Baby Carol!

In September hubby and I found out we were expecting.  We're so freaking excited, it's ridiculous!  We've decided to name the baby after my mom, who passed away in January of 1999.  You can read about her here, among other places in this blog.

It's been unreal to go through pregnancy and actually "get" what the mammas I work with (through my role at Parent Resource Center) go through.  I had "parent cred" as a Step-Mom, but I'm much more credible as when I work with children and families as a pregnant lady.  To me, it feels a little silly, but I can see how a parent would be more likely to take coaching from someone who is an actual parent.   Okay, I'm going to get on my soap box for a minute here, so if you're not ready for bitching then you might want to skip a paragraph or two.

I can feel all of you are who are Step parents getting angry with me right now because what I've written above implies that being a step parent is not a being a "real" parent.  That is not at all what I am implying.  I love being a step mom.  It is rewarding and fun, but it brings forth a different set of challenges that do not come with "typical parenting."  I am looking forward to being able to work with my husband to raise a child in a way that WE want to, not having to take into consideration another parent.   We work hard to co-parent with my bonus babies mom as much as we can.  We try hard to work with her and not against her.  It will be awesome to not have to think about this for once.