about me – Living The M Life

I know it’s been quite some time since I’ve posted here; I took a break to focus on life with my three little tornados. But recently I shared an exciting family update to social media and wanted to share here as well. If you missed the update, we are expecting baby #4, and…IT’s A GIRL. I love being a boy mom, but after three amazing boys in a row we are definitely excited to welcome a little girl into our home. In this post I’ll be discussing how we found out and our reactions to the big news.

When my husband and I discussed the possibility of a 4th baby later we conceded that a fourth child would be our last and that we might very well end up with a fourth boy. With my third, we experienced some gender disappointment after we found out. Of course we embraced it anyways, and our youngest son is so loved by everyone in the family and I couldn’t imagine things any other way. After I found out I was pregnant earlier than expected with my fourth, I knew it would be foolish to get my hopes up too much for a girl and embraced the idea of either gender. But quickly after sharing the news with family we were bombarded with everyone’s hopes and wishes for a girl. I didn’t think I could take 20 weeks of that without knowing the gender, so I decided to find out early. I had seen some posts on social media about the Sneak Peek test and after googling it found out it was offered at my birth center (more on the birth center later). Sneak Peek is a non-diagnostic prenatal early fetal sex test. It is NOT the same as the NIPT test, it only determines the sex of the baby. There are two versions- an at home test, and a clinical test where blood is drawn in a lab or medical office. The at-home test had very mixed reviews for accuracy (apparently it’s very easy to contaminate the test at home) but the clinical version seemed to be VERY accurate. I had my blood drawn from my arm at my first appointment at the birth center at 12 weeks, and paid $150 for the test. I received my results a couple of days later via email.

When I received the email, my husband and I were both so nervous we were afraid to open it. When we finally clicked on the email and read girl we both screamed. My husband proceeded to run around the room and then call everyone in his family to share the news. I shared the news via FaceTime with my mom, stepdad and sister. We were so happy, but I was also afraid to fully believe it until it was later confirmed at my 20 week anatomy ultrasound. Now I’m in full prep mode for baby girl.

In my next post I’ll share how we’re preparing for a very different birth this time- at home! I hope you’ve been well.

Xo,

Courtney

Hello lovely readers,

I wanted to start off with a little bit about myself before we get to the good stuff. My name is Courtney. I’m a 29 year old woman living in Northern Virginia (The DMV area). I have a 17 month old toddler named Mason, and a 3 week old baby boy named Myles (and before you ask, no we didn’t plan it this way, but I think there are some positives about a close age gap and we can get more into that later). I’ve been married for 2 years, although my husband and I have been together since our senior year of college at UVa back in 2011. I was an English major in college and I’m a writer/editor in government communications by day (but please excuse any grammar mishaps and typos here, I want to write more freely), and sell 90s vintage and vintage-inspired clothes with my hubby by night- check out our etsy page here. I’m starting this blog as a way to address a lot of issues surrounding motherhood that are important to me.

The first is that millennial motherhood comes with its challenges. We live in an age where women are told to delay motherhood in favor of their careers and instagram worthy vacations (and there is nothing wrong with that) but as someone who’s slowly building a career and still wants the instagram worthy vacations, I’m juggling how to have it all without going off the deep end, and want to share stories, tips, and resources (and get all of those things from you guys as well!). When I announced my first pregnancy shortly after my wedding, a lot of people told me I was joining the motherhood club too early, that my husband and I would be missing out on valuable time as just the two of us. But I think we both can say that our lives have felt fuller since Mason, and I feel like I’ve grown so much as a person as a result of having to care about someone more than myself.

I got similar negative reactions when I announced my second pregnancy. So many people, even strangers, said two under two would drive me and my husband crazy. But we’re all surviving so far. And while the newborn stage (and all of the hormone changes and sleep deprivation that come along with it) made me feel isolated the first time, I actually feel more connected to my husband after having Myles. The point is motherhood doesn’t have to have a bad rep as a millennial. It’s hard work but it’s seriously amazing! The second is that because motherhood in general is such hard work (some days it takes all of you and then some) connecting with and supporting other mothers is key to our survival. So is self-care, so I’ll be talking about that a lot.

I also just want to share some tips and products that I think are helpful as I discover them. There will be a lot of content for moms in general, but some just for moms of boys (because I think we get the short end of the stick when it comes to some of the fun stuff like baby clothes). This isn’t my first attempt at blogging- as some of you may know I had a very brief stint in law school, which led to my earlier blog Law Books and Lipstick (and a lot of student loans). I’ve also been a contributing blogger on The Real Chic Life (run by my Mom, who also has an amazing instagram). I’ll repost this in my about me section. I’d love your comments, questions, and suggestions.

Wishing you lots of coffee and self-care,

Courtney

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