The day after Atlas was born started off okay. More family came to visit and Lou and I tried to soak in all of the time with our new little guy, trying to get to know him. By the evening time, I noticed a change in Atlas. His skin was getting incredibly red and splotchy and he was growing more and more fussy. I thought that maybe he was having trouble breastfeeding, so I saw two different lactation nurses that day. They assured me that I was doing great. By the time night rolled around, Atlas was inconsolable. He was screaming and screaming and screaming. No matter what I did or what Lou did, nothing was helping him. We googled everything we could to find out what could be the problem. We thought maybe it was witching hour, but he continued on into the night. Mentally, I was as broken down as I was physically. There’s not a worse feeling in the world than when your baby is in distress and you can’t do a single thing to make it better. I felt completely awful….

Baby Atlas' Birth Story, Part One

I wanted this blog up sooner. I thought I’d be more on the ball when it came to blogging and getting work done while on maternity leave. The truth is, I was naive. I honestly had no clue how beautifully intense motherhood would be, especially in the first month. My journey to this point six weeks postpartum hasn’t been an easy one, but it’s one worth sharing. This new season of my life I am in has changed my life completely!…

Earthy Gender Neutral Nursery

It feels like I’ve been working on this nursery forever. In reality, I kind of have. A few years go, when I started planning how I’d decorate the spare bedroom, I kept in mind that eventually this space would be turned into the nursery so an easy transition into that was what I planned. Unfortunately, life got in the way and the spare bedroom just became a dumping ground for random household items that didn’t have a proper home. Needless to say, I never got around to finishing it. With only two walls stripped of super old, cigarette smoke ridden wallpaper and glue, I still had a lot of work to do in getting this space baby ready….

Meat and Sophie's 7th Birthday Party in Youngstown, Ohio

Seven years ago on this day, Meat and Sophie were born. I remember going to see them and the rest of their litter and just being so in love with every single wrinkle on their bodies. A few weeks after they were born, Lou sent me to pick out which pup we were going to adopt. I immediately fell in love with Soph and Lou was obsessed with Meat. I distinctly remember sending him tons of pictures of them and then deciding that we would take Meat because he really wanted him. Then Lou said, well let’s adopt them both, and my heart exploded. Ironically, it turns out that they were best friends in their litter - always cuddling and being close together. It’s like they knew, or we knew, or maybe we were all just meant to be a family together….