Hi, I am Paige. I am a mom to two adorable little miracles and a bonus mom to two smart, handsome, and wonderful boys. I grew up in Warren until my family moved to Sterling Heights when I was 16. I consider Sterling Heights to be home and will forever be an “East Side” girl.
In high school, I was the quiet girl. I hated ice breakers and cringed at the thought of having to go up and talk in front of a class. After graduation I decided that I wanted to become a nurse, so I spent my first two years in college working toward getting into the nursing program at MCC. Halfway through my sophomore year, I began to think that nursing wasn’t for me and was undecided on what I wanted to do with my life. Out of nowhere I had a newfound confidence in myself and decided that I wanted to major in communications. I suddenly loved talking in front of other people!
That fall, I got my dream internship working in Detroit radio for Mojo in The Morning. I loved everything about it (even the early morning wake-up times). I learned so much, and I knew this was the atmosphere for me! I planned on becoming a radio producer once I graduated even if it meant that I had to move out of state. Two years later, I received my BA from Oakland University but moving out of state was no longer an option; I had fallen in love with my future husband, Ryan, and his two sons, Nick and Will who were 1 and 3.5 at the time. I officially became Nick and Will’s stepmom when I tied to knot with Ryan in June 2013. Being a stepmom came easy for the most part, but a large part of our successful relationship is due to the fact that we co-parent well with their mom and her husband. More on that in future posts!
In the summer of 2014, we decided that we wanted to add another baby to our family. By then Will was five, and we didn’t want too much of an age gap between the kids. Before we knew it, two summers had passed, and we still weren’t pregnant. We started seeing a fertility specialist, but nothing was working. I felt absolutely hopeless and thought I’d never have kids of my own.
Luckily, in 2017 the company I worked for changed their fertility benefits and covered IVF! That spring we started our injections and transferred a perfect little five-day blastocyst two weeks later. We were one of the lucky couples that had a successful pregnancy the first try and our son, Jack, was born in January 2018 on Nick’s 11th birthday!
When Jack was four months old, we were surprised to find out that I was naturally pregnant! It was even a bigger surprise when we found out that August that we were having a girl! Our little Maisie was born at the end of December 2018, and she and Jack are 356 days apart. Life with Irish Twins has been filled with chaos but has also been an absolute blessing.
So now here I am. A newly-minted SAHM, navigating motherhood with two under two, a 10-year-old, and 12-year-old (who is going on 20). I plan on going back to school for a second degree soon. Want to guess in what? If you guessed nursing, then you are right! It is funny how sometimes you have to go off the path to find who you are and live different life experiences, only to come back full circle! I truly believe that if I hadn’t switched degrees the first time around, I wouldn’t have the husband and kids I have today. I am so thankful that I am not in charge of my “plan.”
As a new SAHM, I am always trying to find things to do. I love hanging out with my sister and my nephews during the week, and Walter Mary Burke Park in downtown New Baltimore is where we spend most of our weekends in the summer. My husband is from Mackinaw (his dad is literally one exit off of I-75 from becoming a Yooper), and although we don’t visit nearly enough, it is one of my favorite places to go to. I am an advocate for infertility awareness and love talking about anything pregnancy-related. I plan on being an L+D nurse in the future!
John Lennon said it best in the song All You Need Is Love: “There’s nowhere you can be that isn’t where you’re meant to be.” I am so grateful for all of my life experiences because they have brought me to who I am today.
