Dropping Names (Motherhood Managed becomes The Velveteen Peach)

January is still movin' along folks! This year is still a baby, so I can absolutely use the phrase, "Lol, new year, new me ☮ ✌" To justify the name change. I can. Right? No? Well whatever, I'll do it anyway.

When I started blogging, my focus was figuring out how to balance working and being a wife and mom. Then, life happened. Last year from summer to right before Christmas, we had a friend living with us as well as G's brother for a short while, which is about the time I quit blogging. It was a really amazing learning experience, but I could no longer blog about my balancing act because it simply wasn't happening. I was completely UNbalanced. I didn't WANT to be balanced, I had no friends and the ratio of men to women in my house was 4:1. We were happy to give our extra space (and still are happy to do it) to anyone who needed it, but I'm not sure we really knew what we needed to do to prepare. G and I suddenly were not busy together, but busy doing different things, and therefore not really spending too much time together. I don't think we had the chance to really speak to each other other than small conversations before we fell asleep for months. 

During this time I began really delving into self love practices, and trying to overcome my issues with low self esteem and confidence. I realized that in order to help others, I needed to be secure in myself and have no need to be jealous. It was during this time that I feel I really got to know myself, though I'm still working on that. I began being my own friend, and taking care of myself. I honestly have started not only to accept, but enjoy my own company. I also made some amazing friends during that time.

Now we are back to the three of us, and it's been a good transition, but there is a change. I no longer think of myself as "G's wife and H's mom," but as "Erica. Who happens to be married and have a son." When I started this blog, I was desperately trying to be the best wife I could be and the best mom, without even thinking about being the best ME I could be. I came back to this blog to start back up once things had settled down, and I felt pigeonholed by the name. Motherhood Managed was my "mom" blog, but I want to be more than just a mom here. I want to be a woman, a worker, a mother, a wife, a baker, an artist, a diy-er, and free to explore and grow in more ways than just through parenting H.

One of my most popular posts is one I wrote during a particularly trying time, Life's a Peach (and so am I), and it was also one of the most personal posts I've written here. It also catapulted me to focus on the quote I reference in the post,

"You can be the ripest, juiciest peach in the world, and there's still going to be somebody who hates peaches" - Dita Von Teese.

I focus on that every single time I feel like I'm struggling with the opinions of others, and holding them to a higher regard than I do my own opinion of myself. I wanted to make that a focus in the blog title.
I also toyed around with a quote from a children's book that I will forever love, The Velveteen Rabbit, that I have printed out and carry around pretty much everywhere with me.

"It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse. "You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in your joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand. But once you are Real you can't become unreal again. It lasts for always."

I'm becoming Real. I am loved, not only by close family and friends, but I am loved by ME, and I am becoming stronger for it. I wanted to make that a focus in the name of this blog as well.

Thus, The Velveteen Peach was born. I am real, and I am a peach, and I'm so loving this name and all that it means to me!

So for those of you who were asking where I went, I'm here! I'm still here and I'm burning bright. I hope I can inspire others to become Real and embrace the power of peaches, and if you're on the same journey as I am, please reach out to me! I've been finding a lot of self love blogs lately and I'm loving them and their authors, so I'm always looking for more to keep up with!

If you've stuck around this long, thank you so much. I know it was a long read, but I wanted to give an explanation of not only by absence,  but my new name! More to come soon