Mothership Confessional

I started my blog in May 2010, and I didn't even write a single post for nearly 2 years. I wanted a blog, but I didn't know what I wanted to do with it . I remember just sitting in my living room, newly married, and just slapping a name on the blog: Domestic Diva Domain ( I love alliteration, okay?! It's the cutesy preschool teacher in me!). I didn't love it, but I thought, it'll do. Fast-forward a few years, and I dabbled in different topics, such as recipes, DIY tutorials, a few random updates about my life, and some Wordless Wednesday posts with just photos. I spent some time trying to understand how to format a blog and realized I'd never  understand coding! Everything I  know about blogging was learned from countless hours basically doing trial and error using the provided templates. I linked up a few of my posts with Pinterest and that got me A LOT of views! One of my posts has been linked in many online articles about creative storage for the home. I...

Every mom experiences motherhood differently. We all have our own traits where we excel, and also things we can improve upon. No mother is perfect! And while we spend our days eyeballs deep in child-rearing (and for a lot of us, career-building too), it certainly is nice to have time away from our kids to do some self-reflection and rediscovering ourselves. I prayed so hard for my precious babies, and it took years for us to be blessed with them. They are both miracles we started to feel we would never get. Ava nearly died in childbirth. I heard her heart rate fading on the monitor as the umbilical cord had prolapsed. My husband helped push me into the operating room until everyone else ran in for my emergency c-section. When I awoke, my sweet little Ava was placed in my arms, completely unharmed. The doctor was even shocked that there were zero complications. I feel so incredibly grateful to have both of my babies here today. But, there are days where I think back to the time b...

Well, he went and did it - little Liam, little 8 pound, 5 ounce Liam , turned one year old!! We had a little party for him this weekend to celebrate. And I made one of those chalkboard posters for him, and it really made me stop and think about these last 365+ days with him. Liam was born 5 days early. My due date was February 27. He could have been a leap year baby!! How crazy would that have been?! He was heavy and I carried him low. I had lots  of pelvic pain with him. I remember during the last few weeks that I disliked squatting to get things out of the bottom of the fridge because it felt like he was going to fall out!! My sweet little boy entered this world via c-section, and it was pretty amazing. I was unconscious for Ava's delivery, so this was my second child, but really the first birth I actually got to experience. And it was love at first sight, for sure! My sweet little surprise. Liam is quite the little man! I can't get over just how m...

Guys, I'm just going to go ahead and say this. Life is kinda hard right now. And I'm going to have a pity party real quick. Being in the trenches with a newborn is hard enough, but this time I have a young toddler, too. The transition from 1 to 2 children has still overall been easier than the transition from 0 to 1 child, but there are different challenges this time. Ava behaves best when I sit on the floor and play with her and/or when I give her the iPad or the old iPod touch we weren't using. And Liam is happiest when I am holding him most of the time while he is awake. Especially now that he's got more head control - he wants to sit up and see the world! So the problem is, is that its hard for them to both be happy at the same time. I've completely taken away the iPad and iPod from Ava because she wasn't understanding that she couldn't have them all day long, and she was throwing some of the biggest fits I've ever seen from her. And she's ...

Its funny how differently I feel with this second pregnancy. Not necessarily physically, but emotionally. With Ava, I truly felt happy and thrilled  and  ecstatic pretty much every single day of pregnancy, even despite the first trimester sickness and third trimester hugeness. It was my first time experiencing pregnancy after trying for 4 long years. I was enjoying every moment of it. I wasn't taking any day for granted and I honestly felt like I was glowing every day. I also had nothing better to do than to sit and daydream, plan and organize for little girl's arrival. This time around, the pregnancy itself was a complete surprise. I mean, we weren't preventing pregnancy so obviously we knew it could happen, but seeing how we didn't get Ava without medical intervention made us have our guards down a little. I still feel the timing for a second pregnancy couldn't have been better. I have absolutely zero regrets or hesitations about being pregnant again. ...

So I've been thinking a lot lately. About "swim suit season". And this new "mom body" that I have. Has anybody else been thinking about this?! Grab your 2nd cup of coffee, surround your kid(s) with all the toys they have, and attempt to sneak away to reflect with me for a few minutes. I delivered Ava 9 months ago. On paper, 9 months seems like such  a long time! But the reality is, is that it has flown by faster than I ever thought it would! I had planned on getting into a workout routine once I was feeling normal (hahaha normal... what is that?!) so that I could lose all my gained weight during pregnancy and get some muscle tone back. Well, that didn't pan out like I had hoped. Most of my weight simply fell off. I think I sweated and peed half of the weight off in the first week! But now I still have this extra 10 pounds on me with my muscles buried somewhere underneath. Boo. And it really frustrates and annoys me. B...