Pat and Cristina - "We Might Disagree On Tactics, But We Have The Same Vision. The Big Picture Is The Same"
Release Date: 09/19/2017
Lacey - "I Had Four Little Girls Come To My House In The Middle Of The Night...That Started My Journey Into Motherhood"
Birds In A Tree
Lacey is a supermom. She won't tell you that, but she is. Knowing she wanted to be a mother, and realizing at 25 that she might not be on a traditional route to motherhood, Lacey decided to explore foster parenting. After completing the training, Lacey received a call at four in the morning that changed her life. She is now the mother of six girls who are all biological sisters.
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Kaitlin - "I Was A Little Too Focused On What I Thought The Bigger Picture For Us Should Have Been, Rather Than Her Big Picture In Her Mind"
Birds In A Tree
Kaitlin is raising her son Oliver and navigating a co-parenting relationship with her ex-wife. Kaitlin admits that although after five years of marriage she thought that they both wanted to have a baby, however in hindsight feels as though her ex-wife wasn't fully prepared to make such a major life change. Now the two navigate a co-parenting relationship together and try to make Oliver the main focus of their decisions.
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Ingrid - "You Never See A Bill...As Long As Your Baby Or You Need To Be Taken Care Of, It's Done"
Birds In A Tree
Ingrid and her partner have one son and live in Canada. Ingrid admits that she never really thought she wanted to be a mother, but when the feeling hit she couldn't think of anything else. Their journey to parenthood is its own great story and makes the bonds of a family even more special. Giving birth in Canada, Ingrid says that through their publicly funded healthcare system, they never see a medical bill. Not even when their newborn son had a health scare, the cost was taken care of.
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Melissa - "I Don't Want To Do Things That Will Leave A Bad Taste In Her Mouth; I Want Her To Do What We Want To Do"
Birds In A Tree
Melissa and her husband have always had a love of the outdoors. As avid climbers, hikers, bikers, skiers, and campers, they are now raising a daughter to love these activities as much as they do. Even though Melissa admits they can't be as extreme as they were before children, they are giving their daughter every opportunity to cultivate her own love of nature and activity and that gives them the opportunity to enjoy what they love as a family.
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Melissa - "I Don't Want To Do Things That Will Leave A Bad Taste In Her Mouth; I Want Her To Do What We Want To Do"
Birds In A Tree
Melissa and her husband have always had a love of the outdoors. As avid climbers, hikers, bikers, skiers, and campers, they are now raising a daughter to love these activities as much as they do. Even though Melissa admits they can't be as extreme as they were before children, they are giving their daughter every opportunity to cultivate her own love of nature and activity and that gives them the opportunity to enjoy what they love as a family.
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Fern - "My Level Of Denial Got Deeper And Outside Pressure To Do Something Got Stronger...It Created A Lot Of Emotional Turmoil"
Birds In A Tree
Fern is the mother two boys, one of whom has autism. Fern admits that because her son didn't fit into a typical autism mold she didn't believe that he could be autistic. However, as months passed and doctors, friends, and family asked more questions, Fern had a long conversation with herself and realized that she needed to face any diagnosis head on and without anymore denial. She said that was the moment that the fear went away and they began to seek treatment for her son.
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Veronica - "My Kids Are Going To Go Into This World, How Can I Arm Them Against Alcoholism And Addiction? Because It's Just So Prevalent"
Birds In A Tree
Veronica is the mother of two sons and has been sober from alcohol and drugs for over 17 years. As a licensed therapist and recovery coach, Veronica has spent most of her adult life working with others to maintain their sobriety. Veronica has written two popular books on the subject - Why You Drink And How To Stop: Journey To Freedom and Get Sober For Free: Your Practical Guide. You can find Veronica at www.veronicavalli.com, on Twitter at @veronicavalli, and on Facebook at Veronica Valli Soberful.
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Melissa - "She's The Perfect Person In My Eyes, So It's Hard To Do What She Did, But I Try To Do The Best That I Can In Her Memory"
Birds In A Tree
Melissa and her husband have one son, Miles, and have decided that they are a one-child family. What makes her choice to have one child interesting is that Melissa is one of six sisters - born eight and a half years apart. Melissa and her sisters have always had a unique bond - and they have stayed the best of friends. Tragically, their mother passed away when they were teenagers, and as they have become parents they have tried to keep her memory alive in their children.
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Katie - "You Just Go Where The Work Is...We Call It The Freeway Philharmonic"
Birds In A Tree
Katie and her husband are raising two children, and have spent their careers are professional classical working musicians. Now that they are raising children, she feels fortunate to surround the kids with classical music and talented musicians but knows that it also means long hours traveling to gigs and lots of hotels. We talk all about the pros and cons of being a professional musician and the difficulty of trying to teach your own children when you are a professional teacher to so many others.
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Mia - "I Was Nervous As A First Time Parent And I Work Here...But My Advice Is To Get Involved And Stay involved"
Birds In A Tree
Mia is an employee of her communities school system and the mother of a six-year-old daughter. Mia has spent her career working with schools and seeing what they can offer children - but when it was time to enroll her own daughter, she admits the process was daunting. Her daughter was academically ahead during preschool, and although she has a late birthday, tested up to kindergarten when she was only four years old.
info_outlineToday's episode features our very first couple - Pat and Cristina! The couple are parenting two beautiful daughters, live on the West Coast, and try to foster a love of the outdoors in both girls. Pat is from the east coast and Cristina is from the west coast - and after living in coastal California and New York City, the two decided to settle on the west coast to be close to her family. That means, however, that they have to make the time to see his family as much as possible. We talk all about the highs and lows of living "far away from home," figuring out parenting styles as children grow and parenting gets harder, and what to do when you hear a bear outside your tent at 4 AM.