I’m so excited to have my hilarious friend Ashley share a snippet of her life with two kids as my first Guest Post! Any moms out there can totally relate to this kind of day, where it seems nothing is going right, and you either laugh or cry about it. 

Wacky Wednesday

Staying at home with young kids is a sitcom waiting to write itself for most moms (or dads) but this past Wednesday was the epitome of that. It started off like any ol’ regular day: me pretending my almost 3-year-old (who is clearly up) will go back to sleep as I lie in bed and muster up any/all energy to get up, drinking coffee as my 11-month-old screeches and throws every breakfast food off her tray on the floor for the dog…you know, the regular.

Sunday May 13, 2018, is Mother’s Day in the USA. Mother’s Day, originally established after the Civil War to honor mothers who had lost their sons in the war, brings me #allthefeels, particularly in the last 4 years. As moms, we are constantly weighing all the pros and cons of every situation. We have to try to see into the future and anticipate it, for all the problems and things that might happen. It’s our job when we are responsible for keeping tiny humans alive, and that takes up a lot of space in our heads, hearts, and lives.

As a result, we sometimes forget about self-care or to deal with our own junk. Mother’s Day comes, and then all of that comes crashing together. Hence, #allthefeels.

I’ve got so many friends and family who have recently had babies or are expecting soon, and they are either currently breastfeeding or plan to breastfeed. I wanted to compile a brief list of lessons I’ve learned along the way. I just celebrated my 3-year anniversary of CONSECUTIVE nursing: my sweet Claire weaned herself with some gentle coaching from me on New Year’s Eve. Together we chanted “new year, new you!” She had nursed for 33 months by that point. When she was 33 hours old, I wondered if I was going to make it to 6 weeks, let alone 6 months (my initial goal)…

We’re a third of the way through “Let’s March,” an easy 31-day workout campaign. If you’re like me and you hate working out, if you’ve stuck with us thus far, this in and of itself is quite a milestone.

If you need to be encouraged, let me tell you that when I first started this I could not do a wall sit for longer than 15 seconds, and now I can make it a full minute! So, it doesn’t take long to build strength and notice progress. I’m also finding I don’t mind being sore the next day, because it means that I’m working muscles and that makes me feel accomplished.