Monthly Mama Spotlight: Anna

Hi all I’m Anna!!! I’ve been married for five years and I am a Momma to a beautiful, energetic, lovely two year old boy named Holden Michael. As we ALL know, Motherhood is no walk in the park. No matter how much you read, practice or dream – it can never fully prepare you for a babe, especially a first babe.

I had an awesome pregnancy and an awesome labor and delivery. Exactly six hours from water breaking to holding him on my chest. All natural!! Postpartum Anxiety hit me from the jump and I had NO IDEA. I was fully prepared for PPD – watching my thoughts and feelings, but I was happy. I just couldn’t settle. I was so tired, but I couldn’t relax enough to sleep. Then anxiety eventually turned into depression. My body had changed so much. I was unmotivated to workout, eat right or even get out of my house. I have a summer babe, so it was too hot to take him outside. Then he was still too little to be out in the cold, in the winter. So I just stayed inside eating and THEN I didn’t even want to go out because I didn’t want anyone to see me! I withdrew from everyone and essentially became a recluse. A crazy, vicious cycle! (Carmen can attest – she practically hunted me down/also fun fact I’ve known Lauren and Carmen for more than 20 years!)

My husband is the bread winner and he was doing his job beautifully and I felt like as a SAHM…the baby/house is MY job. And you never want to complain to your spouse about the best job in the world…so I didn’t talk. I tried to keep everything perfect (outside of myself) until I started to crack. And that’s what kept me in my cloud for so long. I used to want 6 kids and to be a Wife and a Mother. I’d dreamed of that since I was a little girl. But when I became a Mom, and being raised by a Mom who was fulfilled being a SAHM…I had a very tough realization that I LOVE my Baby, fiercely. But I do not always love being a SAHM….and that is O-K-A-Y! And once I realized that, accepted it and talked about it out loud…that’s when my depression broke. And that was January of this year (my son was born July 2017!) That’s a long time, Girls! Too long!

So my encouragement to you is – if you are feeling these things – anything – TALK! Just talk! Open your mouth and talk to someone. Your spouse, find a Mom’s group in your area to join (this is what really helped me- Moms Time at my Church) or connect with someone in this community. We carry A LOT as Mommas and it is okay to want other things and it is okay to BE FULLY satisfied being home with your Babes and killing the SAHM Life! And it is okay not be perfect. None of us are – Welcome to the Club!!👏 Your crazy is welcome here and so are you!! Bc I know mine is 😁

Now, I have my own Communication Coaching business and I LOVE it! I get to stay home with my Baby, but also take Mommy-Mind Breaks and focus on something I really love encouraging others and it fills my cup back up! And by doing that – I enjoy my baby and motherhood SO much more! We are all different, but we are all in this together! You’re amazing, Momma!!!

Self Care

SELF CARE!!!!! I haven’t bought bras for myself in YEARS. I have finally been at the point where my sagging, stretched out bras were causing me back pain because they just weren’t holding the girls up anymore. So guess what? I took my three year old and I went and got new bras so I could take care of ME. Self care isn’t always about getting away or having a glass of wine. Self care can be just as simple as taking the time to make sure you have the right size bras to ease aches and pains. Make sure your self essentials are taken care of so you can take care of others.

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Mommy Mode

Hi everyone!

I am so happy to announce my first guest blog piece for Donna Be of Mommy Mode. Meeting people via the internet incredibly fascinating and opens the world up for endless possibilities. This mama’s heart for her family and other mothers is so beautifully sweet, and you all should be following her as well.

So without further adieu, please click on the link below to read this week’s blog post featured on Mommy Mode entitled Fourth Times the Charm written by yours truly.

https://mommymodesite.wordpress.com/2018/04/04/fourth-times-the-charm/

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Obligatory New Year Post

Happy New Year!!!

Okay so obviously we’re a few days into 2018 buuuutttt I feel like as long as I am in the month of January (okay maybe even February) its perfectly fine to wish people a happy new year.

So what are is everyone’s new years resolutions?! Goals??? Did anyone make any?? If you didn’t, don’t feel bad because I didn’t make any. Well I didn’t make any at first. To be honest I am not fond of writing down goals. I know that like flies in the face in Ted Talks, corporate seminars, and every Pinterest support board. But I DO NOT like to sit down every year and write down 10 goals. As a matter of fact I don’t even do it at work. I tell my boss when it comes to our quarterly goals, I will either copy old ones or just make up some general ones. I see friends of mine who year after year post their goals on January 1st and will post the completed goals (with footnotes) on December 31st. And I have so many feelings about that. One feeling is that maybe they are just stunting for the gram and another feeling is definitely an envious one because I would never be able to keep up with a sheet of paper for 365 days.

Why am I not in sync with goal writing? Because I am afraid of failure. And I suffer from intense tunnel vision. So I feel like if I write a goal I will zero in on one thing and not focus on any other goals until that particular one has been completed. Or if a goal morphs or starts not going the way I think it should I will have a nervous break down because I cannot see a way out of this “goal hell” I have created.

Don’t get me wrong, I am a very driven person. It is the fabric of my being. I push my self to do better and be better. I do not like being mediocre and I try to make sure that I say yes 90% of the time and deliver big time on my promise. However, I am super mental about it.

But…..

While talking to my sister over New Years, she convinced me to put pen to paper this year and try and form some sort of list that I can check off for 2018. So I have resolved to give resolutions a try. The definition of resolution is to make a firm decision to do or not to do something. So here on my resolutions: To say ‘no’ more, complain less, blog more, and stress less.

Those might be a little general yes but at least I started somewhere. These are very attainable for me and I will report back on my 2018 progress to tell you all how I am doing. Whatever you have chosen to do this year with your goals and plans, I hope they make you happy and you are a better person by the end of the year because of them.

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