The First One
Hi I’m Jenna, but you might already know that if you’re here. Before kids I was an avid blogger. I loved it and I spent hours doing it. Along with being a blogger, I was a personal trainer, group exercise instructor, runner, half marathon wannabe, and parenthood dreamer. I loved all that I was doing but what I really wanted in life was to be a mom.
In January of 2016 I got pregnant with our first little girl, Emily and after a whirlwind first trimester of announcements, job hunting, apartment hunting, and moving halfway back across the country, we moved from Pennsylvania home to North Carolina to be close to family as we were starting our own. I left blogging behind as well as my fitness career. I jumped head first back into teaching dance and preparing for motherhood.
Once Emily was born I felt like I was a fish out of water (terrible expression but absolutely true). I thought I had an idea of what motherhood would be like but I was so wrong. Emily never slept as a baby and I was running on empty for months.
9 months after Emily was born, Sophie was on the way and our little two bedroom apartment was now way too small for a family of four and two kids under the age of two. So we bought a house and moved in two weeks before Sophie was born. Going from no kids to one kid was hard but learning how to juggle two felt impossible somedays especially with a new house. It was a victory just to survive nap time let alone make dinner or get a shower for the day.
As the kids got a little older I quickly forgot how hard it was when they were smaller so we decided it was time for Maggie to come along too. Enter the lovely pandemic of 2020 where we were quarantined for months for fear of the unknown for our kids, me as a pregnant woman, and our unborn baby. 26 months after Sophie was born, Maggie made her own special entrance into the world. Her birth was fast and scary. She ended up in the NICU for a few days and then had to have minor surgery at the age of three months old. Throw in a pandemic and life was certainly not boring.
By July of 2020. I had left teaching dance behind thanks to the pandemic and was full force into stay at home pandemic parenthood. I wanted an outlet so I created an Instagram account to journal the daily joys, challenges, and hilarities of parenthood.
Sometimes there’s a lot more to say than what can fit in a small caption on an Instagram post (or frankly what should be put there) so I’ve decided to spill my Instagram over to a new blog and here we are! Ponytails and Pushups the blog. Why? Because we all need an outlet and a community so I’m here to build one. I plan to talk about the daily things that I experience as a mom of three, expecting my first son, living in a new (to us) but old house, and finding my own way through it all.
Motherhood is an incredible gift, but I’ve also been known to let it be my only identity the last few years. So in between diaper changes and sips of coffee, be on the lookout for brand reviews, my pregnancy and postpartum journey especially my workouts, and relatable parts of being a mom. Cheers to finding new friends, appreciating the current journey we are on, and embracing all the craziness that comes from being a mom.
