Starting my mom blog!

I've blogged before... on MySpace and on another blog site. But now that I'm a mom, I decided to remain somewhat anonymous—although I plan to provide a link to this blog on my original one so my readers can find me.  And unlike my prior blog, which was a basic journal for me to get all my thoughts out, the primary focus of this one will be motherhood and how being a mom affects my marriage, my relationships and my career.

But here's a little background info—a timeline to becoming njsweetmom.

At age 36, I thought I'd never meet "Mr. Right." But I guess fate stepped in and I met Dude (more on his nickname another time).  We had an instant connection and our relationship became serious within weeks. We were engaged a little over a year later and married in June of 2008—I was 38 and he was 37.  Since we were "older" we decided to start a family right away.

I was convinced that I'd have trouble conceiving. Not sure why... perhaps because of my age? But luckily I found out I was pregnant the day after Thanksgiving in 2008. I had to take 4 pregnancy tests AND made my doctor run a blood test to confirm it. I was that afraid that I was NOT pregnant. But I was and I had a pretty smooth pregnancy.

Little Man was born on August 14, 2009.  He was 8 days late and I had to be induced. He's a BIG boy... he was 9 lb at birth! I was all baby and I lost 27 of the 40 lb I'd gained during my pregnancy by one week after giving birth. I still have 15 more pounds to lose to get back to my "wedding weight" but that's another story.  Now, at two months, Little Man weighs 13 lb 8 oz (as of last Wednesday, so he's probably more by now) and he's overall a very healthy little boy.

There are some minor medical issues he's dealing with—Torticollis and Positional Plagiocephaly—that I'll blog about later since this is my "first" post and I'd like to keep it pretty general. But Little Man is a happy (and hungry!) baby and I'm so glad to be a mom. I've always wanted to be a mom and finally, at age 39, I am!

However... Little Man will be our only child.  I never thought I'd say that. While I somehow knew my first child would be a boy, I always hoped he'd have a little sister. But life throws curve balls. We're not in the best financial shape. We're older (when I was pregnant, I was referred to being "advanced maternal age") and, perhaps, wiser. It's in our best interests as a FAMILY to remain a family of three—plus dog.

We want to be able to live better than day-to-day.  We want to be able to pay off our debts; save up to own a home; we want to be able to take family vacations; send our son to college; everything a parent hopes to do for a child. So we've decided that we're done. I'm a mom of one.

I'm sure that will have its challenges in the future. But, for now, I'm like any other first time mom—though perhaps a bit older than many—and am adjusting to taking care of a baby, dog, husband and trying to keep up with my job. Currently I work for my family's business and have a LOT of flexibility. So I'm bringing my son to work with me (dog too, he's been coming for years) and it's been a challenge thus far. Though I only started back this week... maybe it will get better? I guess I'll see.

So this is my new blog. Hopefully mommyhood will allow me to keep it up-to-date!