Journey To Motherhood, my first year of being a mother...
I connected with our Journey mom Sandhya through MB's own Jessica Glorieux who have started a Brooklyn community site with useful information for us parents to connect. It has been some time since we have posted a Journey. Without fail I always love reading and sharing them for it is always nice (and a relief!) to hear what others mothers have to say.
Name: Sandhya Jain-Patel
Hometown: Marlboro, NJ (shhh!)
How long have you've been living in Brooklyn? My husband and I moved from the Upper West Side in 2005, and haven't looked back! We were in Fort Greene for a few years and then moved to Williamsburg about 3.5 years ago.
Occupation:
1) Over-time mother, and loving it!
2) Expert in Indian and Southeast Asian Art and Head of Sale, Christie's
3) Co-Founder of WillyPoint Kids (another full-time job!)
When Did you first Become a Mother?26 July 2011, and I hope to repeat the process :)
Before becoming a mother, what did you know about motherhood? Was the reality close to your personal image/idea? For a long time I only knew my own experience from a child's point of view, and I guess you can say that's why I waited a while to become a mother myself. I was terrified to repeat certain...behaviors, and I also had to make sure I was ready for the personal sacrifices it would take (for example, giving up my position as a semi-professional dancer in a local Bollywood Dance troupe, etc). But by the time I was ready, I had several close friends who had their own children and were becoming my role models for the kind of parent I wanted to be.
Now that I'm here, I would say that while the reality is close to my pre-imagined / ordained image, I know it can change any and every day, and I just have to roll with the changes. I get a lot of comfort, knowledge and confidence from Dr. Laura Markham's "Aha Parenting!" blog.
How would you describe the first year? Well, the first two months were *tough*, it's true that breastfeeding is the hardest thing one could ever do (as told to me by a super-smart engineering woman with her own company!). And the hormone-induced emotional rollercoaster combined with lack of sleep was no picnic, but I just kept telling myself that I was lucky to have every moment of this experience, and that someday I would miss it. And that's all true! After I went back to work (after 12 weeks) and we got into a rhythm, with the breastfeeding, pumping, nanny, etc, it got easier. I wish I could get a couple of weeks back now, and spend the same QT with my son as I did then. Maybe a stay-cation is in order...
Did you have support such as family or friends? Very dear, dear friends who really helped me, some from before we became parents, and many from my birth cohort (shout-out to the Summerinos 2011 and Caribou's Friday meet-ups) in this neighborhood. Without them, especially during those first few months, I would have been lost.
Share with us how WillyPointKids came about? What can we expect from your site? WillyPoint kids is borne from my desire to give back to this community that has given me so much, and to pay it forward to new parents and families. WPK is a platform to connect families in and around these Brooklyn neighborhoods to any resources they need in NYC, for children ages NB-12yo. I hope everyone -- families, goods and service providers -- will get onto the site and make connections with each other. I'm really just here to facilitate that. We have a free calendar of events, again anyone who logs in from Facebook or is a member can submit their events. We're doing weekly blogs, and would love to invite writers and other contributors who need a megaphone for their unique voice. We have discussion groups that will have experts in the subject answer questions posted there, we have a classifieds section and will be adding a separate caregiver and housekeeper section, and we have a free directory listing providers for anything and, in time, everything a person could need. Many of those listed in our directory give our members a discount on their goods/services, and in time we will also be adding member-posted reviews.
I'm inspired by so many accomplished moms I see around me, I just want to make it easier and more fun for us all.
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