Look At This Madness

Back in July, life threw a curveball and I wound up pregnant, quite surprisingly, again. You know when society (and the box it comes in) says the morning after pill works as long as you take it within 72 hours? Well, I took it 12 hours later and it didn’t work. I thought I was being responsible for preventing pregnancy and it turns out life had other plans, and that’s okay. But those of you who would implode if they got pregnant, NEVER use plan B/ the morning after pill. I did some research and found if you ovulate within that window before you take the pill, it essentially becomes ineffective if there are some strong swimmers in there. So $40 later that tiny little thing was pointless. I was about 4 weeks along the process when I figured out what was happening. My period was late, which it had been for the last 5 months due to stress I presume, but something inside me said it wasn’t just a late period. I had an old test lying around. It was about 6am and I decided to take it before my...

  I am a firm believer in the statement you can accomplish anything you put your mind to, now more than ever. I also believe whole-heartedly, the first step to success is believing in yourself. Once you do that, there is so much power in being aware of your potential and doing anything you can to reach your goals.  Two and a half years ago I was very unhappy and felt more lost than I possibly ever had. I knew what I wanted but I had no idea how to get there. My daughter and I lived with my mom, I had little money, was not driving my own car, and was not living my passion. My daughter was honestly the only thing that kept me going.  There are three valuable keys I learned: Confidence, asking questions, and talking to people. They say fake it 'til you make it and I did just that. I was morbidly insecure about everything but I'd put on a smile and a good conversation and you'd never know.  Fast forward to today, I'm 24 years old, I have my own two-bedroom apartment, I w...

To the person who stole my phone: That little girl on the screensaver is my daughter, she’s two and a half. I work from home, a majority from my phone so I can raise her myself and not send her to daycare. I wake up early and work before she wakes up, I work during her naps and after she goes to sleep at night. I don’t have a college education. I don’t have a fancy car and I have the cheapest line of cell phone service from Walmart.  When you took my phone I lost photos of my daughter and important notes. I lost client information, phone numbers and photo content. What you gave me? Optimism. It could have been worse. You could have stolen my laptop, which has missing keys from my daughter picking them off. You could have stolen my car, which would prevent me from driving to the post office and UPS nearly every day for one of my clients.  Believe me, I know life can be hard and frankly I am sorry that yours has gotten to the point where you have to steal someone's pho...

When you think of taking your toddler to the beach it can either stir excited feelings or fill you with dread. As a single parent you have to be creative sometimes, especially if you and your tike are going to the beach solo. But trust me, it is possible. I take my daughter with me everywhere, nothing stops us. Here are a few suggestions that might be helpful to a first time parent, like myself. 1. Don't overpack! Your arms can only hold so much, and odds are, one of those things will be your toddler. Parenting at all is almost a circus act. I am often amazed at how much my two arms can hold. Bringing an umbrella, a stroller, extra towels, or an icebox is kind of overkill though. It's not like you'll be there for five hours, little ones can only take so much. If anything bring a medium sized towel for the kid. If it is just the two of you, I guarentee the likelihood of a two-ish-year-old sitting happily still while you go swimming is pretty much impossible. 2. Do br...

Dating someone for the first time after a terrible break up can be fun yet also terrifying. After splitting with my daughter's father I took a year to focus on my daughter and me and remained male free (well mostly).  After the year was up a guy I had previously dated found his way back into my life and we started back up again. I had no walls, no second thoughts, no lock on my heart. He was pretty good with my daughter. Never harsh with her, just shy and mildly uninvolved. I figured he would adjust. It felt like we had a future, after all, we had dated before. I wasn't scared. I gave him all of me and in return, months later he said he never saw a future for us because my daughter was not his. To say it bluntly, DICK MOVE. It hurt. I can't imagine stringing someone along for months only to tell them it was never going to work because of an innocent child not being theres. My daughter and I are much better off without him, to say the least. Unfortunately, this one left ...

At the end of the day I hold her tight before laying my daughter down for sleep. We say a prayer and I tell her to "give mama kisses." We give kisses and down she goes. I walk out quietly, close the door and sigh. It is usually around 9pm, not 7:30pm like everyone else seems to stick with. But I am okay with that. Most of the time I go to sleep right after putting her down. As long as I know she isn't going to wake back up from the light noise of me getting in bed across from her crib. Throughout the night we wake each other up so often I end up on the couch, which is okay too. The day usually starts around 5:30 am - 6 am. I roll out of bed (or couch) and make us both spinach and eggs or tofu for breakfast, about halfway through the process she wakes up. "Mama!" I pause to make sure I did in fact here her call. "Mama!" Some mornings she even wakes up singing my name in her own little melody. She always has to have her "baby" in her ar...

My uncle passed away last year so my aunt is having an estate sale and moving back to Scotland, where she is from. My mom and her friend were at the house organizing the sale with my aunt. Because I was working this morning, my daughter Ella was with them as well. After working a couple of hours, my sister and I met up at the house and we all went to grab lunch. Little did I know what was about to happen on the car ride over. Ella was quiet on the quick drive, a normal thing. But when I got out of the car and went around to open Ella's door, she had managed to take Aunties (my sister's) lipstick with her and got it EVERYWHERE. Of course it was a red tube of lipstick, so it was almost terrifying to see when I opened her door. I may have screamed. (definitely screamed). We laughed about it, cleaned her up as best as we could and went inside the restaurant. Towards the end of the meal Ella was getting fussy, as she needed a nap after playing with two Scottish Terrier...