A bit about my blog :)

As a mother of 3 I've definately seen my share of trials and trubulations with parenting and "life" in general, lol. Especially since there is a wide range in their ages :) I have 3 amazing sons, Daniel is 15, Stephen is 10 and Hunter is 3 years old. I was 26 when Daniel was born in 1995 and 40 when Hunter was born in 2007. BIG difference in not only ME but also in my resources and approach.

My choices as a parent were not only based on my experiences with each child but with circumstances in my life, that we as a family, all faced. My mother was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 1993. She fought long and hard for 7+ years sadly passing only 4 weeks after my son Stephen was born. My stepdad also struggled with complications from cancer at the same time and sadly passed in 1997. My older sister Jamie was diagnosed with aggressive Breast cancer in 2007 and in 2008 it came back again, she underwent chemo treatments but sadly she lost her fight on April 17th 2009. My younger sister Colleen was diagnosed with Breast and aggressive ovarian cancer in October of 2007. She currently is undergoing a third round of chemo after a long and couragous treatment plan the first time around. We are expecting she will be in remission again very soon! My other older sister Missy too has the BRCA-1 gene and has successfully taken preventative steps to reduce her risks of cancer. Although the news is bittersweet, I'm proud to say I do not carry the BRCA-1 gene mutation but it is very hard knowing I am the only sister who was spared this horrible genetic cancer mutation. I share this because I think it is important to understand that life can often be very difficult. And even in those darkest moments we need to find our inner strength and have faith that we will get through it. What my family was facing surely had an impact on my choices as a parent and my appreciation for the smallest things in life.

I have spoken to many other parent in my journey as a mom. Most often on my favorite site for moms of tots and moms to be www.I-am-pregnant.com. Having been asked if I used certain well known methods or my opinion on them, my reply is always the same. I dont follow any specific method but I do reference them since I did find some of what they recommended very helpful with my children and an important part of my technique palette. I dont believe a mom needs to approach one as "all or nothing". I dont use a "this or that" method, I use a bit of many or create me own :) That is how my palette was created for each child and how I will continue to parent and encourage my children to parent :)