Introduction

Hello there, and welcome to Cat's: The Working Mom.

If it wasn't made clear, my name is Cat and I'm a working mom.  I'm certainly not someone who falls into a cookie cutter mold.  While I try to live a happy-go-lucky life, it hasn't always been so easy.  At the age of 18, I was diagnosed with Crohn's Disease which is a gastrointestinal disease which can make quality of life pretty difficult.  I went through several different drug protocols, have had surgery and currently am in remission and have been for about 5 years.

In 2014, we lost our 4 month old son, Preston, to SIDS.  It has been and continues to be the most difficult thing I've ever had to go through.  Blogging really helped me navigate through the first couple years.  It gave me an outlet to share how I was feeling, but I think it also gave purpose to Preston's life.  In sharing my journey, I feel like I helped others who were going down a similar path.  There's no handbook, or timeline to grief, and no one's experience is exactly the same, but some of the feelings we experience can be similar.  If it interest's you, Preston's blog can be found at SpreadHappinessForPreston.blogspot.com.

In December 2015, we welcomed our daughter, Samantha.  While she hasn't filled the void left by Preston, nor could she ever, she has brought a lot of light back to our lives.  During the first year of her life, I feel like I experienced things that other parents don't necessarily go through, having lost Preston and all.  I blogged about it for a while, and again it gave me that outlet to share my fears and didn't feel so alone in my fears, because other rainbow moms were having similar fears.  Additionally, some of the fears I had, were fears other parents had too, even if they hadn't experienced loss.

As Samantha's first birthday approached, I got really busy and stopped blogging.  I always thought I would start back up, but I haven't really blogged since then.  I miss it, but at the same time, I have less fears, not to be construed with no fears.  I miss Preston every day, and think of him constantly, but my struggles with my grief have decreased enormously.  Perhaps I've adapted to a life without him, or perhaps I just don't need that same outlet I needed a year ago.  I am certain that Preston's name will be mentioned in this post, and perhaps sometimes I will find that it belongs on his blog and will publish it there.

My goal with this new blog is to share my current struggles with being a working mom, share my struggles with just being a mom, share my accomplishments, and also help keep myself accountable in places where I feel my life needs improvement.  I hope you follow along my new journey, and perhaps you share some of my struggles and won't feel all alone.  Or perhaps you will have suggestions to help me with my weaknesses (hello housekeeping!).  Maybe you will rejoice in my successes (meal planning as of late!) and perhaps my successes/experiences will be helpful to you.

Thanks for joining me.  I hope to blog on a weekly basis (yay something to do on my lunch break, and maximizing my "free time"!)

All my best,
Cat

Preston with his Mama

Sami with her Mama



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