I have always loved reading since I was a little girl. I remember reading books on car rides with my family, instead of paying attention to the scenery. I was especially drawn to positive books and still am. When I became a mom, I really started analyzing the books I was reading to my son and found myself changing the word’s quickly or switching the book I was reading. It has become really important to me to read positive books to my son.

I was always scared to travel on a plane with my son, when he was younger. Then when he turned 1, I felt more comfortable and decided to give it a try. We have now gone on two trips. We first went to Florida and then to San Francisco. I really prepared for each trip, by asking more experienced mothers for their advice and researching as much as I could. I didn’t expect to be stuck in an airport and airplane for 16 hours, when our airline experienced bad weather, circled in the air for hours, took us on and off the plane, and finally at 11pm at night canceled our connecting flight and landed us in a different state without a place to stay.

Many people have noticed when they come to visit that we don’t have millions of toys for our baby and the toys that we do have are mostly wooden with no sounds or flashing lights. It is not that we are trying to deprive our baby of toys, but after years of teaching children and not using props in my theater classes, I came to realize how an over abundance of toys, can overstimulate kids, when they are just starting to notice so much around them.

I am always trying to figure out the healthiest things to put on my body and in my body, so when it came to my baby, I was even more concerned! Here are my favorite natural products to use on my baby and a few products I feel are safe for baby to be on. Everything on my list is rated between a 1 and a 2 on the environmental working group website.

I have always admired the “Love Your Body” movement and celebrating your own size! This became harder during my pregnancy journey. Right before I started trying to conceive, I did the Whole 30 program, thinking this would be the best way to get myself in optimal health. I had read many success stories of people conceiving, right after whole 30, and thought this would be the best plan of action. I felt amazing after following the program, loved how my clothes were fitting, and was definitely feeling “body love”.

It is hard to feel productive as a mom. As I type this, my 5 month old is doing tummy time, by my side, and I am cheering him on. As a mom, you definitely learn to multitask. As a woman who is always thinking up ideas and new goals, including starting this blog, I needed to figure out ways to feel productive during the day. Some days taking a shower is the most productive thing I do.

I had heard that you have to have a birth plan. I spent so much time thinking up my ideal birth. I read books on it, took birth classes, researched online, listened to podcasts and asked everyone and their mother what their birth story was. I looked at birth affirmations, listened to the hypnobirthing CD each night while I slept, and took prenatal yoga classes and dreamt of the birth position that I would give birth to my baby boy in.

It still amazes me that I am a mother. It took us five months to get pregnant and that time of waiting was very challenging. It feels surreal knowing we have a baby boy and we are so grateful. I have watched kids, taught kids, entertained kids, and been around kids most of my life, but being a mom is totally different than I could have imagined. Here are the top 10 things I have learned as a mom.