First post, first thoughts!

Welcome to Understanding Mama! A place where I can sift through my thoughts, pine over my day and come to grips with certain aspects of being a mom. A few things about who I am:

I am married to a wonderful, if a bit non-traditional, man. We have one daughter and only one child, a choice we have been questioned about time and time again so I will just leave it as...it was OUR choice! We have a cat who does not like to be touched except for when she is about to get fed then she soaks up the affection as if it were her last meal. You'd think she would be a fat cat but she is not! Harvey is our dog. He was rescued from a pharmaceutical test lab where he was born and raised. We had to rehab him in everything from climbing and walking down stairs to appreciating a toy and not shying away from doggie treats. In the few weeks that we have had Harvey we can officially call him a dog! He will still need a little bit of rehab especially in the fear department but he is being loved and love goes a long way!

My passion is photography and singing. I have a side business as a portrait photographer that fulfills the human need in me. Capturing the human emotion while creating art is a huge joy and I love that I get to do what I love. I also like to sing, mostly in the closet and to whomever doesn't barf at my sound. Never really had the confidence to pursue a career in the singing arena but I do enjoy what my voice is capable of and I love music and words so singing is therapeutic to me, which suits me fine.

Lots of bad history from my past which has lead me to one of my biggest goals: Learn from the mistakes, grow from the bad, never repeat and continue on! One of my biggest pet peeves is communication, or the lack thereof. I believe communication no matter how painful is one of the most important steps anyone can make toward a personal goal. My husband and I communicate until we can't stay awake, it is one of the most important ingredients in our marriage and for this I am thankful!

Being an only child our daughter has encountered many challenges along the way including how to make the right decisions not just for herself but for all in her immediate circle. Challenges we hope our gentle, nurturing, loving and communicative guidance will have an impact on her decision making. No one person is perfect and our daughter is learning in a time when 1 out of every 100 kids are diagnosed with autism or some sort of learning/growing/developing/social/etc. disability and/or disorder. Just with these statistics our daughter (and all children in this day and age) are living in a very challenging and very sensitive era...

Our daughter is the light of our life, she brings so much enjoyment to us and she reminds us of what the important things in life are and what we should be concentrating on everyday!

So, this is me and this little journal thing is just one woman's thoughts, experiences and viewpoints. Hope you enjoy!

-Learn from the mistakes, grow from the bad, never repeat and continue on!