I recently had a video come up in my photo memories from a year ago. I was laying on the floor with my baby girl, Eliana, and she was laughing and cooing at the camera. Then, for a second, the video panned over to my face. I looked utterly hopeless and helpless. Present-day-me wanted to…
I don’t know about you, but from very early on I felt like I was hearing about parents doing bedtime routines with their babies when they were like 6 weeks old, but that never seemed to work for us. As a newborn, Eliana’s schedule was just so inconsistent; it felt like I was trying something…
We are officially out of the newborn phase! People really aren’t kidding when they talk about how fast the time goes. I want to get right into it because new moms have less than no time to read anything. The list is in no particular order other than #1. If you only take one thing…
This is the birth story of our daughter, Eliana Drew. Enjoy! Heading to the hospital After months of nonstop contractions, the irony of all ironies is that I was induced at 39 weeks 1 day. My doctors told me it would be healthiest for me and the baby to induce me in the 39th week,…
My Sweet Baby, It has been the greatest honor of my life to carry you inside of me. For months now, your dad and I have talked to you, sang to you, tapped at you, laughed at your silly movements, and imagined what life will be like once you arrive. Your days inside of my belly…
Someone said to me the other day, “You must be ready to pop, huh?” It got me thinking. If by pop, they literally meant the skin on my stomach feels like it has stretched so thin it could burst at any moment, then yes, I feel like I am indeed going to pop. But am…
As a first time mom, I don’t know quite what to expect when it comes to what to pack for the hospital. I had a little hospital stay at 25 weeks that prepared me a bit, but when it comes to giving birth, it’s hard to know what you’ll need/want. I’ve done lots of research…
As some of you might know, the last two-plus years have been very good to me and Samantha. We got married. We bought a house. We’re expecting our first child. And there have also been hard times. In August 2017, my mother passed away from an aggressive form of lung cancer. It was unexpected and…
As a pregnant woman about to give birth to my first child, there’s a lot of people out there who want to give you advice. Actually, it feels like being pregnant turns you into a walking billboard for unsolicited advice. This can be incredibly annoying, but there is something to be said about learning from…
If you were to walk into one of my creative writing classes I’ve taught over the past few years, you would see a group of 30 or so teenagers with journals out on their desks, phones put away (hopefully–I try my best), and pencils gliding along the pages of their notebook for the first five…
