Nine days after I arrived in Malaysia, I did the math in my head. Again. Three pregnancy tests, and they had all been negative. But my math couldn’t be that far off, could it? So I finally stopped waiting and took another test, my heart pounding. The second pink line appeared in seconds and instantly heart rejoiced while my body screamed why are you doing this to me again???? (My pregnancy withtell me the rest!
Author: Emma Hall
My name is Emma Hall, and I am a young wife and mother of five. Yep, five kids! My husband and I are high school sweethearts, married at 18. He spent five years in the Marine Corps, during which time we followed him back and forth across the country. Nine moves + one deployed husband later we have settled in Ohio (for good?) where we work to balance chaos, joyful children, toxic free living, renovating our farmhouse, and living simple.
Ten airplanes by five weeks old: postpartum and alone with my son
I’ve done some impulsive things in my life, and perhaps one of the most impulsive of all was booking tickets from California to Texas when my son was nine days old so he could visit his daddy. We arrived at the tiny airport at 3am and I embarked on a weekend trip to Texas–on my own. With a newborn. What was I thinking? The trip was fantastic and my sontell me the rest!
Two kids under two and an avalanche of too much laundry
I almost forgot about my daughter at a friend’s house on Sunday. She was too quiet and had been sleeping for ages and guys, it still hasn’t sunk in that we have two kids. That’s double the children we had eighteen days ago. My almost-two-year-old, of course, would never ever let me forget about him; that kid is just a ball of crazy and it’s hard to miss a tornadotell me the rest!
Alia Joy, the tiniest secret I’ve ever kept
Yes, I’ve been keeping a fairly huge secret from the world. Or a tiny one, rather. One that’s been kicking and rolling and making my back hurt all kinds of crazy for the last nine months. Isn’t she perfect? Meet Alia Joy Brake, born Monday at 5:15pm, weighing 6lbs 4oz and 19.5 inches long. You know, it wasn’t easy keeping this precious little one a secret from the world fortell me the rest!
“Is he supposed to look like that?!”
Yes, this is the story of my son’s birth, and yes, that is the first thing my husband exclaimed upon the delivery of that sweet little boy. Is he supposed to look like that?! I’ll be honest, it crossed my mind too. You see, my son was born with the cord wrapped around his neck twice and a serious cone head, plus as my husband so aptly says, he was coveredtell me the rest!
Almost two years since the pregnancy that made me want to die
Two years ago, when I was pregnant with my son, people used to tell me that pregnancy was the most wonderful time of their lives. I would literally balk. Pregnancy–anything but miserable? Perhaps. But the greatest experience of their lives? Yeah, there was no way. Perhaps some people had okay experiences, but there was no way that pregnancy was the best time of their lives. Now we’re coming up on mytell me the rest!
I forgot how to relax
At home, I can always find something to do. Always. Floors must be swept, dishes must be done, the little guy decided to rearrange the kitchen pantry, my husband’s boots left sand tracked across the house–even when there’s nothing to do, I still find something. It drives my husband nuts and he’s constantly asking me to stop because my perpetual doing puts him on edge, but I feel like I can’ttell me the rest!
Five letters to connect in a distant marriage
We’ve all had that conversation with our husband. You know, the one where he looks over and notices our worn out countenance and asks what’s wrong, then we have a choice regarding what we’re going to tell him and he has a choice about how to respond. I have this friend who I’ll call Stacy and because she’s been feeling discouraged often, she’s been having this conversation with her husband,tell me the rest!
Dear distracting white-noise machine (aka. TV), we are breaking up
Two years ago, our phones were ringing incessantly with sales calls from cable reps who would offer us anything to use their services. “Hi, is this Ms. Emma?” “Yes, this is her.” “Hi, Ms. Emma, this is Dan with DirecTV. We have a fantastic rate to offer–“ “I’m sorry, we don’t watch TV in our family. We’re not interested in cable services.” “Yeah, I understand, family time is very important.tell me the rest!
Essential oils and foods for the low libido mama this Valentine’s Day
Let’s chat about an issue that many wives like to pretend doesn’t exist–low libido. Husbands, this can be for you too. High schoolers, unmarried folks, and those who feel uncomfortable at the mention of the “s” word, feel free to move along. This post is not for you. But my tribe is young mamas, and mamas battling with hormones and postpartum recovery and little hands that are always grabbing often crawltell me the rest!