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"      It&amp;#039;s fitting that I start this parenting blog at the New Year. It was New Year&amp;#039;s Day six years ago that I pushed a 7.5-pound baby boy into the world (two weeks early!) after seven hours of horrific back labor (no, they don&amp;#039;t prepare you for back labor in childbirth class), and joined the mommy club. That New Year&amp;#039;s Eve started off with a bang when my water broke all over our newly refinished hardwood floors. As I called friends alerting them not to come to our party\u2014we were heading to the hospital instead\u2014my husband, Bobby, frantically ran from room to room trying to figure out what to pack in his hospital bag! His color started coming back as he began ironing his T-shirt. Huh? As if I wasn&amp;#039;t going to clutch and crumble every inch of cotton with each contraction! That birth resulted in our son, Joshua, who is now in kindergarten, and our daughter Samantha followed 19 months later. Our daughter Ariana was born 17 months ago. What you need to know about me: I can be a frazzled mama (I&amp;#039;m organizationally challenged), I almost didn&amp;#039;t get to be a mommy (fertility issues), and I got a second chance at finding love (this is my second marriage, Bobby&amp;#039;s first; we&amp;#039;ve been married nine years). My life is typical suburbia\u2014yes, I pick my kids up from school in a minivan; yes, I wear ponytails way too often; yes, I buy in bulk at Costco\u2014but make no mistakes, I&amp;#039;m no desperate housewife. Finances could be better (hey\u2014I live in Michigan) but my life is rich and I&amp;#039;m where I want to be. I know we can support one another on this mommy journey with truth, laughs, and yeah, a whole lot of lattes. Please share your experiences and thoughts with me. I&amp;#039;ll be here every Tuesday. I can&amp;#039;t wait to hear from you!\u2014Julie Weingarden Dubin What was labor like for you? Share your stories in Comments. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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