When I first met Janice and her 2 boys Carlos and Luca I immediately felt the strong relationship and LOVE they have for each other.
Those boys adore their mom from the heart and have no problem showing the world. Janice deeply cares for them all while balancing life and work and educating them to become the leaders this world was waiting for.
Janice is also a Contributor at ATLANTA MOM and writes mostly about work-life balance, Burnout, and raising her boys.
As part of the CELEBRATE MOTHERHOOD CAMPAIGN, she was telling me about her Motherhood journey and the difficulties that she had to face...
What was your Motherhood journey like so far?
"God, it was not easy from the beginning."
"All I can think when I started reading Nina's questionnaire was .. God it was not easy from the beginning. Long story short … Rafael (hubby) and I got married in December 2010, went into our honeymoon right after, and when we came back, ready to start our new life we were hit by a reality check and unfortunate experience. I was rushed to the hospital because of excruciating lower abdominal pain a couple of days after. Every doctor thought it was a possible appendicitis but because me being a woman they brought a Gynecologist surgeon to review my case as well. I ended up having severe endometriosis that I had for years and had no knowledge at all. They took me to emergency surgery where they had to extract my right ovary, fallopian tube, and appendix to save my life. All of this happened while I was asleep and woke up to the news.
My world just turned upside down. I’ve never even contemplated the idea of me not being able to procreate and not being a mommy one day and now I was being told I had a 50/50 chance ‘if’ I was lucky, treatment to follow, and many other steps to get healthier.
13 years later I’m the proud mommy of two beautiful and healthy boys. I thank God every day for blessing me and our family. We value and make every second count. My husband and I both have challenging jobs and careers and our time with our children is treasured. I’m a mom but I’m also a strong woman, a professional, and a dreamer and I want my kids to be proud of their mommy and admire her as well.
MOTHERHOOD IS THE HARDEST JOB OF ALL.
We need to be kinder to ourselves and cheer on each other. We do the best we can. There is no perfect way, a right way, or an ok way. There is your way, what works for you and your family and most importantly what ‘makes you happy’!
Sometimes we forget that and also enjoy the moment. Those moments with our kids especially when they are little will fly away so fast.
We as a family enjoy life, we love to laugh and can’t wait to make memories for life.
I hope my story can inspire other women and mamas to know that life can be unpredictable, that you can be a wonderful mother, and also follow your dreams.
There are going to be huge sacrifices along the way but nothing even close to the joy and out-of-the-world LOVE you will experience.💕 "
