When I first started this blog two years ago, my intentions were very different than they are at this moment. To make a long story short, my life changed dramatically when my daughter was born. Yes, it changed in all the ways that life changes for all new parents, but it changed in a very different way, as well. You see, for me, biological children were never something that I longed for or dreamed about. Children? Yes. But biological? No. Shared DNA wasn’t necessary in my family plan. Yes, I wanted the experience of pregnancy and childbirth; I wanted to breastfeed to bond with my children and provide them the health benefits; I also wanted the health benefits for myself. But with the Earth’s growing population and countless children in need of homes, I didn’t feel the need for it.
But when my dear little E was born, something changed and my priorities shifted. Suddenly, I wanted to give her everything. I wanted to stop bickering with her father over money and adoption processes. And while hesitant, I wanted to give her a lovely play space in our basement that was going to cost roughly what we had squirreled away to bring home her sibling. And then before I knew it, my little nine pound munchkin had me swearing away my dreams and family plan and re-writing my story.
Over the past two years, I’ve had a few rough days where I’ve kicked myself on this (the day I relinquished our spot in the adoption pool, the day I wrote out the check for the finished basement, and all those days when I knew in my heart that I didn’t want to be “one-and-done”), but today, I’m happy to announce that we’re expecting #2 — biologically — this fall.
Among the topics I hope to cover as we welcome #2 and as #1 continues to grow:
- Breastfeeding
- Baby food making
- Baby signing
- Self care
- Sharing the parenting load
- Sleep training
- Potty training
- And a few fave books and products
I’d love to hear what else you’d like to discuss and look forward to sharing my parenting journey with you.
–Melissa, Funky Crunchy Mama
