Where my journey began

When I first decided that I was going to blog about my pathway to parenthood I was completely terrified yet overwhelmed with excitement. I have never blogged before, so please bear with me as I work out the kinks and figure out how to organize my thoughts. I purchased this domain over a month ago and have ignored reminders daily to get started. Something about putting my life into words for people to read makes me feel very vulnerable. I have been very forthcoming on social media about my situation and through that I have connected with some extraordinary women who have, are or will be going through something similar. It is mind blowing how many couples are effected by infertility. With that being said, I no longer want to keep putting this off and I hope that this will only connect me to more couples along the way. I will begin my story by telling you where my dream of becoming a parent originated.

As a child my Mother quit her career to stay home with my brother and me. She decided that it was her responsibility to raise us, and I am glad she did. After quitting her job she started babysitting for family members and close family friends to make ends meet. I have such fond memories of summers spent outside playing, jumping on the trampoline and just being a typical kid. It truly brings a smile to my face thinking about the good times we had growing up. I recall my mother having between five to ten kids at the house any given day. It was totally controlled chaos, but I loved being her helper. I took it upon myself to help with potty training the younger kids and found sheer joy in working with “children.” (Keep in mind I was a child myself, but I thought I was far older and could contribute) 😉 This is where my love for babysitting and kids began.

The year I started kindergarten my Mom went into parent-teacher conferences and my teacher told her that I was a leader. My Mom asked my teacher what she meant by that and she was told that I always took the lead and helped other kids around the classroom. Laughing my Mom told my teacher that her word for that is “bossy.” She had spent lots of time watching me boss around the other kids at home and she found humor in hearing my teacher say I was a leader. I still claim that leader is the best term to describe my style! 🙂

As I grew up I spent lots of time around my huge family and loved when we had a new baby in the family. On top of that I began babysitting at age 14. All through high school and college I held babysitting jobs for families ranging from one kid up to five. It came naturally to me and I loved helping families raise their children. It was fun, seemed extremely easy to me, the families I worked for became second families. Plus, it helped pay the bills. It was a win-win for me and for the families I worked for. It is crazy to think that I have been babysitting for sixteen years now. That makes me feel old.

To conclude, I grew up watching my Mother work with children and it was always a dream to be a Mommy just like her. She was kind, patient and in my eyes super woman. I have always known that I wanted to be a Mom and never dreamed that the process to get there would be so heart wrenching and painful. I find peace in know that no matter how my husband and I get to parenthood, we will be filled with joy and love our child unconditionally. Our pathway to parenthood began nearly two years ago, and we will continue on it until we fulfill our dreams of becoming parents! I invite you to follow along throughout the process! ❤