• HOME
  • BLOG
  • ABOUT
  • SERVICES
  • CONTACT

Audrey JoAnn | Content and Copy Writer

Compelling Copy for Female Founders

Wallace’s Birth Story

January 14, 2021


On January 4, 2021, Wallace Ronal Skelton was born at 3:44 pm, weighing 7 pounds 4 ounces and 20.5 inches long. He came into the world with a splash and with the most beautiful sounding cry I’ve ever heard.

Funny enough, January 4 was my original due date from my first doctor’s appointment when they measured the fetus via ultrasound. But at my 12-week ultrasound, they said he was measuring closer to December 28. Based on my last period before getting pregnant, the due date calculation was December 31, so ultimately that’s what my doctor adjusted it to as a “happy medium” between the two ultrasound measurement dates.

When my New Years Eve due date came and went, I was beyond frustrated. I’d been having Braxton Hicks contractions for at least three months and had convinced myself (and told everyone else) that meant he’d be arriving early, despite my mom being one to two weeks late with all four of her pregnancies and despite my doctor saying BH contractions really don’t mean a thing about when baby might arrive.

Regardless, I was ready to meet this little one. I was trying ALL the (safe) things to get him out: daily long walks, so much raspberry leaf tea (with doubled and tripled bags in my mug), dates, squats, spicy food, bouncing on a yoga ball, and everything else you hear about. And still… nothin’.

READ MORE

Leave a Comment in Life

How to Plan Financially for an Extended Leave in Your Business

December 18, 2020

The first thing I did as soon as I found out I was pregnant was… create a savings plan. Like, before even telling my husband a little peanut was on the way.

(But that’s mostly because I wanted to tell him in a special way and be realllllly sure I was actually pregnant since I had found out SUPER early, so I waited about a week to tell him. More on that whole story here!)

I know. A savings plan doesn’t exactly scream, “YAY, we’re expecting!”

But it was a way for me to start logically wrapping my head around this BIG, big change. And as a freelance writer, I knew I wanted to be prepared financially to actually be able to take some time off work and be present with our baby.

… We’d also JUST bought a house two months before getting pregnant, and unexpectedly had to pay several thousand dollars for knee surgery for our dog a week before. The timing was super chill.

Our savings accounts were hurting, to put it lightly.

To put it realistically: They were all but drained.

READ MORE

Leave a Comment in Career, Self Employed

Our Simple Gender Neutral Nursery Details

December 12, 2020

I feel like I’m a minimalist, but once we started figuring out what we needed for the nursery, I was overwhelmed by how much STUFF babies require! Our little nursery is about 10 by 10 feet, so I knew that would keep temper some of the goodies and gadgets.

Plus, keeping it super gender neutral was important since we won’t know the babe’s sex until he or she gets here later this month. That’s helped me not go crazy with buying too many clothes or getting any bright colors, which actually worked out well because neutrals are more our style anyway!

Most importantly, I wanted it to feel like a calming, comforting space to just relax and learn and play and feel cozy in. I still don’t feel like it’s “done” but it’s as ready as we need it to be for the little one to arrive. It’s been so fun to carefully pick things to fill this room with sweet, simple items.

READ MORE

Leave a Comment in Home, Life

10 Things Being Pregnant in a Pandemic Has Taught Me

December 4, 2020

Apparently I have a lot to say about this year—which is odd because doesn’t it simultaneously feel like NOTHING and SO MUCH has happened these past 11 months? Anyone else?

I think 2020 has transformed most of us in some way. I’m constantly torn between wondering who the person is growing inside me, and who the person is that I’m growing into. Along the way, I’ve learned quite a few lessons—some still in transit, some a re-learning, some pushing their way in no matter how hard I’ve pushed back.

Overall, I do think this year has been a beautiful reminder of the most important things: our priorities, our health, our families, our time. Here are 10 of the biggest things being pregnant in a pandemic has taught me:

01. To freakin’ slow down.

Ooooh, buddy. I wish I could say it didn’t take a global pandemic and pregnancy to be okay with occasionally letting myself work from bed or the couch—or *GASP* take a catnap in the middle of the day—or *DOUBLE GASP* take a day off from working out—but here we are.

I’ve worked for myself, from home, for nearly 3 years and couldn’t fathom doing that before unless I was sick or something had happened. Now I’m like: give me my bed and my pregnancy pillow and my laptop by 3:30 pm, or give me death. Evolution, y’all. It’s real.

READ MORE

Leave a Comment in Career, Health, Life, Relationships

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • …
  • 35
  • Next Page »

Welcome! I'm Audrey, and I adore connecting with female founders and telling their stories in a way that matters & lasts for years to come.

Search

Download my free guide! (Click below!)

Let’s keep in touch!

Catch me on social!

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

audskelton

My two favorite guys in the world. 🤍🌎 My two favorite guys in the world. 🤍🌎
Me, trying to figure out what to do with my hands Me, trying to figure out what to do with my hands without a bump. 👐🏼 Wallace, trying to figure out what we’re doing out of the house. 🤨

First family walk in the books! All of 10 minutes. 🤪 (Also, does anyone else notice the rainbow over Wally?... My heart. 🌈🥺)
1 week old. 🤎 The hardest, most emotional & mos 1 week old. 🤎 The hardest, most emotional & most rewarding week of my life. Babies’ sleep schedules, y’all. They are not for the faint of heart.

Wallace is hitting all his milestones, has learned the alphabet, and is picking up Latin. Just kidding. But he CAN poop 3 times in an hour and a half 😎, and he eats like a champ, is so strong that we prefer to tag team diaper changes for now, and makes the sweetest, cutest noises all day long. (And night.) Like even his cry is cute. 😩

One of my friends called this time the “wet weeks”: urine, breast milk, spit up, night sweats, tears, blood, more tears. It’s a lot, and it’s temporary. So even in the hard moments, we are reminding ourselves that the hardest things are often the best things. 

And this really has been the best thing.

So, so thankful for a hands-on husband who’s been so involved in everything... there’s something indescribable about watching your partner care for your child and step into a big, new role like this so gracefully. And we are thankful for ALL of the support, near and far (... mostly far), from our family and friends and coworkers. What a week... here’s to continuing to figure it all out together as a family. 😌
At 5 a.m. my water broke and at 3:44 p.m. our worl At 5 a.m. my water broke and at 3:44 p.m. our worlds and hearts were changed forever. Everything in between was a gritty, fast-moving tidal wave of emotion, pain, instinct, and a kind of love I never could’ve imagined.

Welcome, Wallace Ronal Skelton. 🤎 You kept us waiting until you decided, very quickly, you’d like to be here. I’m still in disbelief that you are ours. 

January 4, 2021 • 7 lbs 4 oz • 20.5 inches • Sweet as can be.
Well, this baby friend doesn’t exactly have our Well, this baby friend doesn’t exactly have our sense of punctuality which realllly threw me for a loop after thinking & saying for months that I was certain he/she would get here early. I’ve drank 3 boxes of raspberry leaf tea in 3 weeks, walked dozens of miles, eaten way too many dates, done hundreds of squats and bench step-ups... and now I’m surrendering. You come whenever you feel like it, little one. I’m comfy enough and can still sleep through the night (minus a bathroom break or two) so we will just keep on waiting and letting you teach us our first lesson of parenthood: PATIENCE. I knew I could always use some more of it. 😉 #40weekspregnant #pregnancy
scenes from our blissful, muddy, much-needed morni scenes from our blissful, muddy, much-needed morning hike. ☀️🍂 in a year that’s felt like 5, getting outside whenever we can has been my favorite way to reset. so thankful to live in such gorgeous surroundings!
our first and probably only christmas just us thre our first and probably only christmas just us three! quiet and simple and a little sad but mostly filled with hope and gratitude. hope yours is special in all the best ways. 🤍
the most freeing parenting advice i’ve heard so the most freeing parenting advice i’ve heard so far? (and i’ve gotten a lot this year!) our children NEED to see us to mess up. they need to see us walk through mistakes, fix our messes, apologize, learn, and readjust.

as someone who very much realizes i’m nowhere *near* perfect but is also terrified something i’ll do might mess my kid up for life... hearing this advice has stuck with me so profoundly. i think about it every day, especially as we get closer and closer to becoming parents.

we don’t need to get it right. in fact, we’re serving them better when we get it wrong AND course correct openly. when we can admit our faults and say we’ll do better next time.

i had a friend tell me a few months ago she apologizes to her baby all the time. she’ll say, “i’m sorry that i really don’t know what you need right now, but i’m learning... i’m sorry that you’re upset, let’s figure this out together.”

and i thought that was a beautiful way to own and lean into the truth that parenting isn’t having the answers all figured out—at all. it’s guessing and learning as you go and being able to be humble enough to apologize to your infant when you don’t get it right (and then your toddler, and then your kid, and then your teenager).

these next 18+ years are going to be an adventure, i can already tell. lots of mess-ups. lots of sorry’s. lots of goodness. 🤍

oh, and... can we all agree that the worst parenting advice is “sleep when the baby sleeps”?! as the lightest sleeper ever, i don’t need that pressure in my life. 😅 

photo by @jilliangoulding
the body of the grinch but the heart of cindy lou the body of the grinch but the heart of cindy lou who. ♥️

(wrong holiday, i know—but let’s not pretend 90% of us don’t already have christmas stuff up already okay?)

however you’re celebrating & whoever you’re celebrating with today, i hope it’s special. happy thanksgiving, friend! 🦃🍂💛 #thanksgiving #35weekspregnant
Load More... Follow @audswan on Instagram
THEME BY ECLAIR DESIGNS