New Mom Mondays - Meet Michelle

This post is part of the New Mom Monday series! A series about moms and their advice to new moms! Books and videos can only teach us so much, but there’s something special about hearing from real life moms. Honest, true, and always beautifully inspiring!!

♥ What’s your Name?

Michelle

♥ Tell us a little about yourself!

I’m 29 years old and I live in Vancouver, BC. I had my son when I was 16. I’m currently a SAHM because I’ve been on a medical leave since September 2015. I love reading and binge watching shows on Netflix.

♥ How many kids do you have? What are their names and ages?

I have one little monkey. His name is Riley and he just turned 12 years old.

♥ How do you find your “me time”?

Since my son is now older, my free time happens while he’s in school and when he’s at his dad’s house.

♥ What is the best baby related book you’ve ever read?

In all honesty, I didn’t read any baby books.

♥ What’s the most useful baby product you have? Why do you love it?

I loved the playpen. I loved that I could put Riley in there and know that he was safe. Plus, as he grew older and started crawling and standing, it allowed me to do things like cook and clean without worry that he’s going to get up to something not good for him.

♥ If you could say something to yourself when you first brought home your first baby, what would you say?

1. It’s going to be a difficult road ahead but it’ll be so worth it!

2. Don’t be scared, you have so much help around you.

3. You are going to be an AMAZING MOM.

♥ How much planning did you do before your baby was born, and how do you think that it helped or didn’t help?

I planned and planned. As in… I made sure that I got everything before hand and I had to organize how I was going to finish my schooling. I left the high school I’ve been attending since grade 8 and decided to compete it online so that I can be at home. You can’t plan for everything because in reality, everything is on the baby’s schedule. Everything else was trial and error.

♥ What do you believe are the top three pieces of advice a new mom or someone trying to conceive should know?

1. Always live in the moment. It’s going to fly by so fast… you won’t know what hit you.

2. Take lots of pictures! I love looking at all of Riley’s baby albums.

3. Start some sort of baby book where you can record all the baby milestones, you’ll appreciate the memories when they’re older.

♥ What is your best memory so far of being a mom?

In all honesty, that’s a difficult question to answer because there are so many memories to choose from! I took a mental video of when Riley was learning how to crawl and his first baby giggles and those are baby milestones that definitely stuck in my mind. I love watching my little monkey find himself. I love watching him learn and try new things. I love watching him not give up. There really are a lot of memories in the past 12 years.

♥ Give us the short form version of your birth story.

I just knew that Riley chose his birthday – he decided to come 3 weeks early. The birth itself was super fast – only 3 hours and 12 minutes from the moment my water broke. He was born in a hospital and delivered by a doctor who was not my OB because my OB was delivering another baby. I had my mom, a friend from school and my brother’s girlfriend at the time with me. I didn’t plan on taking any pain medication and in all honesty, there was no time for it. The birth itself was fast and with no complications. The nurses and the doctor was so surprised that I didn’t need stitches! Riley was slightly jaundiced and I had high blood pressure so we stayed two nights. I was so happy that I couldn’t sleep at all that night.

♥ Lastly, for fun, define motherhood!

It’s a crazy rollercoaster with its ups and downs. It’s exciting… stressful but so rewarding!

To hear more from Michelle be sure to visit her blog CoffeeHeartMind and follow her on Instagram.

If you would like to participate in New Mom Mondays please feel free to message me by using my contact form! I would love to not only feature you on my blog but learn from your answers, as I’m sure many readers would too!

New Mom Mondays – Meet Michelle