Even before I became a mother, many of my friends dubbed me with the nickname, “Mama Bear”. I was the overly responsible friend always worrying about all of the minute details of everything around me. I have to admit that it’s a quality that has suited me well as a wife and mother, but my rigidity and constant aspirations for perfectionism can sometimes be downright exhausting.
I grew up in a loving home with a superhero of a mother. She kept company with other amazing mothers who over the years have all shaped the kind of woman, wife, and mother I try to be every day. Naturally, in my quest to be the mom who does it all, I often fall short. I know that as women we put an immense amount of pressure on ourselves to carry out all of life’s pursuits flawlessly. Sometimes though when the soufflé falls or the dishes get overlooked, we need to look at ourselves in the mirror and smile. What we often internalize as “epic fails” are typically just blips on the radar in all of the things we try to juggle every day with grace, poise, and love.
The intention of this blog is to candidly catalog the highs and lows of marriage and motherhood. So often women break one another down, but my hope is that through the power of our words and actions, we can come together and share our experiences. We each have something meaningful to say but don’t always feel like we have a platform to express ourselves. Please feel free to share your stories as long as you also practice kindness in your posts.
And with that, this Mama Bear will give you a firsthand look at my den and the cubs and Papa Bear that I share my time with. My journey as a mother first began in the summer of 2014 when I first met my husband, Sean, on Match.com. He was a widower with a toddler so I quickly found myself courting the two of them. One loved red wine, binge watching Netflix shows, and playing basketball. The other loved chocolate milk, Octonauts, and playing with superheroes. It was a balancing act from the very beginning, but I gladly embraced my new role as both a partner and mother. My experiences as a classroom teacher and school counselor coupled with babysitting my friends’ children helped level the playing field some in my pursuit as a new mother. Resiliency and the support of everyone around me further balanced things out. On March 11, 2016, Sean and I exchanged vows with only Liam by our side to commemorate the love story that started and grew between the three of us. On our honeymoon, we discovered we had a cub on the way. We welcomed Atticus to our family on November 1, 2016. We fondly refer to the boys as Golden Bear and Baby Bear. This was my inspiration for the blog title and tagline.
Thank you for your interest in A Mama Bear & Her Cubs. I look forward to blogging about my life and sharing with my friends, family, and others who happen upon this blog. Until next time…
Birds of a Feather 