! We'll get take out, put the kids to bed, and chat. Or at least that's DW's plan...I've got 20 bucks on the kids not going down knowing there is company in the house
Tomorrow morning is open then we've got a playdate with a couple other families in the afternoon. TBD if we are hosting.
Sunday is Church (omg did I mention yet that Rosebud stayed in her classroom by herself without throwing a fit last weekend?!?! This will change our church experience entirely!) then we'll do appetizers for dinner and watch the superbowl.
at some point I also want to go into work...
Blogs: Our Growing Family - CT Working Moms
Tonight - No idea. L dinner and a kids movie on the DVR? Perhaps I will stop and get my eyebrows done.
Saturday - I am taking the kids to swimming lessons while L goes to her swimming aerobics class. We'll have breakfast together and then L is getting her hair done and going to made dissertation edits while I take the kids home to play/work on Valentines/do my taxes. We are going to meet friends at the Japanese Steakhouse for dinner.
Sunday - L will be home all day. We need to work on tagging items for our consignment sale, I want to make something for the kids' breakfast this week, and L wants to cook for next week. We're having a family Super Bowl party with the snack foods. Since the kids will probably watch the game for all of 15m and L and I don't like/watch football, it will be a short party.
I threw my back out on Tuesday (UGGGG I am miserable) so it is going to be a low key weekend that involves a lot of HW.
Tonight- We are going old lady style and heading out with my mom and granny to BINGO.
Saturday- HW and the first birthday dinner of the year for our group of friends. It is three couples and we got out to dinner for each womans bday. Yummy steak in my future.
Sunday- HW ad resting my back some more. I am considering boycotting the Super Bowl. I am a little unhappy that my Ravens didnt make it.
Are you going to the BINGO hall in Laurel?
Two- Good luck on the potty training. E just went for the first time last night so we will start working more aggressively in the coming weeks.
I am sick. You know how my kid was really sick...well now I am. It sucks and I am dying here at work today. Thank god they are taking a test today. I can not teach today. I was going to go out for drinks with work people but I will be going home.
We need to get E a new car seat. I am annoyed. She has the Britax boulevard cs (the older model) and the straps have gotten progressively harder to tighten and the click safe thing clicks before the seat is anywhere close to tight. You have to use all your strength to tighten it at all. I took it out of dw's car last week and cleaned it all out. I also put it forward facing. I was hoping getting the crumbs out would help but no luck dw says it still sucks. I have the boulevard 70 and it works great. So now we are going to spend our Friday night getting a new seat. So we are heading to magic beans to check out our options. I like the maxi cosi pria 70 so we will see.
Sat we are having a play date with one of E's friends and then we are shipping off E to my parent's house for an overnight. We are going out to dinner. I am very excited! I hope I am not a pile of snot.
Sunday E returns and we will have some super bowl fun. Fingers crossed for a good game and outcome.
Fri: I work late, so does K.
Sat: Menu plan, grocery shop, our first foster meeting (!), then K might skip out of work and take me downtown to see all the superbowl insanity.
Sun: I work, then we'll watch the SB at my bro's house. I think. I should probably consider what I'm bringing to eat! Stuffed strawberries sound good.
ssg and LV - hope you feel better SOON!
Two - good luck with PT!
2mommies - Happy birthdays!
hIke - yay for the move!
This evening: we're taking our 3rd-floor neighbors out to dinner at a really nice place in our neighborhood to a) thank them for being generally awesome (bringing our plants back to life, running a suitcase to the airport when we forgot it, playing with J, etc) and b) to tell them we're buying a house and moving. The second part will be sad. We love our 3rd floor guys.
Tomorrow: lunch with a friend we haven't seen in a long time. It will be nice to see her - I think the last time she saw J, he was 3 months old! Cozy evening at home with K and J, hopefully.
Sunday: Church in the a.m., the Super Bowl prep. My SIL and nephews may join us for the SB if they're feeling better (they've had a stomach bug we DON'T need in our house).
IVF Oct/Nov 2012
Beta #1 = 77, Beta #2 = 190, Beta #3 = 1044
Cautiously optimistic.
Tonight will be hanging out and keeping warm (we've had just over a foot of snow!) probably watching some Glee on netflix
Tomorrow I am supposed to be going to a sewing expo but I'm a new driver, and if the snow doesn't clear a little I might have to give it a miss. We have some friends coming over for a dinner party in the evening, which will be fun!
Sunday will be helping V (my girlfriend) pack for her business trip next week and sewing a cute little sleep sack for my friend's baby.
Not at all sure what we are doing. C is still feeling under the weather and I have to prepare for my and the Kiddos' trip next week.
I hope C and I come to a decision on how the Superbowl watching will work. Superbowl evening is like a holiday event to me, but the Kiddos' don't watch much TV. I sneak in a little Sprout every now and then, but C and the APA prefer that the Kiddos not watch much TV.
(Side note on the TV watching--last Sunday C took the van in to be serviced and I typically play the Toddler Tunes music channel for the Kiddos. I promise you I only had it on Caillou for a few minutes and all through lunch the Kiddos kept singing this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcKu7lo_MnQ (well at least the Caillou part of the song). They sang it over and over again...I was so busted!)
Tonight: My parents are coming to visit and they are picking E up since her school closes early today. Tonight is her all-school (preschool-K) performance. They have a "countries of the world" theme and each class does a song, dance, story, etc. with costumes and props from their country. It is always super cute. I am leaving work to go directly there to save us seats early because it's usually a packed house and I don't want my mom (who is still recovering from knee surgery) to have to stand for an hour plus.
Tomorrow: I hope E will get up with grandma and let me sleep in. It's been a stressful and emotional last week at this office and I'm so wiped. My mom wants to take E to get a few more new fish for her aquarium. I'm hoping maybe we can go to a favorite brunch place nearby. Beyond that, I don't know.
Sunday: E may go see her paternal grandparents for a visit. Aside from that no plans and I am perfectly ok with that.
I haven't made any plans. I've been down with a fever for three days now. I'm finally starting to feel a little better, although I do still have a low-grade fever. my wife is working OT tomorrow, so I'm hoping that it isn't too rough on me and I'm feeling better since I'll be on my own with the boy.
Sunday we don't have any plans other than watching the super bowl.