Hello, HelloGiggles readers! I’m Danielle and I’m here to share some Mama perspective on a bi-monthly basis. To give you some background, I’m a twenty-something (that’s a nice way of saying LATE twenties… okay, 29) high school English teacher turned stay at home Mom to a little dude named Henry. I also blog full-time over at Sometimes Sweet. Henry’s a little over 6 months now and is the coolest person in the world, and my husband and I find ourselves high-fiving each other daily over how awesome we did at making this baby!

And being a Mom? Insane. I always knew I wanted to be one, but wanting to be one and being one are such different things.

First of all, I had this vision of how I wanted my birthing experience to go. I read the books, visited the websites and picked out the perfect songs to play on my iPod as I push-push-pushed my baby boy into the world. I envisioned looking up at my husband, my brow glistening with perspiration (not sweat, of course), saying “I love you so much” as our son was gently placed into my arms, complete with low lighting and everything feeling oh-so-serene. What really happened? I found myself hanging half naked from a birthing bar, squatting and writhing around like an animal and probably sounding like one too. I managed to avoid too much cursing at my husband but there may have been an incident where I threw a thermometer at a nursing student. MAY have been. There was no music, but if there was, the only suitable choice would have been Hatebreed. There was blood, there was sweat and the entire twenty-four hour experience ended in an emergency c-section where little Henry made his arrival very quickly by the hands of the wonderful doctor on call.

But childbirth is childbirth whichever way it happens and while I thought that my experience would have been much different, Henry arrived safely and I couldn’t be happier. And actually, the entire process was incredibly beautiful, all joking (and animal sounds) aside. That’s kind of been the theme for being a parent though – I’ll have this idea of how I want something to be and then the reality of the situation is so much different. With it though has come this new mindset, a new flexibility. Expectations versus reality. My perfectionist tendencies have had to go right out the window and I’m kind of enjoying venturing into the unknown.

I’m looking forward to writing about my adventures in motherhood in this space – the good, the bad, the weird, the funny. And I swear, more “weird” things have been happening since I’ve become a Mom. From the odd lady at my stroller boot camp class getting all “mom-petitive” with me to creepy old ladies trying to touch my baby (hands off, granny), we’ll be getting into it right here. Awesome! So if you’re a mama too, say hello! Or if you’re a mama-to-be, one-day-in-the-future mama, or whatever, say hi too. So excited to get to know each of you!

xoxo,

Danielle

Danielle Hampton is a high school English teacher turned stay-at-home Mom, living the small town life in Arizona. She blogs daily at Sometimes Sweet and tweets too much via @danihampton.