Uh-oh. Mom Jeans are next.

Well folks.
The inevitable has happened.
And there's no use fighting it anymore.

The ol' blog has officially become mommy-ized.

So, I guess if you can't beat em, join em.
...or something like that.

It all started when I had a come-to-Jesus moment.
Just after Christmas.

I had developed major identity confusion.
Am I a rockstar teacher?
Or am I a fabulous mother?
Am I really good at one?
Or am I kind of good at both?
How can I do it all?
How do other women make it seem so easy?
Am I the only one who feels lucky to make it out the door with both eyes mascara-ed and a matching pair of shoes?
Or maybe I'm just certifiably, full-blown CRAZY.

Then I realized my life consisted of two things.
And only two things.
Lyla.
and
Students.

Every waking, breathing moment consisted of:
planning.
pumping.
grading.
pumping
teaching.
classroom management.
pumping.
meetings.
maintaining a house.
pumping.
nursing.
caring for a baby.

I was miserable.
And starting to get quite bitter that I was working,
instead staying home with my sweet-cheeks.
Because if I stayed home of course, I could part ways with my arch nemesis,
Mr. Pump.

That's when two things happened.

1). I saw a quote in my bathroom at school. *of all places*

"If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude."  

The irony.
Reading a quote at my work.
And realizing I can't change one thing right now.
So better change my attitude.
...about work.
And maybe even pumping too.
Thank you, Maya Angelou.

2). I had an epiphany.
I knew removing something from my plate was impossible.
So why not add something instead?
(See, told you I am certifiably cray-cray).

I needed a hobby.
Something for me.
Just me.

And then my husband,
thinking 8-steps ahead of me,
got me a new camera for Christmas.
Boom.
New hobby.

And then I remembered I had a blog.
Boom.
Hobby.
Not another check on my to-do list,
but a journal of life.
*And my really cheap therapy session.*

And yes, maybe every single thing I talk about revolves around some kind of bodily fluid.
Or how incredibly cute I think my offspring is.

But it's for me.
And I really need that right now.

And then I got really excited.
I thought, why not be resourceful as well?

Blogging is a place to record memories.
Document milestones.
Make friends.
And find resources.

I can't tell you how many late nights I've spent scouring the inter webs looking for answers to questions.
Why isn't she sleeping through the night?
What do I do when my babe is congested?
Is it normal for human waste to look like that?

And guess where I've found some of my best answers?
From other mamas.
And even if they do things differently than me,
it's SO nice to learn about a variety of options.
And hear others' stories.
And know that I'm not alone in all of this.

With that being said.
I'm going to *try* to regularly post on certain new-mommy topics.
Share things that have worked for us.
And what hasn't.
So I can look back.
And use it as a resource.
And maybe others will post and share their experience too.
And thus creating more resources for more often-times-lost new mamas.

So. My first topic will be tummy troubles.
I've gotten 5 e-mails in the last month with questions from others who have babes with tummy problems as well.

So please join me this week as I share our troubles with baby's tum-tum.
Maybe you'll gain some info.
And in return, I can get some info from you?
Quid.Quo.Pro.

All of that, my friends, was an incredibly long-winded way to go about saying, 

this mama needed a hobby.

And that I really like the blog community.

The end.

P.S. Did you really think I'd end a post without one single picture?