Hello! Welcome to my blog, where I'll be documenting moments (honest, tired, beautiful, heart-wrenching, mundane, exciting moments) from this Doupe mama's heart. In the past when I've attempted blogging, I would get really excited about having a special outlet to express myself in words. I would go strong for a couple months, maybe even a whole year and then I would lose interest, get "too busy", find other priorities or you know...have a few children. :) Lately, I've been regretting my lack of documenting my children's milestones, "firsts", funny words, family adventures and the like. I do this in pictures pretty regularly, but I have been missing the written documentation. So, this will be a place where I can document such things as well as open my heart up a little to anyone who cares to read. This is a new beginning for me, as I haven't written much at all since becoming a mom. Here's to new beginnings!
For anyone who reads this who doesn't know me yet, I'll introduce myself in a few quick sentences...let's see how well I can do this. My name is Anna Doupe, I am a 20-something (okay, almost 30-something) wife and mama to two lovely littles-Liam (almost 2 years old) and Amberly (3 months old). I live in beautiful California and enjoy family time, dates with my husband, photography, thrifting, vintage, watching cheesy hallmark movies or Jane Austen classics,playing games, having tea parties and mint chip ice cream. I dislike coffee, dirty socks, driving (most of the time) and small talk.
A few quick disclaimers:
1.Please forgive my rusty writing skills. I entirely believe that "mom brain" is a real thing and that a few (or a lot) of this mama's brain cells have died in the past few years of being pregnant twice and bearing two children. I shudder at the thought of reading some of the (few) letters I've written to friends and family over the past few years. I'm certain they must have as many "typos" as my texts do today.
2. It has been quite the wild, messy (literally), challenging, stretching, emotional yet beautiful and edifying period of my life. Now seems like the right time to start sharing a little with ya'll from time to time. It's hard to be vulnerable...really, really hard sometimes. I am grateful for the friendships I've developed in which I'm comfortable bearing my soul and not feeling an ounce of judgement. But in order to be truly vulnerable, one must anticipate some amount of judgement. After all, this world seems to believe we are the masters of judgement these days.
3. You will notice and probably grow annoyed at my extensive use of parentheses. I am 100% certain that I use them too frequently and misuse them half the time, but that's okay. I am not creating a blog to showcase perfect writing skills, after all.
4.I regret that I may have rather dry humor at times, so you may feel free to skip those parts if need be. ;) The humor is mostly for my own amusement anyway. I would hope becoming a mom would make me more funny, though... because, boy, some days of being a mom really require a few laughs to make up for the hard moments.
5.Following with the dry humor bit, I will throw in that I can be prettttty cheesy at times (like naming my blog "mama Doupe" as if I'm a southern grandma sitting on her porch telling stories...what more would I want in life? No really, that is my life goal. Especially the porch part...a big, wrap around one with God's glory stretched out in front of me, and grand-babies to come visit me often).
6. I ramble and get off subject easily...but this is how my brain works. Always thinking, over-thinking, rambling, and yes, worrying too. It's amazing that I actually get some sleep at night, though I seldom have dream-less nights.
7. This blog will have no "theme", at least to begin with. I'm not organized enough at this stage in life and it would cause unneeded stress added onto the stress I'm trying to decrease (more in another post). :) I'll mostly be sharing thoughts, struggles, encouragement, memories with my kids and family, pictures and whatever else I choose to share.
Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy looking into my heart and life a little as Mama Doupe!
