Your Lines: Beauty Through Imperfection

I have a great interview for you today! Paula of Beauty Through Imperfection has some great advice to share with other young moms and a fun, relaxing site. I totally admit to doing this too, Paula! 🙂

Tell us the story of your “two lines”: (moment you took your pregnancy test)
Hubby and I had already been married for a year when we first saw our “two lines”. I had been wanting desperately to get pregnant and finally got a positive one afternoon when I tested at work. It was so hard to walk back in to my job and try to act all calm and like my life hadn’t entirely changed in one small trip to the bathroom! I took another test as soon as I got home from work (worried it was too good to be true) and when I saw 2 more lines I ran out to tell my hubby. We were both 19, young in love, and had no idea what we had gotten ourselves in to. Little Man was born in November 2010, and 21 months later we welcomed his baby sister into the world. When she was born I was 22 years old with 2 kids under the age of 2! (say that 3 times fast)

What do you feel is the hardest part about being a young mom?
Probably the judgement. I get everything from glares, to direct comments made at me or about me. People like to assume my son is my little brother or tell me how I should be parenting him. Now that he’s a toddler, if he’s ever anything but a perfect angel when we’re out I feel like all the older moms in the store stop to give me dirty looks and think about what a terrible mother I am because I’m so young. I’m learning to just let it roll off my shoulders, but the first 2 years were really hard.

The best?
There is definitely more good than bad! I feel like I probably have more energy to keep up with my babies than I would if I was older, pregnancy was probably a lot easier in my early 20s than it would be later in life too. (and I was a miserable pregnant person, so I can’t imagine it being any worse!) I just really love the place in life that we’re at. We have had to make a lot of sacrifices because of our choice to have kids so young, but I don’t regret any of them. Our lives could definitely be more comfortable but I wouldn’t trade my kids for all the physical comforts in the world!

Rudest comment you’ve received as a young mother:
It wasn’t neccesarly the comment that was so rude, but the way the woman approached me. My 18 month old and I were in target & I was pregnant with baby #2. This woman had been slowly walking around on the phone in front of us, and I had finally gotten past her. I was annoyed but Little Man and I were moving on through the store minding our own business when the same lady puts her phone on hold and comes running after me yelling at me and begins telling me I “can’t” let my son do something and I “must” make him stop (she didn’t like the way he was in the cart, though he was completely safe). I got away from her but ended up crying when I got to my car. I had never been treated so rudely, as this woman made a major scene just to tell me what a terrible job I was doing with my son 🙁

Any advice for other young moms?
Find a few people you trust to give you advice when you need it and ignore every one else. You will never be able to please every one, regardless of what parenting decisions you make there will be people “against” you. Make the decisions you believe to be right for your family, and don’t worry too much about all the unsolicited advice. Don’t let other people’s opinions make you feel like you are failing.

Why did you start your blog?
Originally I started it as an outlet for myself. I was at home with a baby and desperately craving adult interaction. Since then, the blog has grown a lot, and so has my ‘vision’ for it! I blog to encourage other moms/wives that none of us are perfect. We all have our shortcomings and we all make mistakes, but that doesn’t make us terrible parents. Our focus shouldn’t be on trying to be the “perfect” mom, but instead to try to be the most loving mama we can be! 🙂

You talk about your commitment to not letting blogging interfere with your family life-how do you hold true to that?
 I’m still working on an official “blogging schedule”, but for now, the main time I spend writing posts and such is during nap time or after bedtime. My hubby loves to read at night, so when he’s doing that I often spend my time blogging. I write several posts in at one time so I have “backup” for weeks when I don’t have time to write something new. Family definitely comes first, but for now I haven’t had much trouble keeping up with both.

How’s it been adjusting to life with two?
It has definitely had it’s ups and downs, but we are finally settling in to a normal, and it’s going great now. My son has finally decided he likes his baby sister, and since that decision was made things have gotten much easier. She was born in July 2012 and it took him a good 3 months to stop hitting her and quit misbehaving to try to get my attention when I was feeding her. Now that she’s 5 months old she’s sleeping (a little) better and we’re doing good. I love having 2 kiddos! It’s a challenge and a joy all at once !

What’s next for this young mom and her family? - As a family, we are saving up for a house. Right now, the four of us live in a 3rd story 2 bedroom apartment. As the kiddos grow our space seems to shrink! We will be here for at least 16 more months, but we’re hoping to have enough saved for a good downpayment on a house by the time our new lease is up. As far as personal goals, I’m hoping to really grow my blog a lot this year, and I’m working hard on my very first e-book. I want it to be top quality, so it will be awhile before it is ready for publishing, but that is my BIG project for the year!