Hey guys! This is my FIRST ever blog post! I wanted to take a minute and introduce myself even though a lot of you know me as Laylen’s mom [@foreseenqueen] (shameless plug for my baby’s page too - @laylen_marie). I’ve written a first blog post a few times and have yet to get it exactly right but here it goes.
Hey friends!
Welcome to my first blog post of many to come. I’m coming here to share with you the ideas, thoughts, and experiences of a Modern Mom with mixed kids in a blended family. Whew, That’s a lot going on! Anyways, as you read you’ll discover more about my family and why I hope our experiences can help others who find themselves on the same path.
Let me start by detailing who makes up my beautiful family. Most of you reading already know Laylen. She’s my first born baby girl. She just turned 3 in December. She has blonde hair and blue eyes and is mixed African American and White. I’ve never done any ancestry tests, but my family says we are mostly Dutch and Danish. It’s important to mention she’s bi-racial because we will talk more about this later. Plus, there are so many parents raising “mixed kids” as the Instagram Community calls them. She is self described as “her mommy’s baby” which she absolutely is. She is also my smart, brave, and mildly defiant little threenager. She typically listens to my advice and hangs onto most of my words on a typical day. Other days, she has her own agenda and finds herself in a meltdown when Mommy tells her no. Most importantly, Laylen is the one person who changed my life and lights up my smile every single day. She loves to share stories from school or visits with Grandma with me. I pretty much hang onto her every word.
Moving on there is the other half of our family. My partner’s name is Drew and he brought his six year old daughter into our relationship. Her name is Ava. She is also mixed, African American and White (mostly Italian). She looks wildly different from Laylen. She has super thick, curly dark hair. She has beautiful brown eyes and olive skin. Most days you will find Ava singing and dancing to the rhythm of her own beat. She is pretty confident considering she is six and lost her two front teeth not too long ago. It seems like I was not as self assured as she was, but I love that about her. She will talk to anyone about anything and I mean anyone. She will talk to the cashier at the store or the pope if she could.
Last, but not least, there is Drew. He is the creamer to my coffee (Side note: I love coffee And can’t live without it. Every time Laylen sees an airplane, she tells me they are going to get me some coffee). We met years ago when I was in college in Tampa at USF. Neither of us completely recall the details (so romantic, aren’t we?) but we kept in touch for almost an entire decade after that. Fast forward, life happened and we both had a kid years later. We reconnected after Laylen’s Dad and I split. That was a difficult time that I might share later, but for now, back to the story. My sister insisted he reach out to me and he did! (I have to give her credit or she will jump in the comments and make sure she gets her credit) Here we are almost three years later with our blended family.
How embarrassing! I forgot to introduce myself! My name is Leah. I am a working mom and womanist to the core. I work in the benefits administration world by day, but daydream about teaching women self love by night! I encourage everyone (yes, men too!) to stand up for themselves and own your truth. I love seeing women especially, overcome their adversities and succeed in all areas of their lives. I basically love bad ass, unapologetic women. I am pretty progressive in many ways, so expect some very free thinking along this journey.
We all live together in Tampa, Florida. I love this city! Close to the beaches and so much to do. We have memberships to the zoo, children’s museum and are shopping for a few new ones as well. I thought it would be important to lay the groundwork so you understand more about us and what shapes us as you hear more from me.
There are days I wonder if people are looking at us, guessing our familial structure. I look for staring eyes or people who appear to be unable to figure us out. Florida, like many places, can be hit or miss when it comes to diversity and tolerance. Most days, I honestly do not care because our love speaks for itself. I’m thankful to have found a sister for Laylen and a bonus Dad that helps me hold it down
❤️ What kind of posts can you expect?
Millennial Parenting
Blended Families
Balancing Life with Kids
All about ME TIME! Traveling
Pushing yourself outside your comfort zone
Feminism in 2019
Not getting married (& why i’m okay with it)
Interracial dating / mixed kids (shocking, right? lol)
White Privilege (yes, we are getting deep!)
How to be an ALLY
etc!
Thanks for reading! Drop a note and say hello! Let me know what you want to hear about in future posts. I have a lot of fun ideas, but I would love to hear from you!