Hello, Mama! My name is Marissa. I am a stay-at-home wife and mom to a sweet 4-year-old girl. I thank God every day for my daughter, and I do not take for granted the fact that I get to be a mama. I treasure each precious day with my daughter as I learn the lessons of motherhood.

Since before my daughter was born, I have been discovering what it means to be the best mom that I know how to be for my child. A large majority of what I have learned about parenting so far centers around the fact that each child, parent and family is unique and must live and operate in that uniqueness. So I embrace my own style of momming while respecting the parenting styles of other moms who do it differently than me.

During my pregnancy with my daughter, I began adopting a natural view of pregnancy, childbirth and baby care. I prepared whole-heartedly for natural birth and breastfeeding in advance and I had a beautiful experience with both. I co-slept with my daughter for 3 years and breastfed her for 3 1/2 years. Motherhood has been an incredible experience.

But my motherhood journey has not always been easy or straight-forward. Before my successful pregnancy with my daughter, I had a missed miscarriage that was discovered on ultrasound when I was 10 weeks along. I have also lost several pregnancies since having my daughter, including a complete molar pregnancy that was discovered at 16 weeks.

Motherhood has been a bittersweet mix of Joy and sorrow for me. I understand the excitement of a healthy, successful pregnancy. I understand the uncontainable joy of bringing a new life into the world. I understand the painful grief of losing a beloved pregnancy. I understand the fear of trying to conceive after loss.

And I know that there are countless other women who have gone through these experiences as well who are looking for understanding and information. That is why I started this blog. To be open and honest with you so that you do not feel alone. It is my desire to be as transparent with you as I would want you to be with me if we were conversing in the privacy of my living room about the good, the bad and the ugly topics of motherhood.

I know that you have your own story, Mama. I know that your story probably does not look exactly like mine. But I love that no matter what our differences are, we certainly share the bond of motherhood. And I thoroughly enjoy walking this motherhood journey with you.