About me

When I was in college and it was the first day of a new class and the professor asked us to go around the room and tell everyone a little bit about yourself, I always panicked..."Who was I?". Sounds like a simple enough question, but I could never figure out exactly what to say. Do I go the boring "This is where I'm from and what sorority I'm in" way, or do I go with "this is a really weird fact about me that is going to make you think I'm weird, but cool"; it was always a hard choice.

 Alas, here I am a few years post college and preparing to tell someone about myself and not really knowing what to include and what will make me sound interesting. I guess I'll just throw it all out there, timeline style, and hope for the best...

Matt graduated before me

• I graduate from Purdue University with a degree in "Law & Society" with the hopes of working with children and families in the social services field after I decide that there was no way I could afford law school.

July 2nd, 2010

• About 6 weeks after graduation I marry my better half, Matthew. You can read about our wedding here.
• I never get that "dream job" post graduation and work for the next 1.5 years as a server and then as a sales rep.
• About 10 months after our wedding I find myself staring down at a positive pregnancy test on the bathroom counter.

32 weeks

• I gain 60 pounds.

If this doesn't say, "New mommy", I don't know what does... looks like death from sleep deprivation and forgets to put shirt down to cover flabby belly after feeding.

• On January 18th, 2012 I become a mama to the most beautiful boy via Cesarean Section.
• I become a stay at home mom.
• For the next 1+ year I face depression and PTSD directly resulting from my C-section. You can read about my experience with Vance's birth: part 1, part 2, part 3, and part 4. Honestly, I still have days that I struggle.
• We move back to my hometown in order to be closer to family.
• I find a local ICAN chapter and start attending meetings and volunteering with the group. Eventually I become a co-leader and get heavily involved with cesarean issues and make it my mission to ensure that my story is told. I don't want anyone else to go through what I have.

What a cutie! He loves raspberries!

• We discover, when Vance is around 1 year old, that he has severe food allergies. You can read about his egg allergy and garlic allergy.
• Food allergies are a huge adjustment. We have to change our food habits and try to keep a good attitude while dealing with scary reactions.

And that's about it! I think I have seriously summed up the last couple years of my life. It's kind of crazy to look at and see that everything I have experienced can be condensed down to a few bullet points...

I hope I at least gave you a glimmer of who I am. I guess I'm just your average wife and mommy who doesn't have a picture perfect life, but a hot, crazy, mess life that I wouldn't trade for anything. I'm going to try to shatter the illusion of "happily ever after.." and show you what it's really like once the wedding is over.