Inspired by Life

Growing up, I never really dreamed of having kids. That was my mom's dream, and she did it (...eleven times!). I had the joy of witnessing and being a part of seven younger siblings growing up. I remember always celebrating life and welcoming with open arms a new baby into the home. I really did enjoy cuddling the newborn, burping him/her after feeding, and being proud at times I was the sibling able to rock them to sleep. It was fun in the moment, but I was happily ready to hand him/her off when they started to cry. I did my fair share of babysitting through high school and some in college, but I never really got too attached and was usually kind of relieved when the parents came home so I could leave. I was much more interested in pursuing career, travel, and missions, and I thought marriage and babies would slow me down (obviously still had a lot to learn, but that's a story for another blog). All that being said, the fact that I am now (33 years old) a mom myself sharing my...

"Have a baby," they said. "It will be fun," they said. "It's only 9 months..." LIES!  Ok, I may have an increased level of changing hormones raging through my system right now that is bringing out the drama, BUT in all seriousness, let's just talk for a second about the things women never talk about in the last trimester... When was someone going to tell me that my hands would go numb and be swollen and I would have no grip after I wake up in the morning? When was someone going to tell me that having a belly 3x my normal waist circumference was going to make it hard to sleep, exercise, move, breathe, to sit comfortably...actually, now that I think about it, just make everything hard! When was someone going to tell me that my feet would be swollen at the end of every day? ...that my eye sight would get worse...that my wedding ring would no longer fit...that my capacity for focus would diminish...that my whole world would change, including my house a...