Back to my roots, and learning to adult!
Hi Everyone! I’m Arden a local Berkley mom! Yes, our town is tiny and so was the home that I grew up in. I was born and raised here, and love this city to its core! I am a first generation Chaldean American.
Roots
Growing up with our parents was not a walk in the park. We had challenges , like many families , except my dad was the strictest I had ever known, or my friends had ever met. To say we were sheltered as kids is an understatement. My life consisted of going to school, coming home, helping my mom and doing my homework. Friends? I had many of them, but they were only allowed to come over to our house. This was a hit in high school, 10pm curfew, I was living on the edge if got home at 10:15. Sports, and any extra-curricular activities was my saving grace. If it was school related it equaled…FREEDOM!!!!
I worked at a market ran by my uncle and met the love of my life there. We dated in high school and a few years later we were crazy, young, and in love so we got married! I was in college at Wayne State and planned to finish with a teaching degree, but life took us on a different path.
Adulting at its finest
We moved to Florida for a business opportunity and lived there for the first five years of our marriage. It was really hard at first to be away since I was still so young and a newlywed with a husband who was at work around the clock. I luckily landed a great job working in higher education that covered my tuition to finish my bachelors and continue on to my Masters. I felt beyond grateful. I worked my way up the corporate ladder and learned a great deal about myself and what I want in a career.
I continued in my position for almost five years before we decided to start a family. It was time. I remember walking across the stage receiving my Masters diploma, waving to my husband who was cheering me on with flowers in his hand. I thought to myself “this is the year we try to get pregnant.” We had grown so much together, had many ups and downs and we made it through it all. Babies? We got this! So we thought…
Party of 5 here we come!
We moved back to Michigan just before our first daughter was born…eight years later, we are now a party of five! We have three wonderful, healthy kids who rock our world daily! Meadow is 7, Lilah is 5 and Rocco is 2.5 Our “We got this” turned into an episode of Survivor most days! We are working harder than we ever have, my husband owns a business and I am a full time parent starting to get my groove back slowly.
After three c-sections, and some underling health issues, my body started to take a toll physically, mentally and emotionally. As I struggled daily to balance the joy I had for my family life, I found myself wanting to sleep all the time. After years of suffering with stomach aches, months and months of exercise to get the baby weight off, a trainer suggested I meet with a no nonsense dietitian. I was skeptical, little did I know that it would change my life. Though various blood tests I found out that I would have to work through and heal my “leaky gut”. It was a process, a very committed process. One of the hardest hurdles I have been through in my life. Six plus months into my healing, I can say it was the universe telling me too slow down.
Writing for DMB
My experiences are no bigger, better or less important than any others. They are just different. We are all different. I love learning, I will always be a student. My vision is to reach as many mothers, women and families. I want a platform that I can trust and a tribe that I can lean on. A sense of community to me is what gets me through most of my hardest and best days, this is what the DMB is all about. As a stay at home mom for the past 8 years, I have found that I still love and value many of things I did as a working mom. I can use my skills and passion for the things I love like educating people on the brain-gut connection, food and its role in our body, motherhood, and the practice of being mindful and teaching yoga to kids.
I recently received my kids yoga certification. It came at a perfect time, just as I was healing my body and mind. My dream to teach kids may actually come true, it may not be in a traditional setting, but it is feeding my soul.
Through these life experiences I have learned the real benefit of self-care. I look at this time in our lives as a period of time that passes much to quick. I hope you join me in my journey, learn along side me, and connect with an incredible tribe!
