Trust Me, I'm the Mom

With so much of the focus on a visibly pregnant mama to be - showers, well wishes, sympathetic glances from strangers in the grocery store - it's easy for new dads to feel a little left out! When I was pregnant with Cade, a few weeks before he was born I put together a "daddy bag" for Jeff- a manly diaper bag full of manly baby things. I was a little worried that he would think it was corny, but he actually loved it! He still uses the bag and items I put in it today, nearly a year and a half later. The daddy bag included some fun things like a card, his favorite snacks, drinks, and candy for the delivery room and then the essentials. Here's a few things I included (and wish I had!) in this cute bag for dad. A fun shirt! I actually got him a short sleeved one that was army green in color - he wore it home from the hospital and the pictures I have of him holding our son and loving up on him are the most previous things EVER.   I got h...

Motherhood did not come easy to me. We had a plan - a 3 year plan - when we got married. As college students with much work yet to do and not a whole lot of income coming in, we felt it would be prudent on just about every front to complete school and get our grown-up jobs before adding children to the mix. Yes - I was baby hungry like you wouldn't believe - but I was also working 8-5 and doing classes in the evenings, so realistically, children needed to wait. We eagerly pulled the goalie, so to speak, the summer we graduated. We obviously expected to be pregnant no more than four weeks later. That was not the case. It wasn't the case for three more years, following several rounds of fertility treatment and a whole bunch of tears and heartache. When our little boy, Cade, finally joined our family, it became abundantly clear that this is exactly what I was meant for.  Motherhood. Every long night, every milestone, every mundane activity, every step of the way, my heart an...