About Me

ALL ABOUT ME

I was born and raised in New Jersey....yes I am a Jersey girl and pretty proud of it (however I am NOTHING like any of that nonsense you see on the Jersey Shore)!  I grew up in a fantastic little town in Northern New Jersey, and truly loved growing up where I did.  In September of 2005 we made the move from NJ to NC...it was sad to leave everything I had ever known for 31 years, but it was the right decision for our family....and my brother and his wife already lived in NC, so I knew if we took the leap and moved, my mother wouldn't be far behind...and 9 months after we moved...my mother moved here as well..so it worked out perfectly..I have my immediate family here and I am so grateful!!!

Shortly after I graduated high school in 1992, my sweet daughter Brooke was born, yes I was a young mother, yes I was scared to death, no we did not get married the second I found out I was pregnant, no I did not go to college and NO I do not regret a single thing..I am constantly asked that...if I regretted having a child so young....I just roll my eyes what a stupid silly question!!!!  Anyway...moving on....we got married in 1995, and in December of 1995 my son Harrison was born...we had the perfect little family...a boy and girl...well all was perfect until Harrison was getting ready to start kindergarten and I was overwhelmed with sadness that this was it....my baby was going to school...well I just knew this couldn't be it...so in March of 2002 sweet Jack Ryan entered the world....it was such a wonderful time as I had so  much time to devote to him while the older two were at school...but I got concerned of the big age difference between him and the other two, Brooke and Harrison had a nice close relationship and I wanted Jack to have that....so in November 2003 AJ arrived...life was crazy hectic at that point, I had a 19 month old and a newborn...for a brief time I was pretty much going out of my mind on a daily basis, but it quickly passed and the two little boys became instant best friends...it made my heart so happy to watch them play and grow together and have such a wonderful bond....so there we were a family of 6...life was good...hectic but good....the next few years we adjusted to life in the South....big difference from living up North...but the kids were happy and healthy, we had our family here and we were blessed with some wonderful friends....we were complete....or so I thought.....major major surprise when we found out in July of 2007 that we were expecting AGAIN....at first I just couldn't even believe it, I was 34 years old...finally getting used to having some freedom again...my oldest was 16 at this point.....well after the shock wore off we adjusted to the fact that a new little one was coming no matter what so we had best accept it.....God always has a plan....and in March 2008 the most perfect little girl was born...my sweet Olivia Grace....my world was once again filled with pink and I was oh so happy....crazy how I thought we were complete...we were not...Olivia completed our family perfectly...at that point I was feeling so grateful in my life...there are so many women who struggle with infertility, that long to be a mother, and here I was able to have 5 healthy beautiful children.  

Life though isn't always perfect, we all know that...and when Olivia was 14 months old, my husband and I decided that after 20 years together, together just wasn't where we were supposed to be.  We had been together since I was 16 years old...pretty much my entire early adult and adult life....I was scared, sad, mad, angry, a true mix of emotions....since I was 18 years old I was stay at home mom raising my children, what exactly was I going to do alone raising 5 children (my ex-husband moved back to NJ)...luckily for me my ex husband is a great great guy...so I was still able to be home raising our children, and though we got divorced for a reason, I am so proud to say that we have always put our children first, we started as friends back in 1990 and here we are in 2014 and we are still friends, we talk, we text, we spend holidays together, and we do this because of the fierce love we have for our children.....and we really do get along....

 

So...now I am 36 year old divorced mother to 5...totally appealing...right??????  The funny thing was I was truly ok with being just that, a single mom to 5...my life was full and even in not so great circumstances I was still so lucky...and then when I least expected it I met this amazing, wonderful man, who is now my husband!!!!  This wonderful man not only fell in love with me, but my 5 children also, and I can assure you they love him just as much.....and the icing on the cake...him and my ex-husband get along fantastic....

So there you have it, my life story in a nutshell.....and if you have taken the time to read this than you understand why I wake up every single day of my life counting my blessings and thanking God...