Seeing her smile & hearing her laugh floods me with happy tears. I absolutely adore her. I think the most rewarding part though is watching her learn a new skill & seeing how proud she is of herself. I’m doing my best to teach her patience & perseverance when things get challenging, & celebrating her achievements when she succeeds. I hope she’s fearless, confident, joyful, proud. Not afraid to fail, not afraid to try again. I can’t wait to cheer her on her whole life!

This season of life is not about me. We lived a busy life prior to having Adeline (& we still do). Running two design/build businesses, competing in athletic events & marathon training, home renovation projects… now I need to slow down. My time will come again to train hard and take on projects the way I want to, but this season is about her. She deserves a mom who’s happy, sees joy in the little things, doesn’t rush, puts down the phone. Be fully present, I don’t want to miss one second of her!

I wish we could do something frivolous with $20,000 but we’d utilize the money to invest in Adeline’s RESP & pay off some debt. I wasn’t able to take a traditional maternity leave running my design business & had to go back to work 2 weeks after having Adeline. My work load needed to be smaller, balancing with a newborn, & we heavily dipped into our savings for 6mos to make ends meet. I’m working during naps, late nights, weekends & I’d love a little breathing room to spend more time with her