I have always had a very open relationship with my mother. She calls me sister-daughter and she's my sister-mom. Although she had me at 24, she always made the lines clear: she was my mother, and yet, she found a way to also become my friend. I wasn't a trouble maker by any stretch of the imagination, but when I found myself doing something I knew I shouldn't have been doing, I … [Read more...]
I Need A Vacation (Without The Kids)
As I sit back and really think about it, I haven't been on a vacation (a real, honest-to-God vacation) in over 5 years. Last one that kind of counted was our honeymoon. But I was 6 months post-partum and had to lug my breast pump to Vegas so I could pump and dump every three hours. How sexy. How romantic. Since then, I've been on plenty of airplanes, sure. I went to Disney … [Read more...]
10 Things Grown Women Shouldn’t Do – Part Two
Read 10 Things Grown Women Shouldn't Do - Part One here. #6 Stop getting overly frustrated when you are faced with things you can control and the things you can't. When I have a problem to solve, I feel anxious, even when the solution is fairly straightforward. And this must stop. And when I don't have the solution or I'm not the one who can solve the problem? I need to be … [Read more...]
10 Things Grown Women Shouldn’t Do – Part One
Read 10 Things Grown Women Shouldn't Do - Part Two here. I turned 26 a month or so ago. And now that I'm closer to 30 than I am to 20, I'm feeling some kind of way about the behaviors I exhibit and my reactions to every day events. Somehow I feel like I'm supposed to be wiser, calmer, more she's-got-her-life-together than I really am. Some days I wake up and I'm like, "Crap, … [Read more...]
New Book For Moms By Moms Shares How To Stress Less And Love Your Life More
Over on my blog, I (Tara, managing editor of BMWK) declared 2012 to be the year that I would help other mothers become more self-sufficient and financially independent. Who doesn't want to make a little bit of extra cash, right? One of the ways we're building together is through the publication of multiple ebooks. The set-up? Several moms contribute their stories to the … [Read more...]
What Is So Great About Being A Mom?
Have you ever experienced one of those days/weeks/months where all that could go wrong did? What about one of those days you just didn't feel quite like yourself? You may be stressed and tired and thinking you just may lose yourself. After a full work week of satisfying random people's needs, you return home and meet the needs of those you love. Should make it easier, … [Read more...]
Unexpected Pressure For Baby Number Two
My parents never gave me the "When are you going to give us some grandbabies" talk. In fact, my parents encouraged me to wait as long as possible to have my first child. They told me to enjoy my pre-baby life as it was then and to settle into motherhood when the time was appropriate for me. So that's what I did. When people would ask me if I had children, I'd reply "no." … [Read more...]
Top 3 Secrets They Don’t Tell New Parents
As a new mom, I am running 100 miles a minute. My life has never been more fulfilled, more fun or more rewarding. But I've never been so surprised by all the things I simply did not know. Babies don't come with manuals and there's no preparation course for new motherhood better than a firsthand account. So for all the new parents (and parents-to-be!) out there, here's a rundown … [Read more...]
Why Mother’s Day Shouldn’t Be A Big Deal To Moms
By Tara Pringle Jefferson I was doing my usual morning browse through my friend's Facebook statuses and I found a Mother's Day post written by a stay-at-home mom friend. She wrote that while she celebrates the day, it isn't that big of a deal to her because she feels loved and appreciated every single day. She detailed how her kids give her foot rubs for no reason, they … [Read more...]
I Can’t Be A “Mommy” and “Me”
by Aja Dorsey Jackson I love my children. With every fiber of my being I love them. But I'm struggling to enjoy motherhood right now. Please allow me to bare my soul and be completely honest with you for a moment. I'm not going to give you any standard lines about my kids being the best thing that ever happened to me or say that they've made me a better person. The … [Read more...]
Diary of a Reformed Kid-Phobe
by Gwen Jimmere Flashback to October 2009. If someone had told me then that a year and a half later I'd be a mother, I would have run away screaming at the top of my lungs with my arms flailing in the air. You see, I was never the girl who dreamt of the day she'd be a mom. I'd only prematurely picked out baby names to keep from seeming like a freak to those who'd ask how … [Read more...]
Fighting the F.R.U.M.P.
by Tara Pringle Jefferson I do NOT, I repeat, do NOT want to be a frumpy mom. I just"...won't. Tiya's post about "Can a Mommy Wear That?" got me thinking about how much I've changed my wardrobe since becoming a mom. I threw out my mini-skirts, bought a ton of shirts that covered my chest completely, and traded my pumps for ballet flats. I clearly went … [Read more...]