MerryMommy

To be a bright light In another's darkest days: Unforgettable. You can take the mama out of the NICU, but you can't take the NICU out of the mama. I have written about this before, but it bears repeating, especially since there are several readers new to my blog since I first wrote about my NICU experiences 4 years ago (but go check them out now to catch up). Spending time in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit with infants undergoing critical, lifesaving treatment, all the while physically recovering from childbirth yourself is TRAUMATIC. It is especially conflicting because the moment that is sourcing your trauma is the exact moment society has consistently told you should be the most joyful moment of your life: becoming a mother. The smiling new mommy you see in the picture above is not the same smiling mommy you see in my feed these days. This mama of 3 week old preemie twins was struggling. She was joyful every day that her babies were growing and stable, but she ...

When raising daughters: Fill her up or dress her up? Beauty from within. Raising a little girl felt different from raising little boys right from the very moment I found out it was, in fact, a girl. Life is just different, society is different, and expectations are different for girls. Identifying as a strong, confident woman myself, and knowing the challenges we can face, I felt like I would have to start while she was very young to build up a loved and cherished yet strongly built little girl who could stand up to whatever challenges life threw her way. One of these "boy mom" vs. "girl mom" differences centered around beauty. Sure, my boys were and are completely adorable and handsome little guys, and people comment accordingly. But boys also get comments about how strong they are, how smart they are, and when they behave in a particularly caring and compassionate way, they are praised. With girls, feedback from society is almost always exclusively ...