“When are you having more children?” “Time for Another!” “Why Doesn’t ___ Have Kids Yet?” & other comments that don’t mean to hurt, but can.

This post has been mulling around in my head for a while, saved as a draft for weeks, as yet another pregnancy announcement has come. Spring is a time for new beginnings, fresh growth, and the celebration of new life. I so get it! I love pregnancy, I’ve been through a few myself, but even so, I really think we need some education on the appropriateness of the question “are you pregnant?” and it’s variants. I know that some will feel their feathers being ruffled by my words, feel defensive, or offer an explanation/apology–but please hear me out, you apologizing to me is not the goal.

I already wrote about postpartum depression once before, but I want to mention it again for two reasons:

1. I have a lot of friends who just recently had babies (not their first), and let me just tell you PPD is a whole different beast with subsequent births for a myriad of reasons.
2. In dealing with my own depression, I have relearned the value in speaking up and showing up.

It’s that time of year again! The last 5 years I have been on a roller coaster of emotions on and around Mother’s Day. I have sort of a love/hate relationship with it. On the one hand, I’m like “stay home, this is a stupid Hallmark invention!” On the other, I’m feeling all the feels about my kids, moms without living children, and folks who’s moms have passed already.

Have you ever heard of May Day? It’s celebrated a lot of places, but I think in the USA it’s somewhat of a dying tradition. I celebrated a few times growing up and now that my girls are 4 and almost 2, and we have spent the last few years actively trying to build relationships with our neighbors, I figured this year would be the perfect time to start and continue the tradition with them.