Our Keepsake Journal is Here! 🎉
Tell me a little about yourself. When did you start blogging and why?
I was raised in the coolest little town ever, Wilber, Nebraska. I then went to college and made friends there, graduated, got married, moved to Austin, Texas, and made friends there, moved back to Omaha — and made friends here — and then, we found out we were expecting our first babe.
Blogging seemed like a fun way for us to keep all of our friends from different places and all of our family in the loop of all things Baby on the Brehm. It didn’t seem scary because growing up in a small community meant everyone pretty much knew everything about one another and in a way there’s a good bit of comfort in that. I knew that in sharing my experiences about pregnancy I could hear from others and that I might actually feel less freaked out by the whole human growing inside of me thing. And seven years later, I’m still at it.
What are some of your favorite sites on the ‘net?
Her View From Home {duh, right?}, hello neverland, The True North blog, hands free mama, Momastery, Mamalode, Scarymommy, StoryPeople.com, Thesaurus.com, Amazon {because Amazon Prime is basically like manna from Heaven}
What does a typical day look like for you?
I stay home so while my days are somewhat routine, they are not completely predictable because my colleagues are about as predictable as a blizzard in the spring. I shared my morning routine in a recent coffee chat and after that, I hang with my kiddos and see where the day takes me! I usually write in the evenings after all of the kiddos are tucked in for the night. And I rarely get any real cleaning done. Which is something I can’t seem to fully understand. I mean, I’m at home all the time?!
What advice do you have for someone who wants to blog or share her/his story?
I love to write. I love to share. Not everyone loves both. Some people love to write but they are more suited for journaling because putting all of the real stuff out there is too real for them. I think that’s totally legit. But if you have something on your heart that you want to share and are willing to accept feedback on, blogging is a great platform for that. I think you have to be okay with everyone reading what you write and having an opinion on that. Words read differently to different people so if you want to blog, I think you have to collect an audience that gets your voice. I think writers who don’t have that feel attacked when people comment or share. I, on the other hand, love hearing and collecting the stories of others and knowing I’m not alone. Or knowing that the way I was looking at a situation may have been from the wrong angle. And I REALLY love having it all to look back on. Blogging, if you’re up for it, is a huge free gift!
What story are you most proud of?
Gosh. That’s hard. I’ve written over 800 posts on my personal blog. I am a three-times-over high-risk pregnancy mama. I’ve miscarried. I’ve watched friends lose babies. I’ve had three preemies. And I have a husband that I’m obsessed with. The pages of my blog are just the days of my life {like sands of the hour glass, right?:)} But if I had to choose some that I go back and read, I love reading my boys’ birth stories. I love reading the sentimental pieces that are really just a braindump like this one. And the ones that I laugh out loud at because I realize it’s really my life. And I love that all of it is just a collection of me that my boys can someday read and see how I felt as a mom and a human.
How can people follow you?
Following is such a strange term to me because ten years ago, we would have called that stalker behavior {right?} but if you want to read my words, I have a Facebook page for my blog where I also post stuff that I find entertaining, intriguing, thought provoking, personal, or funny. I also have an Insta account but it’s notsomuch my blog as it is what goes on with my pint-sized colleagues throughout the day.
This picture is of me, noticeably overweight, attending a silks class. This is something I’ve always wanted to do, but I looked noticeably out of place in my XL frame, compared with the other women in their size two Lululemon leggings. At one point, before we began, I actually quietly asked the instructor if there was a weight limit. She reassured me that people a lot heavier than me had hung from their ceiling on those silks. Before we started hanging from the ceiling, the instructor had us all sit in a circle and introduce ourselves and our goal for...
Sometimes, it’s hard to remember there is a woman behind the mom. At home, you feel caught between two worlds. Mom world and wife world. Sometimes it’s hard to balance both. We don’t exactly feel sexy in our leggings and messy mom bun. We don’t feel sexy at the end of the day when we are mentally, emotionally, and physically exhausted from being a mom all day. The truth is we want to feel like ourselves again. We just aren’t sure where we fit in anymore. RELATED: I Fear I’ve Lost Myself To Motherhood We know the kids only stay...
Mom, I pray to the stars that someday, somewhere we pick up where we left off. Before the Alzheimer’s diagnosis. Before your life, my life, and our family’s life changed forever. If we meet again, will you appear just as I remember you before this awful disease took over? With ebony black hair, vibrant blue eyes, and a gracious smile. Will you look at me and know I am your daughter? Will you refer to me by my beloved childhood nickname? RELATED: The One Thing Alzheimer’s Cannot Take Away Will you embrace me in a warm hug and tell me...
When my kids were young and still in diapers, my friends and I used to meet up at Chick-fil-A for play dates. Our main goal was to maintain our sanity while our kids played in the play area. We’d discuss life, marriage, challenges, sleep deprivation, mom guilt, and potty-training woes. We frequently scheduled outings to prevent ourselves from going insane while staying at home. We’d take a stroll around the mall together, pushing our bulky strollers and carrying diaper bags. Our first stop was always the coffee shop where we’d order a latte (extra espresso shot) and set it in...
You packed up your things and left last night. There are details to work out and lawyers to call, but the first step in a new journey has started. I feel equal parts sad, angry, scared, and relieved. There’s nothing left to fix. There’s no reconciliation to pursue. And I’m left thinking about the fights we never had. I came down the stairs today and adjusted the thermostat to a comfortable temperature for me. It’s a fight I didn’t consider worth having before even though I was the one living in the home 24 hours a day while you were...
As your time on this earth came close to the end, I pondered if I had given you the best life. I pondered if more treatment would be beneficial or harmful. I pondered if you knew how much you were loved and cherished As the day to say goodbye grew closer, I thought about all the good times we had. I remembered how much you loved to travel. I remembered how many times you were there for me in my times of darkness. You would just lay right next to me on the days I could not get out of...
Give me friends who see the good. Friends who enter my home and feel the warmth and love while overlooking the mess and clutter. Give me friends who pick up the phone or call back. The friends who make time to invest in our relationship. Give me friends who are real. The friends who share the good, the beautiful, the hard, the messy, and are honest about it all. Give me friends who speak the truth. The friends who say the hard things with love. RELATED: Life is Too Short for Fake Cheese and Fake Friends Give me friends who show up. The friends who...
Sister, we haven’t talked in a while. We both know the reason why. Yet again, you had a choice between your family and drugs, and you chose the latter. I want you to know I still don’t hate you. What I do hate is the drugs you always seem to go back to once things get too hard for you. RELATED: Love the Addict So Hard it Hurts Speaking of hard, I won’t sugarcoat the fact that being around you when you’re actively using is so hard. Your anger, your manipulation, and your deceit are too much for me (or anyone around you) to...
No one is really ever prepared for loss. Moreover, there is no tutorial on all that comes with it. Whether you’ve lost an earring, a job, a relationship, your mind, or a relative, there is one common truth to loss. Whatever you may have lost . . . is gone. While I was pregnant with my oldest son, my mother would rub my belly with her trembling hands and answer all my questions. She had all the answers, and I listened to every single one of them. This deviated from the norm in our relationship. My mother was a stern...
The last living memory I have of my best friend before she died was centered around a Scrabble board. One letter at a time, we searched for those seven letters that would bring us victory. Placing our last words to each other, tallying up points we didn’t know the meaning of at the time. Sharing laughter we didn’t know we’d never share again. Back in those days, we didn’t have Instagram or Facebook or Snapchat or whatever other things teenagers sneak onto their phones to capture the moments. So the memory is a bit hazy. Not because it was way...