Military, Motherhood

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!

Motherhood, Young Living

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!

Military, Motherhood

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!

Military, Motherhood, Uncategorized

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!

Marriage

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!

Motherhood

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!

Marriage, Young Living

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!

Young Living

Winter wellness: getting on top of the crud before the crud gets on top of you

It’s everywhere. Everyone and their mom and their mom’s dog is slowly disappearing from the church pews, from the office cubicle, from the normal routine of life into a pile of blankets and crumpled tissues. Except the mamas don’t get to disappear because they still have to run life as normal, so there’s that. But really, at this time of the year, it’s almost impossible to find a family that’stell me the rest!