After the birth of our first in 2015, I got hit by an unexpected bout of postpartum anxiety and baby blues. I was lonely, but nervous to reach out. I wanted help, but I didn’t know how to ask for it. I was exhausted, but I couldn’t sleep. I was in pain, but couldn’t fix it. I loved my baby, but I dreaded feeding her. It was so hard, and so unexpected because she was our rainbow baby who I had waited my entire life for: motherhood was my calling! I was completely derailed by these emotions and hormones, and I didn’t know how to fix it. I felt like I had no control. I clung to Scripture, my husband, and my baby, and told very few people how I felt. I said no to well-meaning friends and visitors because I was embarrassed by how I looked and felt.

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When is a good time to introduce your baby to solid foods? While the AAP recommends a breastmilk diet for the first 6 months, I always wait for signs of developmental readiness before introducing any solids or purees. Now that our second child is over 4 months and can sit up in the high chair (or in our laps assisted!), we have begun getting the “when are you gonna feed her solids” question. Read on for the whats, whens, whys, and hows that worked for us.

Toddlers are hard. Parenting is hard. God’s mercies are new every morning. Here’s my Thursday: the hard edition.

I desperately want to be the mom who doesn’t need to yell and can keep her composure in the throes of a toddler tantrum. I so want to be the mom who can manage her toddler in such a way that she doesn’t have meltdowns. I let anger and frustration be my driving forces today and look—this sad face was the result! We had a really really really rough and tough start to our day today. . Temper tantrums, tardiness, hurt feelings, reflux, and barf (one caused by reflux, the other caused by the epic tantrum) that resulted in me missing an appointment I really needed. I thought only of myself today and what I needed, and in doing so I failed to give my girls the gentle attention they needed. . I hate the messy days, when I fail to parent with grace and respond with mercy, and instead react out of anger, frustration, and then try to blame it all on no sleep (which was my fault, and no one else’s). . Today was just another hard reminder that my sweet girls need me to bring them to God, not try to “be a good mom” (as if I’m capable of that on my own abilities anyway—ha! If I were, days like today wouldn’t happen). . These children are such a precious gift from above and I want to raise them right. Some days I really wonder if I’m truly up for the task—thankfully I’m not meant to do it alone, and even more thankfully, I don’t have to. Today was another reminder that I need Jesus. He is enough, El Shaddai, the all sufficient nourisher of my soul. . His mercies are new every morning and I’m so thankful for a successful nap time. Tomorrow is another day. I am sorry for my shortcomings, and I pray they can forgive me. Lord, help me point them to You. . Everyone, please: learn from my mistakes. #dailyclaire #morenora #takingbackpostpartum #toddlerinchief #lifewithtwo #ig_motherhood #motherhoodunplugged #reallife #motherhoodthroughinstagram #momlife #momfail #terribletwos #threenager #jesustakethewheel

A post shared by cαιтℓιη ✿ wαℊηℯr (@caitielin34) on Oct 19, 2017 at 12:19pm PDT

How My Parenting Fail Caused a Potty Regression

Do you have a toddler? Do you ever have those stories that still bring tears to your eyes to retell? #realtalk: I’ve only been a mother for a few years, and already I’ve got a handful of them (ok, probably more than I care to count…) Are you in the throes of a tough toddler stage right now? Be encouraged: you will survive. I hope that by sharing this we can join together in solidarity to not only survive the toddler years, but thrive, learn from each other’s mistakes, cry together, laugh together, grow as mothers.