SR: I am proud that my children are true free spirits and incredibly independent. I love that I have been able to guide my daughters to be confident young ladies and I KNOW that they will have fulfilled and happy lives based on that. I’m proud that we made the big (and scary) decision to move across the country in order to provide our children a life that we wanted for them.

LJ: I'm really proud to be thriving instead of just surviving. Adding two infants to the mix 3 years ago brought on a whole new level of being stretched thin. The babies spent six weeks in the NICU, and days after their release, my husband deployed for six months. I was left with two brand new babies and an emotional 11 year old who was dealing with no longer being the only child. I spent my days dizzily dropping one off at middle school and nursing, burping, changing and napping the other two only to repeat this after picking up the angry and "neglected" middle schooler and repeating the process with the infants. Any adjective for tired would be an understatement. There is literally no word to describe how I felt, and I finally had to call in the big dog, my own mother, to help me after a terrible accident with one of the babies. While having my mom here has been great (she hasn't left yet, and I wouldn't let her if she tried), I still recall the level of stress I felt during the first 3 months of having the babies at home so I was still very hands on up until the last six months or so. Within the last six month however, I've let my hair down and started to relax and live a little. I trust my mom when she says she's got this, and I'm going out with and without my kiddos without any guilt, stress, or anxiety about doing so. I am a mama who is thriving.

SC: This is a tough question, because as every mother knows, each day brings a new challenge to conquer. If you asked me this my first week after becoming a mother, it would have been an answer like: I am most proud that my child has survived to be 7 days old! I remember holding Valentina in her swaddling blanket at the hospital as we were being discharged thinking, oh my gosh, I am responsible for this innocent perfect being. It was terrifying to me.

Now, with a 6 and 5 year old, I am most proud of their unique personalities showing themselves. Valentina is our thunderstorm. She rolls in, full of life and energy, and rolls out leaving destruction in her wake. Ivy on the other hand, is full of sweetness, sunshine, and is nothing but good manners.

At least this is the case until they are 3 hours into schoolwork on a wednesday, ready to climb the walls to be outside playing or terrorizing some poor reptile waiting to be discovered.