I’m so, so excited for today’s guest post. Janine Manley of Little Rabbit Wears is the first person I thought to ask when I decided to post some essays on motherhood in honor of Mother’s Day this week. Not only do I love her vintage-inspired girls shop and think she’s pretty fabulous, but I love how open and honest she is about motherhood…

I can’t say I’m one of those moms who instantly felt connected with my children in utero. While pregnant, I flopped around and ate carbs and wore my bathrobe like it was on trend. With my first born (son), I worried I wouldn’t know what to do with a little boy and that I would be left out of Daddy and boy fun. I freaked out about having to take care of a “winkie.” Or willy. Whatever. I kind of wished I was having a girl when I shopped for him at Baby Gap and looked at my friends’ Facebook photos of mommy and me tea parties and American Girl store visits.

But, when Jackson arrived on 2/3/11, it certainly didn’t matter one bit that he was a boy. He was simply the most beautiful little thing I had ever seen. I had been proud at times and I had been happy. But, never have I had a moment as sublime as the feeling of having a warm, soft baby burying his head in the crook of my neck while placing my finger in his hand to hold just like I had seen on TV—not caring that he was squishy, or wet, or that he had just come right out of my lady bits. And so began motherhood.

Did I scare you for a second there? Did you think baby number three was in utero and I was about to make a major announcement?

Sadly, Bad Dad is yet to be convinced that number three is a good idea (the girls and I, however, are sure to amp up our pleas for just one more when one of my best friends gives birth in a few weeks). In the meantime, I have Jenn Goonan from Mom Bubbly guest blogging for Mother’s Day Week and she’s talking all about the differences between baby number one and baby number three. Sounds like the absolute perfect post to tweet at my husband, no? (And in case I was not clear enough, that is, in fact, an open invitation)

Seriously though, Jenn’s post is one that will resonate with many moms of more than one kid—especially if you spent your first pregnancy surrounded by highlighters, notepads and baby product guides like I did!

I have been blessed three times with uniquely different yet equally beautiful children. It’s been ten years since I’ve been gifted my daughter Ella and let me tell you… the excitement is the same when you find out you’re pregnant for the first or last little person. However, once the adrenaline (or maybe hormones) slightly subsides, the shopping habits are quite different for each pregnancy.

As soon as I found out that we were having our first baby, I began to feverishly research every stroller, crib, bottle and pacifier known to man. Once I had finalized my top baby products picks, the anxiety and fear set in because I didn’t want to make the wrong decision. What happens if the baby rejects the anatomically correct pacifier? Would the little nugget like the cotton or chenille swaddler better? I wasted so much time worrying and doubting myself that it took six months before I made all of my baby gear choices. No doubt, I could have enjoyed the journey of pregnancy if I wasn’t so concerned if Huggies or Pampers would stop projectile poop leakage.

This week I have a little New Years series for you with a couple of guest posts (yesterday’s was a look at some of 2014’s surprises), some thoughts of my own, and a round up of this year’s most popular posts. Today I have my pal Jac, a lifestyle photographer and the editor/curator of thePfotoShop. Her essays always make me want to write (and live) better. This essay of hers has spawned tomorrow’s post, which is all about my word for 2015.When I was twenty-two, I drove the lonely eight hours to Norfolk, Virginia, where my sister was having a conference. She lived in California at the time and we rarely saw one another, and the road has a history of being therapeutic for me – something that, at that point in time, on the heels of a pretty terrible breakup, I desperately needed.

I passed the time with Elizabeth Gilbert’s own reading of her memoir, Eat Pray Love. The movie was coming out soon, and I have a rule about reading books before seeing their adaptations – something I picked up from my Mom as a kid. I wasn’t expecting to love the book as much as I did – in fact, I half-expected to be one of the many cynics in the wake of its success. As I drove down quiet, rural 13, and she spoke words of loss, and depression, and fear, and spirituality, I heard many of my own feelings perfectly articulated in her words.

There is a part in the book where she says that different periods of life can be defined by specific words, and that the time she wrote about in hers was “attraversiamo,” meaning “let’s cross over” in Italian.

As a new year approaches, I’m spending a lot of time reflecting on the previous one, and with that comes the designation a new word. In the past, I’ve used independence, success, and adventure (a personal favorite), among others.

2014 began with the best thing that has ever happened to me, and was shortly followed by the greatest devastation I have ever felt. The affects of both events are so intertwined, each affecting my approaches to the other. Their togetherness has created in me a balance of extremes. How does one sum up such a year of simultaneous celebration and mourning?

Transition (n.) – change, often major.

I’m about to drive route 13 again. This time though, I’m traveling in the opposite direction, and I won’t be driving it alone.

Maybe 2014 brought you success, or adventure, heartache or healing, or maybe a new found focus on family. Maybe, like me, you find yourself in limbo after a year of transition.  As we welcome a new beginning in 2015, take some time to look back – what word would you choose?

This week I have a little New Years series for you with a couple of guest posts, some thoughts of my own, and a round up of this year’s most popular posts. Today, I have the hilarious Helen from Bubble Gum Chic. Her essays crack me up regularly with their straightforwardness and honesty and I couldn’t wait to hear her take on 2014.

When I look back on 2014 I think the word that will spring to mind first is “homeschooling.” Not because I am foolish enough to even consider voluntarily homeschooling my kids, ha, no. I may be a little bit crazy but I am not totally insane. However, my three young  children had 43 snow days last winter. Being locked in a house in the snow with three young children and five pets is something I won’t soon forget.

But there were other memorable moments that we all lived through. Here are fourteen things I never would have anticipated happening had you asked me a year ago. And, for the record, had I known about the snow days I would have officially relocated to Florida for the months of December through April.

1. Who ever would have anticipated a weather pattern that expanded our vocabulary to include words like “polar vortex,” “cyclone bomb,” and for our friends across the pond “weather bomb”? I didn’t believe it either, but I checked with my friend Lance the meteorologist and it’s real. Who knew weather terminology could rival Shakespeare?