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.
pickle-chips
member
Re: Weekly Check-in 1/31
Estimated Due Date/Weeks + Days: 8/22 11 weeks today
FTM/STM/STM+: STM
Team Green/Pink/Blue/Finding Out: Finding out
Interesting Baby Fact/Baby is the size of: Hot wheels car
Upcoming appointments: 2/9 for NT scan and NIPT blood work
How are you feeling?: physically and emotionally rough. Meds are helping with nausea but still not feeling great. Having some irrational emotions too. Getting anxious for the NT scan.
Rants/Raves: I’m really hoping that the next week I start feeling better!
Questions: nope
GTKY: What does your username mean or why did you choose it? It’s my name and “ten-fifty two”
@claireloSC I swear sometimes I’m like “was that the baby?🧐” but I know it’s impossible at 11 weeks. Just gas for sure over here.
Estimated Due Date/Weeks + Days: Aug 1st 14 weeks
FTM/STM/STM+: 1st
Team Green/Pink/Blue/Finding Out: Green
Interesting Baby Fact/Baby is the size of: a hampster
Upcoming appointments: next appt is Feb 25th
How are you feeling?: Emotionally, I'm glad to be in the 2nd trimester. Physically, still some nausea, but not as bad. I woke up at 5am this morning after going to bed at midnight, so that was fun. We'll see if that continues.
Rants/Raves: I had an appointment with my midwife last week and she said she wanted to listen to the baby's heart. But then she used the ultrasound to do it! So I got to see baby unexpectedly. I didn't get a picture, and she didn't do anything but listen to the heart. I'm not sure if that's the norm at their practice, but I thought it was nice.
Questions: natm
GTKY: What does your username mean or why did you choose it? There's a video game streamer that my husband and I like to watch. He curses a lot now, but for whatever reason, in the beginning of his channel, he kept it really clean. He's British, and would always say "sugarpuff" instead of swearing. But with his accent, it sounded like "shooga poff". I thought it was cute, and started using it as my name on a lot of platforms.
Estimated Due Date/Weeks + Days: August 26 / 10w3d
FTM/STM/STM+: TTM
Team: Green
Baby is the size of: LEGO minifigure
Upcoming appointments: Nothing for 4 weeks.
How are you feeling?: the Diclectin is making me drowsy, but I think the nausea is starting later in the day? I can add a dose in the morning if I need to after a few days of just the bedtime dose.
Rants/Raves: our oldest turns 4 in two weeks and he has been boundary pushing and cranky. I don’t know if he’s going through a growth spurt or development leap or if he sense something is different, but my patience is next to nothing. And I hear that age 4 is actually harder than 3 which was harder than 2. So I’m really looking forward to having a 4 yo, 3yo and a newborn. 😅
Questions: NATM
GTKY: I call my oldest kiddo pickle chips/pickle as a term of endearment. But it’s also a nod to this hilarious video of a 3yo going over everything he ate while he’s on the potty (https://youtu.be/pulZ3jgLM6o). All you can hear is his little voice through the bathroom door.
Estimated Due Date: August 6th. 13 weeks.
Third time Mom
Feeling: Overall, pretty well! Still fatigued in the afternoons. Looking forward to that second tri energy boost. Been having chest pain lately, likely stress related, but I need to set up an appt with my gen doctor to address that.
Raves: Feeling extremely thankful for my husband's relatively flexible work schedule. It's been helpful in planning dr. Appointments and managing our two kiddoes. If there is one thing I'd like to see continue post COVID, it is this flexible scheduling.
Get to know you: Not super creative. We live in coastal Southern California, and I'm a momma! I'm honestly not sure where the 3 came from. Possibly from reviving my old account?
Have a good week, everyone.
Estimated Due Date/Weeks + Days:
8/15, 12 weeks
FTM/STM/STM+:
Third baby!
Team Green/Pink/Blue/Finding Out:
Team green!
Interesting Baby Fact/Baby is the size of:
A plum
Upcoming appointments:
Had an US on Friday, and then I have a telehealth appointment on Tuesday with my OB.
How are you feeling?:
Same. Nausea comes and goes. I’m mostly just tired all the time. And I hurt my back last week, so that’s my biggest complaint at the moment!
Rants/Raves:
Grateful for my DH who has picked up ALL the slack lately. I’ve been pretty worthless with my hurt back. I’m currently lying in bed while he’s downstairs doing obscene amounts of laundry.
Questions:
Nope.
GTKY: What does your username mean or why did you choose it?
Cyanope: a person with fair hair and brown eyes. Aka, me!
@coastalmomma3, I’m also in coastal southern CA!
Estimated Due Date/Weeks + Days: 08/16, 11w7d
FTM/STM/STM+: FTM
Team Green/Pink/Blue/Finding Out: Team Green
Interesting Baby Fact/Baby is the size of: could fit on a Reeses Cup
Upcoming appointments: 02/10, just a checkup but I'm going to call this week and ask about adding an ultrasound bc of anxiety after getting the vaccine.
How are you feeling?: this week was rough, my nausea kicked up and I had a week of hell at work. I'm exhausted and sad it's already Sunday evening. Also started getting headaches which furthers the nausea and makes me have 0 patience. I'm kinda a grump these days.
Rants/Raves:
Week 10 was a bit better and I thought I was lucky to be in the clear a bit early, definitely wallowing a bit in the backslide and not feeling good.
I did have a sweet convo with my MIL today, my family is high maintainence so I'm grateful for her respectful support. She's excited and enjoys updates but doesn't push and it's so appreciated.
Questions:
None right now! Just hanging in there hoping week 14 is as magical as these apps keep telling me it should be.
GTKY: What does your username mean or why did you choose it?
Our dogs are named Jax and Talia so I merged the two for my username. 🤷♀️
Edited to fix typos
Estimated Due Date/Weeks + Days: 8/28 10+1
FTM/STM/STM+: stm (although I hate this term)
Team Green/Pink/Blue/Finding Out: green!
Interesting Baby Fact/Baby is the size of: baby is officially a fetus and the size of a prune
Upcoming appointments: Feb 25th
How are you feeling?: All around still not great nauseated and occasionally vomitting
Rants/Raves: craving all the sweets, which is hard since I'm dairy free for DS. Plus I'm already up 8 lbs...eek
Questions: where do you find the fun size comparisons for baby?
GTKY: What does your username mean or why did you choose it? Kenney is a nickname my late grandfather gave me. Lynn is my middle name and 3 is my favorite number.
Estimated Due Date/Weeks + Days: 10+1
FTM/STM/STM+: STM
Team Green/Pink/Blue/Finding Out: finding out
Interesting Baby Fact/Baby is the size of: lego mini figure
Upcoming appointments: 2/9
How are you feeling?: nausea seems slightly better these last couple of days, although it hit at bedtime tonight. It’s still way better than constant nausea all day long.
Rants/Raves: I’m so sick of not feeling like cleaning. When my house is cluttered and untidy, it really affects my mood. Fingers crossed that the tides are turning soon!!
Questions:
GTKY: What does your username mean or why did you choose it? My daughter was nearly named Emma Louise. There’s a song called Check Yes or No and it talks about a girl named Emmy Lou Hayes. I went with another name but it was neck and neck. My daughter wasn’t named until the third day, right before discharge!
Estimated Due Date/Weeks + Days: 08/10, 12+5
FTM/STM/STM+: STM
Team Green/Pink/Blue/Finding Out: Team blue!
Interesting Baby Fact/Baby is the size of: Plum
Upcoming appointments: End of Feb for routine midwife appt.
How are you feeling?: pretty good- most first tri symptoms are gone with the exception of crippling exhaustion hitting me by 730-8 every night.
Rants/Raves: @claireloSC I’m fairly certain I’ve felt movement for the last week. With it being so early I wrote it off but lately it is noticeable.
Questions: Nope!
GTKY: What does your username mean or why did you choose it?
I love the Wizard of Oz. In the movie, the wicked witch writes ‘Surrender Dorothy’ in the sky when Dorothy arrived to Oz. Also, it is a famous graffiti piece in DC and I love random graffiti art. I’m a huge Banksy fan.
Estimated Due Date/Weeks + Days: 8/21 11+1
FTM/STM/STM+: stm
Team Green/Pink/Blue/Finding Out: finding out
Interesting Baby Fact/Baby is the size of: hot wheels car
Upcoming appointments: waiting to hear back on my nipt results. Next appointment is 2/11
How are you feeling?: really anxious, the tired and nausea is pretty standard by this point.
Rants/Raves: I am having more good days than bad now. I hope this is the beginning of starting to feel better
Questions: natm
GTKY: What does your username mean or why did you choose it? My H has a nickname that rhymes with my first name an has pants in the nickname. The numbers are our wedding date
Originally it was babyyodaonboard, then **TW** I lost my pregnancy so I changed it to just babyyoda. **END TW*
Then once we found out his name is Grogu so I changed it again 😂 tbh I haven't actually watched the mandalorian but MH and DD are obsessed with it.
August 26- 10w4d
Third child
Team Green- hopefully it stays that way
Baby is the size of a strawberry
Upcoming appointments: 2/9 first US, 2/12 NT scan/bw
How are you feeling?: Like garbage..I tested positive for Covid last Monday 🤢
Questions:why do I feel so worried , this is my third 🤷
Estimated Due Date/Weeks + Days: 12+1
FTM/STM/STM+: TTM
Team Green/Pink/Blue/Finding Out: Definitely finding out at the AS
Interesting Baby Fact/Baby is the size of: plum
Upcoming appointments: 14-week appt 2/17
How are you feeling?: Ehh. Up and down. Intense insomnia and terrible nightmares. Less nauseous for sure but still either not interested in food or starving. Which is fun
Rants/Raves: DD gets her 2yo shots today, poor baby! Our ped is a family friend though so he'll be excited to hear about new baby coming
Questions:Both of my other pregnancies lined up with the same seasons (their due dates were 2 days apart) so I don't know how to dress for being barely pregnant in the winter? Do I really have to buy a new wardrobe? This is annoying. Does that rubberband trick actually work?
GTKY: What does your username mean or why did you choose it? I just really love bourbon and biscuits. I live in KY, so they're basically two food groups.
Estimated Due Date/Weeks + Days: 11+4/Aug 19th
FTM/STM/STM+: TTM
Team Green/Pink/Blue/Finding Out: we will finding out when I get my first trimester screening.
Interesting Baby Fact/Baby is the size of: a lime
Upcoming appointments: my 1st trimester screening has not been scheduled yet but will be done in the next couple weeks. My next OB appointment is February 25th at 25 weeks.
How are you feeling?: I’m alright my nausea is on and off. I can’t stand strong smells especially coffee and garlic.
Rants/Raves: We announced to family but for some reason my MIL has it in her head that my husband never wanted kids and is elated to be having a 3rd grand baby (2 biological). It’s annoying and feels hurtful. She was telling people we were done with DD2 and we never said that we were. So of course felt the need to bring it up when we told her about baby #3, which is disrespectful in my opinion.
Questions: none at the moment
GTKY: What does your username mean or why did you choose it? It’s part of my name but I don’t go by Alexa lol and the year I was born.
Estimated Due Date/Weeks + Days: 9w6d
FTM/STM/STM+: STM
Team Green/Pink/Blue/Finding Out: Undecided
Interesting Baby Fact/Baby is the size of: Strawberry
Upcoming appointments: February 15
How are you feeling?: Today, better. For the past week, like crap.
Rants/Raves: I did two workouts this weekend! Only 15 minutes on the bike, but that's the first time in 3 weeks I could muster the energy and not be too nauseous.
Questions:
GTKY: What does your username mean or why did you choose it? Childhood nickname and birth year.
mamabear67 sorry to hear that. hopefully you recover soon!
pickle-chips All my friends have said 4 is when things usually get better. So fingers crossed for you. Our daughter turned 3 in November...and threenager mode has been challenging. She is so stubborn and the spitting image of me that age, according to my mother.
Estimated Due Date/Weeks + Days: 8/10, 12 weeks + 6 days
FTM/STM/STM+: FTM
Team Green/Pink/Blue/Finding Out: Finding out (soon - our NIPT results should arrive in a week or so)
Interesting Baby Fact/Baby is the size of: Lemon
Upcoming appointments: Friday, regular monthly check-up
How are you feeling?: Starting to have more energy, but still dealing with some digestive issues, sore breasts, and insomnia
Rants/Raves: I guess I should be happy, but I don't have any sort of bump yet and I'm getting a little impatient haha
Questions: NATM
GTKY: What does your username mean or why did you choose it? This is embarrassing, but it's from a band that I was briefly a member of in high school. (I am not musically-talented.)
STM
team: Green for now! We were green with DS And loved it. But haven’t completely decided.
how are you feeling: nauseous and tired. Nausea really ramped up this week, and that’s with medication. Ughhh
rants/ raves: just ready to be done w first tri
questions: natm
GTKY: my screename is from my first pregnancy when I was obsessed with oranges. I lost that baby and have never been obsessed with oranges for either of my other 2 pregnancies ... but the name stays!
ETA clarification
Estimated Due Date/Weeks + Days: 9+6
FTM/STM/STM+: stm
Team Green/Pink/Blue/Finding Out: team green
Interesting Baby Fact/Baby is the size of: pecan
Upcoming appointments: had phone intake today. Appt was supposed to be Wednesday and they rescheduled it to Friday. Grrr.
How are you feeling: fatigue, nausea (gagging but no vomiting), lots of food aversion and now headaches yay
Rants/Raves: I'm annoyed that they changed appt at the last minute. And now it's at a clinic thats farther away and with an NP. Hmph.
Questions: natm
GTKY: What does your username mean or why did you choose it? A character from webcomic i used to read way back in the day.
Estimated Due Date/Weeks + Days: 8/22 11+3
FTM/STM/STM+: first pregnancy
Team Green/Pink/Blue/Finding Out: green... we think!
Interesting Baby Fact/Baby is the size of: lime/matchbox car
Upcoming appointments: not for a few weeks
How are you feeling?: Suddenly feeling better yesterday. I wanted to feel better and now... I’m kind of freaking out. Nausea and bloating are significantly less (Discomfort wasn’t that bad to begin with but definitely enough to notice 100% of the time)
Rants/Raves:
Questions: I want the sickness back! Wondering if I should go to dr just for a heartbeat check or buy a Doppler for home
GTKY: What does your username mean or why did you choose it? It’s a nickname a cousin gave me years ago