Momilies

went to asking God for me to be enough—for the loss of their dad in their life to not alter who He meant for my twins to become. They were just a few months shy of 4-years-old. My focus became helping them heal and be spiritually, emotionally and physically healthy after such a life-altering change. We called ourselves, “The 3 Musketeers.” We’ve walked side-by-side through grief and we’ve become stronger. That strength lead me to seek motherhood alone. I knew after going through fertility with my husband that I could do it again on my own. This journey was also long and hard, but when I looked into my newborn daughter’s eyes—this time I knew I was enough.

SL: When did you know you were ready to have kids? EE: Knowing I wanted kids and being ready for them was two different things. I wanted to graduate from college and pursue my career in graphic design and journalism first. Once I met my late husband in college, I knew he was the man I would someday marry. That was the final piece for me to be ready. Little did I know that we’d try for almost 10 years before we sought out reasons why from a fertility doctor. We were blessed that our first IVF was a success.

SL: What is your favorite photo of your family or kids? EE: I love candid photos— hence the ones I chose for the pages of this article. I also love photos of my family at the beach. It’s my happy place and we all look better by the ocean somehow. But my very favorite two photos sit next to my bed—one on each of my nightstands. One is the 1-day old photo with both of my twin boys from the hospital, and the other is my daughter’s 1-day old photo. These photos capture the two days in my life that were forever changed for the better by their births.

SL: What was the first year of motherhood like for you? EE: Let me first say that my first year with my daughter was amazing. It was like all the good feel-good Hallmark TV commercials were everything goes right. But hoo boy, the first year of being a first time mom of multiples was a blur. I have a hard time recalling much about the first 3 months due to sleep deprivation from my non-stop nursing schedule. I truly think tandem nursing with twins is an urban legend because my boys were having none of that sharing thing! I’m