Last night Luca was teething and having a hard time falling asleep. Anel was outside mowing the lawn and I was putting Amalia down alone so I brought her in to help me soothe him. I picked him up to rock him and together, Amalia and I sang him You Are My Sunshine until he fell asleep, lightly snoring on my shoulder. She was rubbing his back as I held him and I thought to myself: This is it! This is what life is all about. I wiped my tear before she could see and smiled to myself knowing that this year is going to be a beautiful year for me and for my family.
As of tomorrow, I’ll officially be in my late 30s and I’m not mad at it. 37 definitely sounds like a big number to me but this year also feels like a new beginning in a lot of ways.
While the world feels like it’s falling apart all around us, I’m trying to focus on the positive and the beautiful parts of life as much as possible.
Tonight I’m having my annual family birthday dinner in the city and tomorrow I’m throwing a little rosé and sushi soiree for my friends on our new patio.
In true Cancer fashion, I always get a little sad when my birthday is coming up so I try to fill the days surrounding it with fun activities and good friends.
This is what 37 is looking like for me…
I’m done having babies. I just re-read my birthday post from last year in which I wrote that I would have a 3rd baby if not for the tough pregnancies and lol to that. Luca is my favorite boy in the universe but having a boy is more physically challenging than I ever could have imagined and I am donezo.
I’m so excited to be out of the trying-to-conceive, pregnant, and newborn stages of life and onto the next stage of parenting that includes Kindergarten and all kinds of growing up. These kids are so incredible and I don’t know how I got so lucky to be their mom. All of the anxiety and tough pregnancy days and weight gain and back pain… it has all been worth it 100 times over for them.
And I’m done! I never have to do it again! That feels really good. I’ll just make my sister keep having more so I can get my baby fix that way 🙂
I’m ready to do something new and exciting. I have a few potential projects in the works (sorry I can’t share more right now!) with work because for the first time in years I feel settled enough at home to focus on what’s next.
I was really excited to focus more on my marketing consulting business in early 2020 and then, womp womp, the pandemic hit and threw that for a loop. When I finally felt ready to start it up again I got pregnant with Luca. Finally, now that he’s a little older and I have no impending pregnancies, I feel ready to be less stagnant with work.
While consulting is a small piece of the puzzle, I am very happy to be jumping on some more creative ventures.
I’m getting back in shape. I gained 45 pounds with Luca and my body will never be the same after him but I’ve figured out how to accept that and learned to focus my health goals on feeling good more than looking a certain way. That shift has made exercise feel more fun and less like work.
My new thing in the last few months is to go for a walk, run, or Peleton ride for 20-30 minutes after I finish working and before the kids come home from school to delineate my day and it’s been a really refreshing change.
I had been finding myself stuck in work mode and in my head when I was with my kids at night and doing this has helped me be so much more present (and happy!) when I’m with them. 10/10 recommend if it’s possible with your schedule.
I’m getting better at setting boundaries. Historically I’ve been a people pleaser even when it causes me anxiety and/or stress in a big way. Something about being a mom of two has made me realize how important it is to say no to people or things when I have to… or just want to.
I’m excited for this year. For my baby girl to go to big girl school. For Luca to turn two. To take family vacations. To celebrate our 10-year anniversary in September. All of it!
Want to give me a birthday gift? Make a donation today to one or more of these organizations:
ACLU
Planned Parenthood
Everytown
