Posts

When You Need Help Being "Mommy"

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So I love reading Humans of New York Posts. This one floated across my timeline a while back and had me shook. It was basically my maternity leave. There are several beautiful Black Queens that I'm "framily" with who are all getting ready to bring their beautiful melanated princesses and princes into the world. A few others have newborns very well experiencing the Fourth Trimester . My advice to you: don't be afraid to ask for help if you need it. So, I'm a Type AB person with high functioning anxiety. Basically, a hot mess, but I make it look good. And that's how I existed for nine months of pregnancy, and three months postpartum. Inside I was a wreck, a tumultuous ball of shot nerves, worry, guilt, breastmilk and caffeine. I would literally stay up all day till 5 am watching "I Love Lucy", hovering over my daughters Rock n Play, W A I T I N G for her to stir, or cry, or pee; or mad that my husband's useless nipple self was upstairs enjoyin...

A Birth Story: Perspectives on Giving Birth as a Black Woman in America

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Today is Sept 27, 2018. A year ago today I was off from work, attending what was supposed to be a routine 37 wk prenatal visit. A year ago today I thought everything was going pretty well. I was still keeping up at work, I had just done the St. Jude Walk, baby shower had been a huge success, and I has big plans to throw myself in full nesting mode the next week. I felt great, heartburn aside. A year ago today I got a phone call from one of my attending OBGYN's to report back to Holy Cross Hospital, and go straight to labor and delivery. I was getting induced in less than 48 hours. How did this happen? Let's back up two weeks prior. After getting the phone call At 35  weeks my OB's recommended that I get an ultrasound with the Maternal Fetal Medicine specialist downstairs. At this point, don't get me lying why I had been recommended. Nuggets heart rate was fine, my blood pressure was healthy and low, as it had been my whole pregnancy. Maybe it was because my...

Things to Do in DC: Yards Park and Gravelly Point

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I generally like living outside of Washington, D.C. Or DC/ the city as most of us suburbanites will call it. I've even grown out of my deep hatred of driving through the city. Mostly. Parking still sucks. Which is why I'm not sure I decided to drive to Nationals Park not once but TWICE in the same week. The first night the game took a major rain delay, so we left early as baby girl got tired. I picked a game later that week so that hubby could join us. The upside to the first game was I found parking  that was a reasonable walk away for less than $10. So when we went back that Thursday, I figured we'd park in the same lot. Apparently not. The attendant said we'd have to drive another block and change down and park in the event lot which was $20. 😒😒😒😒😒😒 We park, we see the game, Nats lose. Walking back to the car, I ask hubs if he wants to walk straight back, or take the scenic route along the river and make the most of our paid parking. He opted for the ...

Things to Do in Maryland: Triple Creek and the Chesapeake Wine and Balloon Festival

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I love wine. I love balloons. I love the great state of Maryland. The best of these things came together the weekend of August 3-5 in Cordova, MD for the Triple Creek Winery's Chesapeake Wine and Balloon Festival. I had seen the ads for this particular wine festival last summer, but due to my "condition" ( I was super preggo), I obviously couldn't attend. This year when it passed my timeline I jumped on it. The festival spans 3 days, taking place on a vineyard and farm just outside of Easton, MD. (Anyone who lives in the DC area know you gotta drive through it to get to Ocean City.) We decided to go Saturday after the Big Latch On events in DC, meeting up with my sister and her boo once on site. Two things we learned early for this particular festival- LEAVE EARLY and LEAVE EARLY- you have to account for the car traffic and people traffic. Triple Creek is on the Eastern Shore and every Marylander knows Bay Bridge traffic is gross. And since schools now start post...

Travel Noire: Barcelona, Spain

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at La Sagrada Familia As some of you may know, my husband works for a major airline which comes with some pretty cool perks, most notably free flights. These came in handy when we were invited to go to Spain with our close friends and neighbors back at the end of July. They were going on this super long Mediterranean cruise and wanted us to hang out with a few family members before they left port. Lemme just say, a few family members to Jamaican families is like...20 people. But everyone was so warm, welcoming, and just downright entertaining, we can't wait for the next "family" trip. Getting There I had traveled to Italy 18 years ago  with my elementary school choir. The Euro was still a new concept, John Paul was still the Pope, Brexit wasn't a thing... you get the picture. Ashante had never left North America, so this trip was going to be a completely new experience for the both of us.  We were extremely blessed to cop first class seats on the way out. Del...

Getting Cinderella to the Ball

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The upside to having a backlog of things to write is by the time you get to it, the topic is relevant again. Starting now and going through Labor Day scores of young people will be returning to school for the new academic year. Many will be seniors in high school, and with senior year comes the pinnacle of the high school experience: graduation.   PROM. I was one of those girls who obsessed the entire year over what my dress would look like, mostly because I made it myself. I've probably made 12 or 13 prom dresses in as many years, through school, full time jobs, pregnancy and this year I would have an infant on my hands (I'm a glutton for punishment, what can I say.) I was approached by my husbands aunt to help a friend of hers who wanted a dress made for her daughter. As mom explained it, her daughter was a good girl  and had done everything asked/ expected of her, was graduating on time with no babies so she promised she'd get her baby the dress she wanted. As she put ...