About

My birth name is Julie but I mostly go by Mom or Mommy these days. I'm a wife and mother of two to my beautiful little girls. Autumn* turns 6 in October and Amelia* turns 4 in September. I'm also a nurse, working full time in a clinic. I know there's more to me than that but those 3 titles certainly take up the most time! I've learned that there's a lot of surprising aspects of motherhood --- from the absolutely amazing to the very challenging and everything in between. And I've also learned that with all the newness and uncertainty I have an abundance of questions. This blog is all about the joys, the challenges and the unexpected including the things you never knew you say...until you became a parent! This is my journey of day to day life as a working mom of two and my stories of natural child birth, breastfeeding and much more. *Names changed.

The husband: I met my husband through an old friend. Although we had

several mutual fiends for many years, I  didn't meet the man who would become my husband until the summer after I graduated from high school. After both of us had a couple changes in degree choice we both graduated college the same year.  I started my career as a nurse and he went on to graduate school. Once he finished grad school and earned his PhD in biochemistry we were ready to start our family.

The children: My girls are 22 months apart in age (yes, by choice!). The oldest, my sweetness, is both sweet and gentle with a bit of wacky and rambunctious thrown in. The baby, my happiness, is a snuggle bug and also a serious dare devil. I couldn't be happier with the girls age difference. They have their moments (as all siblings do) stealing toys from each other and vying for attention. For the most part, though, they have the most adorable relationship and watching them together is special beyond words. 

My Mama Passions: One of the mama-related things that are important to me is talking about choices regarding labor and birth. While the birthing experience is extremely personal to each woman and some things are beyond our control, I find that many women don't know they have more choices than what they are offered. Some of these labor choices are discussed here. I had two natural (drug-free) labors and births but in a large hospital setting. My birthing style is called hypnobirthing which uses deep breathing and self-hypnosis to ease the pain of labor. It also uses theory about women trusting their body and baby through the entire process. The book I used with this theory can be found in my Favorite Reads and Products page.You can read the story of my first daughter's birth here and the second birth story here. I'm still amazed at just how different these two stories are. 

The postpartum stage also came with a lot of surprises for me and many of these are discussed here in my postpartum section. 

I'm also extremely passionate about breastfeeding. I feel the more knowledge women have the more empowered that can be to succeed at breastfeeding. Click to read about my views on Breastfeeding - the Newborn Stage. For more posts on this topic check out my Breastfeeding section including the first entry in a series on gently weaning from mommy's milk (more to come on this soon) and resources from other sites.

 I would love to hear from you! 

Send Julie a message at:

sweetandhappygirls@gmail.com.

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Disclaimer: 

This blog is written to share my personal stories, my journey of motherhood any many of the things I have learned. It in no way is intended to be used for medical advice and you should always consult your own healthcare team when making health decisions for yourself or your family.

I will occasionally mention brand names or products in post topics. These products have been used by me personally and I have gained some benefit from them that  I want to share. I do not complete product reviews and do not get any compensation for naming products on this blog.