(Diary) The Stuff Nobody Shares About Being a Mom

What I've learned so far

Welcome to my diary. These are entires I wrote during my own pregnancy. What you’re about to read is unfiltered, unedited, and perhaps a bit uncanny. But these are my raw feelings written in real-time. Everyone’s perspective and journey is different. This is mine.

Dear friend,

Jen Glantz here.

I’ve been a mom for 15-weeks. The brain fog is real right now for me. I literally forgot the baby’s birthday. Someone asked me and I confidently said: April 21st. Adam kindly waited until the person walked away to remind me that Gemma was born on MARCH 23RD.

As I’m writing this, I Googled: How long does postpartum brain fog last?

It said up to two years.

Fantastic. Until then, forgive me if I tell you the same story six times or forgot where I put my keys or try to convince you that Gemma’s first name is Galaxy (because it almost was).

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Some quick things I loved this week:

❤️ Products that I fell in love with this week:

• I bought this teether and it’s a big hit

• I honestly buy all my baby’s clothes from Old Navy

• I put these all over the house and grab them every few minutes (or so it seems)

• Heres’s a list of my fav things from Amazon

❤️ Articles that might be helpful:

• What not to say to friend who just had a baby

• A review of the popular diaper brands and which one I loved the most

• The mistakes I made as a new mom that I learned from

• Essential items I wish I had postpartum

• A review of the most popular strollers and the one I liked the best

Ps. Know someone who would adore this newsletter or who needs honest advice during their pregnancy or postpartum journey?

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The Stuff Nobody Shares About Being a Mom

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✨When you find a new way to make your baby laugh, your heart swells. It aches. I’ve accomplished big things in my life. None have ever felt as extraordinary as making my baby smile.

👱🏻‍♀️The postpartum journey is an invisible and lonely one. It can be quite brutal. People rarely talk about this and it’s partly because of shame and partly because it’s exhausting.

💤 Everyone tries to scare you and say when you have a baby you’ll never sleep again. You will. Eventually. Just wait.

✨Everyone tells you that having a baby changes your life and nothing will ever be the same. That’s true. I spent a lot of time during my pregnancy mourning who I was. It was all preparing me to welcome in who I was about to become. I sometimes miss my old life but postpartum brain fog (which is reallly strong) has made me forget so much and has helped me fall in love with this new era of my life.

💪🏽Workouts, intensely honest conversations with friends, support from Adam, knowing that so much of what mom influencers post on social media isn’t the norm, and forgiveness / limiting self-judgement is what’s helped me get through the last 3 and 1/2 months of being a new mom.

🛠️Everything about being a new mom is messy because it’s rushed. You pause YOU to be on for the baby. My hair is always tangled. My clothes are always stained. I’ve become so good at eating, showering, peeing, cleaning faster than I ever have. I feel like I’m Olympic speed skating through parts of my life.

🎤The most fun I have with Gems isn’t reading her books or playing with toys, it’s telling her real life stories and signing made up songs. I feel like I’ve known her forever and I want her to know me — everything: who I was, who I am, and who I will become.