Allison Cooper

In theory, the concept of a new mom not being able to answer your phone calls and/or texts right away should be self-explanatory...

Last month, I turned 30 (gasp!). It still gives me a little bit of a heart palpitation to type that out, but nonetheless, it happened.

Faux freckles. Come on. You know that you have always wanted to strategically place a little freckle and mimic what Cindy Crawford has naturally.

For so long, I’ve defined myself as nothing other than a mom, and I think that was beginning to be a toxic thing for me. I’m so much more than “just a mom,” even though that’s one of my favorite titles.

[CN: mention of suicide] It’s not all real. We don’t live curated lives that are built around purposeful omissions of reality...

These are the things I anticipate most when my kids finally go the eff to sleep. I deserve it after a day of being in what feels like survival mode.

Parenthood is so chaotic that we find ourselves spewing words sometimes that we probably never, ever pictured ourselves saying. Then parenthood happened.

I am still a very spiritual person, but don’t necessarily agree with a lot of the things I was taught growing up — or the way it was shoved down our throats. So when Branden came along, we decided not to baptize him, because I just didn’t believe our sweet baby was born in sin. My husband wasn’t religious, and this was the right choice for us.

We live in a world where people are easily influenced. Heck, I'm a writer and influencer for a living, so I get this in its most extreme state. But when it comes to the nitty-gritty — the big life decisions — I want my son to have a strong head on his shoulders and do what he instinctively knows is right for him.

I can’t contain the thrill inside me to see where these beloved characters of mine ended up in life. There is definitely some binge watching of the original seasons in store for me so that I can make some educated predications.