Brianne Henry

I recently ran across an article about working mom's on Facebook. It's by Rockford Parent. It's called, "You Know You're a Working Mom When..." Kind of like the redneck jokes, only not jokes. Totally serious. Totally true. I read that article and said "mmmm-hmmmm" at the end of every paragraph. Some of the "jokes" include (I'm paraphrasing here).... - Spending 8 hours a day with co-workers you don't necessarily love and only 4 (if you are lucky) with your kids. - Coming home and jumping into cooking dinner and/or housework instead of playing with your kids. - Missing your kiddos all day but then secretly wishing them to sleep so you can pay the bills, do a load of laundry, clean the dishes. - Rocking them to sleep while your mind wanders of all the things you "need" to be doing instead of just savoring the moment. And the real kicker... - Feeling mediocre in all you do, all the time. That was the first one in th...

I spend my week days in the trenches, if you will. Immersed in the future of tomorrow. Shaping young minds to become responsible citizens of our great nation. Okay, actually I spend each day attempting to get those stinkers to listen me. Trying to make sure SOMETHING I say is sinking into their busy minds. Cracking jokes and acting *normal* crazy to keep their attention. This week I even played dodgeball. Me. Dodgeball. Doesn't go together. But in all of that, I make connections and build relationships. Or at least I try to. One conversation with a student recently struck me, hard. She told me she thought it was "weird" I was married to a youth pastor. Why? Because I didn't "talk about God and Jesus all the time" like other "religious" people she knew. After further explanation, she reassured me that this was a good thing. That she appreciated that I was "normal" and didn't go "throwing my religion" on people. But I left t...

Disclaimer: This post is about being a mom. The good, the bad and the ugly. I may even discuss breastfeeding, which is taboo to some. So don't read it if you don't want to hear about it. I title this post #1 because I hope to share my successes and struggles as a mom as I continue on this journey. Maybe someone out there is having the same struggles. Or is trying to have the same successes. Being a mom is hard. Being a mom makes you love with a fierceness I never knew. Being a mom is probably one of the greatest things in the whole wide world. I'm just over six months in to this whole being a mom thing. And wow. How tough. How fun. How frustrating. How rewarding. All rolled into one. My kid pukes a lot. I was prepared for poop and prepared for spit up. I thought I had a solid year before I would have to deal with puke. And yes, there is a difference between puke and spit up. I have cleaned up more puke in the past 6 months than I was expecting. I cleaned up a bunch thi...