Birmingham
Birmingham is my home, though it is not where I have always lived. After graduating from Auburn University in 2007, I got married and moved to Fort Myers, Florida. My husband, Brent, and I lived there for less than two months when Brent was transferred to Huntsville. This was a complete surprise to us! We lived in the Huntsville area until late 2019. We moved back to Birmingham just before the pandemic and found ourselves not feeling very at home in our hometown. (I blame that on the social restrictions during that time, not our lovely city and its surrounding areas!) Cahaba Heights is where I grew up and it has been home to my dad’s side of the family dating back to the 1800s. It feels very special to return to a place that holds so much of my family’s history and raise my own children here.
Mom
Brent and I have three kids. My oldest just started high school, my middle started middle school, and my youngest is in third grade. I thought having two kids start milestone years in their educational careers was hard on my emotions. It was, until my oldest reminded me that when she is in her senior year of high school, my middle will be starting high school, and my youngest will be starting middle school. Not two, but three major milestones in my kids’ educational careers! Check on me in August 2027–I will not be well.
Motherhood is just leaving one hard season and entering another hard season. I’ve said this since my oldest was a toddler. I once longed for the days that my children would put themselves to bed without a 27 step bedtime routine that included me leaving my child’s room pretending to be a pen (yes, the writing utensil). As it turns out, they got older and could go to bed without that 27 step bedtime routine if only they didn’t have a million things going on that keep them from going to bed. I’m still just as exhausted, except now I’m older and those bags under my eyes are sagging a bit more than they used to.
Collective
The good news is, we’re all in this together! I can always count on another mom friend to send me a meme or reel that provides comic relief to remind me I’m not alone. Whether it’s sleepless nights due to a sick baby or a late night of middle school math homework using the Greatest Common Factor and the Distributive Property to find the sum of 45 + 21, our mom brains are tired. Thankfully, we have each other! Motherhood is a gift, and so are the friends we get to walk alongside on this journey. I’m thankful for the ways Birmingham Mom Collective brings us together.
This is not my first rodeo with BMC. I was part of their contributor team in 2020-2021. My plate was full and I needed to remove something, but now I’m ready to jump back in and share some laughter, encouragement, tips, and more! A few things I’ve written about are the best places to take a family bike ride in Birmingham, your permission slip to outsource some motherhood tasks, and the most embarrassing story of my entire life. I look forward to being back in this space with all you fabulous Birmingham moms!
