Welcome :)
My name is Danielle and I am a wife and a mother. I am a daughter and I was a granddaughter. I am a sister and a niece. I am a cousin, a friend, and a neighbor. And although I’m not currently in practice, I would also still like to think I am still a colleague. I am one person surrounded by a village of people who support me and my children.
I am in my early forties and I am seriously looking forward to my fifties, sixties, and even down the road to my nineties! I don’t look forward to parts of my life, I look forward to all of it.
I really appreciate a well organized home, in theory. And I make every attempt to know where everything in my house is, but I make no promises it is neatly organized in that location. Open the closet and if you are lucky, it will fall right out at you ;)
I put a lot of effort into encouraging my kids to eat healthy, offering variety of foods, and teaching them how to do it themselves. I focus on the importance of healthy lifestyles, exercise and adequate sleep. But I also focus on balance — Lucky Charms becomes part of our otherwise high fiber breakfast cereal rotation every March.
My kids are often well behaved, polite, genuinely heartwarming children to be around — who also have meltdowns. I focus my energy less on being one perfect parent and instead on being the parent they each need. I see my mistakes as stepping stones to learning better ways to parent.
When I face challenges parenting, I usually let myself dwell and cope with it for one sleepless night before I get up the next day and set out on a journey to find the resources that will help me tackle the problems at hand.
I have been a runner ever since my gym teacher asked me to run a mile and sometime after puberty, I realized it wasn’t so bad. Trying something I thought I would hate and thought I would be terrible at was the beginning of me becoming a team captain, college athlete, and marathon runner. Running connects me to the outdoors and clears my mind. It also makes me a better parent. And I’ve now been doing it for over 25 years.
I have been practicing yoga ever since I picked up a DVD in medical school one of my roommates had, put it in our DVD player, and pushed play. After a few weekly sessions, my back felt better, I ran better, and I breathed better. It’s an outlet that makes me a better parent. And I’ve now been doing it for over a decade.
I have been a party planner since I was a teenager and hosted my friends in their old prom dresses for a grand ball at my parents house. I threw luaus and Halloween parties. Somehow my parents knew my passion for connecting people even as a teenager. While some kids have hobbies collecting or playing on a club basketball team, mine was throwing parties. I owe it to my parents for taking my silly ideas for events and helping me to see them through. That was the beginning of me learning to host and build traditions that promote strong ties within my own family, friends, and community. I have learned to not throw my children’s parties on their real birthdays. Their parties are a venue for me to express my creative outlet but their actual birthdays, they are special times for us to be together as a family doing something that is important to them. Holidays are times to focus on the really important traditions, do them well, and outsource whatever else I can. I already wash too many dishes, and I never wanted china, so an elegant holiday themed paper plate is just fine with me.
I am part of a colossal family with no shortage of adorable, chubby babies, giggling school age children, insightful teenagers, and siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents that I appreciate more and more every day. I have six siblings I grew up with and two more that I was lucky to gain when I married my husband and I have several more wonderful people I consider family within all of their significant others. I have fourteen magnificently, brilliant nieces and nephews that I adore and admire in the most sincere way an aunt can. My enormous family is filled with the wonderful benefits of a strong family, the challenges of miles between us, and the opportunities to work through conflicts as they arise knowing that family is truly where my heart is.
I have wonderful friends that within minutes can rack up over a hundred texts on a group chat sharing sad and funny stories, parenting tips, and asking for guidance. I have friends that I can spend a twenty-four hour visit together barely ever leaving the hotel lobby except to sleep because our conversation didn’t take a break long enough to see if there was anyplace else we wanted to go. I have friends that I can see once every other year who come into my home and our conversation immediately takes off right where we left it years before. These friendships make me a better mom, spouse, daughter, sibling, friend, and citizen.
I am a physician and I practiced pediatrics for several years before leaving to be home with my children full time. While I put down my stethoscope, I remain incredibly passionate about the healthy growth and development of all children. My experience in medical school, during my training, and through my own practice of medicine has without a doubt shaped the parent I am today, learning from both my colleagues and the incredible families I cared for.
We live in the suburb where my husband grew up. Through the friendships he made over the years and my own intentions, we are learning to strengthen and build ties in our community, even despite the barriers of a pandemic.
This is the REAL me. I do all of the writing on this site myself — sometimes at 5am or 10pm while all of my kids sleep, sometimes while my infant naps and my older kids are in school, sometimes when I have worked out a few hours of childcare, and sometimes when my husband can help juggle our kids. I am married to a busy professional who is incredibly supportive of my passion and intention for this blog.
It takes a village to be the mom I want to be and the mom my children need me to be. It takes a village to be me — and it takes a village raise my children.
