Jason and Molly Mesnick‘s baby girl has reached a major milestone: she’s 2! 

The couple celebrated their daughter Riley Anne‘s second birthday with a Mickey and Minnie Mouse-themed bash on March 14 in Washington.

Joined by family and friends, the guest of honor — who dressed the part in a Minnie dress and matching ears! — enjoyed playing with her pals, making her own hair accessories and noshing on the red and black spread of sweet treats.

In her guest blog for PEOPLE, the proud mama is recapping all the festivities, plus her thoughts on Chris Soules and fiancée Whitney and that gorgeous new sparkler she’s sporting on her finger!

Kelly Clare/KCB photography

I know it sounds so cliché, but I cannot believe Riley is 2! People really do mean it when they say, “Enjoy it because they grow up so quickly.”

It feels like just yesterday she was learning how to smile and crawl. These days, we can’t even get her to stop talking, singing, and she’s running around nonstop!

Riley has been a constant joy in our lives. She is so full of life and nothing makes me smile more than seeing her happy.

Kelly Clare/KCB photography

To celebrate her birthday this year, I told myself I wouldn’t go nearly as big as I did last year. To say I went over the top for her first birthday is a vast understatement. It was a party that I catered more towards the adults, since, well … she was only one.

Granted she is only a year older, but I wanted this year’s party to be more about Riley.

I enlisted the help of my dear friend — and without a doubt the most talented person I know — Jenny Keller of JennyCookies.com. Jenny is so creative and she doesn’t miss a single detail — this party was no exception!

We started the planning process by locking down our theme. This was a lot harder to decide than you’d think. Riley is a fan of so many characters, but we ultimately landed on Minnie Mouse. From there the ideas started pouring out of Jenny.

Kelly Clare/KCB photography

Minnie Mouse shaped plates, Minnie & Mickey ears for every guest, Minnie’s “bow-toque” for a craft, a “hot diggity dog” bar for the food, vases filled with daisies! Again, Jenny didn’t miss a single detail.

Our invitations were one of my favorite details from the party. Each family received a gift box, filled with confetti and a balloon, from Harper Gray. They had to blow up the balloon to get the details for the party!

We also found the most amazing location for the party. As a parent, you always hope that you will be able to relax and enjoy a party without having to worry about what your kids are doing or what kind of mischief they’re getting into. ROMP is a modern play space FOR kids, so the parents were able to simply let the kids run free without a worry in the world! There were tons of toys for little ones and a play structure to entertain even the older kids.

Kelly Clare/KCB photography

To set the tone for the party, every guest was greeted at the door with their own pair of Mickey/Minnie socks. They also received a pair of Mickey/Minnie ears to wear. These made for some REALLY cute pictures at the photo booth! Everyone was in character from start to finish.

The kids enjoyed the freedom to run around, a craft station where they could make their own bows and necklaces, along with a coloring table for the smaller ones. The adults congregated in the kitchen area where they were able to enjoy the hotdog bar.

Each of Riley’s friends left with some major loot! The personalized goodie bags included Minnie hair ties, custom M&M’s, and gifted items from Stephen Joseph and Mabel’s Labels. I did include one of my favorite items for the parents … a free membership courtesy of Net Nanny.

Kelly Clare/KCB photography

Altogether, the party turned out better than I ever could have imagined and I couldn’t have done it without the help of Jenny Cookies. Riley had so much fun, she is STILL talking about her “Minnie party!”

With a Minnie-themed party comes a lot of Minnie-themed gifts! I think she added at least four new Minnies to her collection of stuffed animals. Her Papa also got her a Bitty Baby from American Girl, which she literally hasn’t put down in a week. She’s obsessed with it!

Speaking of obsessed: Jason and I are so excited for Chris Soules and Whitney. We met Chris a couple of months ago. At that time, we didn’t know how the show ended, but filming had wrapped, and he seemed so happy and in love! They seem like a perfect match and we wish them nothing but the best.

Kelly Clare/KCB photography

It’s been three months since Jason surprised me with a Neil Lane ring for our 5th wedding anniversary and I still look at it constantly as if I just got it. This was the greatest surprise!

It’s not about the idea of a big beautiful new diamond, rather the idea that Jason knew I would love to have a symbol that is synonymous with the show that brought us together.

Kelly Clare/KCB photography

— Molly Mesnick

Look who’s back: Our celeb blogger of three years, Elisabeth Röhm!

The American Hustle and SAG award-winning actress is set to star alongside Jennifer Lawrence in the new David O’Russell film, JOY, in theaters Christmas Day.

Röhm’s book, Baby Steps: Having the Child I Always Wanted (Just Not As I Expected), is available now.

She can be found on Facebook, Google + and on Twitter @ElisabethRohm.

In her latest blog, Röhm — mother to 7-year-old daughter Easton August — catches us up on her life during the past eight months.

Courtesy Elisabeth Rohm

It’s been too long, PEOPLE.com! I am so happy to be back with you and have missed every minute of our talking. It has been a long eight months away from all you ladies and our highs and lows, joys, adventures, and challenges.

Blogging these past three years has been such a surprising gift in my life as a mom and I have learned so much from this open dialogue we have shared. I am really looking forward to getting right back into it with each of you, no holds barred, where we can discuss the real issues and questions we face as parents.

So much has happened, more than I could ever report in one blog post, so, in the spirit of catching up, let’s put it in a nutshell!

Courtesy Elisabeth Rohm

Looking back to October, where we last left off, my family made one of the best decisions ever. We rescued our dog, Blue, from an L.A. shelter. Well, I should add we thought we rescued him, but he definitely rescued us.

There is no way we could ever imagine our lives without him, but, also, rescuing Blue has been a great learning opportunity for Easton: teaching her humanity as well as responsibility. We would not change it for the world! Not to mention, when I am sitting in my empty nest (which happens more and more), it is nice to have Blue as company. Easton has become quite the independent girl (as predicted).

The other big change has been going back to work full-time. Yes, there were many jobs over the years, including American Hustle, Heroes, Beauty and the Beast, Transit etc., but nothing that demanded as much time as a full-time gig on a TV show. This was definitely a harder adjustment, with a number of mommy fails in the process.

Working on Stalker with Dylan McDermott, Maggie Q and our brilliant creator Kevin Williamson was amazing. Though Easton’s schedule was hard enough to keep up with before I had full-time work, it certainly became a juggling act full of pain and triumph that I know all you working moms can relate too. From having to tell her goodnight over the phone sometimes to only being there for the last 30 minutes of trick or treating on Halloween, I know this is a struggle most families face — dads majorly included.

I would’ve loved to talk about it with you. We feel guilt for our absence, but we have to trust and know that we are making the right decisions for our families. Times like these make you grateful for those around you that help pick up the slack, what with family and the community of friends and other mommies we have come to count on.

Courtesy Elisabeth Rohm

November came with the start of the holiday season. What I love most about the holidays are the traditions we keep as a family. Every family has their traditions and they are well worth their simplicity and accountability.

Whether it’s saying one thing you’re grateful for at the Thanksgiving dinner table, seeing your child get closer to their aunts and uncles or eating in the same restaurant, sitting at the same table, every Christmas Eve, or doing a “polar bear plunge” on New Year’s Day, I think it is important to maintain your traditions. They are the unique little things that really define you as a family and as a person. I know for Easton, as boring as the same old might feel, they also ground her and show her who she can count on in this complicated life.

Speaking of tradition, for the first time, the question of Santa’s existence was raised. In the Röhm household, we would like to believe that Santa’s existence would never be doubted, however you cannot control what your child hears. Whether it’s at school with older friends who no longer believe or older siblings, the question will come again.

Courtesy Elisabeth Rohm

So, how do we protect our children’s innocence, PEOPLE.com? How do we keep the magic? The innocence. That’s been a big one on our plates this year as our precocious Easton has matured and gravitated to the older girls and athletic boys. AI YI YI!!!

Speaking of magic, the tooth fairy started visiting Easton this year! We were stressed because her grownup teeth started growing before the lil’ ones fell out, like the two rows of shark’s teeth. There was emotion and questions and questions and embarrassment. Many dental visits later, finally Easton has started losing teeth like crazy, it seems!! One wiggled itself out, and then they all seemed ready to jump ship.

I have to say, though, it was fun creating new memories for my little girl. She was relieved and the tooth fairy was ready for action! Thank God no more tears, only success in her gaping beautiful mouth! Being different can hurt like hell.

Courtesy Elisabeth Rohm

At the beginning of the New Year, I was headed to Boston to start filming Joy. Easton was able to come visit me in one of our favorite cities (we shot American Hustle there). My little California girl definitely loves her sunshine, but it was an amazing opportunity for her to experience a real winter for the first time. Snowy MAGIC! SNOWFLAKES! And it just so happened to be the snowiest winter in New England’s recorded history, right New Englanders?

It was a struggle for most, but not for Easton. Climbing up mounds of snow, ice skating, snow angels — she loved it all.

The best thing about Boston though, was finding the learning opportunities for Easton everywhere. So much history! We even did the Freedom Trail! How do we parents find authentic learning experiences for your little ones that excite them?

Courtesy Elisabeth Rohm

I was able to come back from Boston just in time for Easton’s birthday, which is shortly followed by my birthday. April is a big month for us. Easton turned 7 and I turned 42. We celebrated by driving down to Disneyland (Easton, myself, and three of her best friends). Talk about taking on a handful.

Are you guys like me, in the sense that you say that you are going to do something, and not realize, until you’re on the highway with four little girls throwing wet soggy banana peels in your shiny Prius, that you may have taken on a bit too much? Luckily, Easton’s dad joined us the next day to help manage the troops.

However, the sleepover was a one-man show and I, having survived, will never forget how lucky I was to have that night alone with the four sweet little girls before our FIRST EVER Disneyland experience. She loved it! I loved it!!!

Now, do we all remember that show called Are you Smarter Than a 5th grader? I have learned that I am as smart as my first grader, but wondering if I’ll survive my second grader this September. Embarrassing, right? No, reality!! I think I might need to hit the books myself this summer if I plan on keeping up with her.

Again, this is only first grade! And for us, homework after dinner was a first. Not daunted by much, but still I struggled and won’t lie about it. Can anyone provide me with the Cliff Notes for second grade?

Courtesy Elisabeth Rohm

Easton has also started all new activities this year. We have been focusing on horseback riding, tennis, and music. Watching your child develop any skill can be really exciting as a parent and suddenly you can see the future of possibility, but at the same time, you don’t want to overwhelm them with the pressure of success.

When they show serious promise at one thing in particular — with Easton it’s tennis — how far is too far? How much focus and discipline is too much and does it take away the joy of new experiences? We struggle with this to date.

How do you find that balance between fun and focus? She’s so darn good at it, says her coach?!!! Isn’t balance more important? Though I would say doing one thing all the time is what makes us great. What do you think?

Courtesy Elisabeth Rohm

There are so many more stories and questions I have for you, PEOPLE.com. We missed out on a lot with each other over these last eight months.

But let’s get back in action, get to the heart of the matter and face our biggest fears and triumphs as parents together. Writing this blog has made things very real and honest. I have missed that dialogue together. People don’t often say IT as it is as we do here!

I look forward to your feedback because this is truly an open blog, as you all know. Please leave in the comments your thoughts, your questions and your ideas for new discussions. I’ve learned from you it’s all about starting the conversation and seeing where things go from there.

I say welcome back to YOU!

Until next time,

— Elisabeth Röhm

More from Elisabeth’s PEOPLE.com blog series:

• Elisabeth Röhm’s Blog: Gone Baby Gone
• Elisabeth Röhm’s Blog: Moms Are People Too
• Elisabeth Röhm’s Blog: Mom on the Run

Sophie B. Hawkins will soon be a mama of two.

The singer/songwriter, who is best known for her hits “Damn, I Wish I Was Your Lover” and “As I Lay Me Down,” has also starred in Room 105 and on Community.

Already mom to 6-year-old son Dashiell, Hawkins, 50, is pregnant with her second child — a girl! — after being implanted with her own frozen embryo.

You can find her on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter @therealsophieb.

Courtesy Sophie B. Hawkins

When I found out I was pregnant, I was working with a producer on my new songs and I stepped out of the room to take the call.

I think the nurse said I was definitely very pregnant, but I can’t remember. I heard her voice, but the phrase, “Yes, I know” trailed like a banner across my mind.

I did know, and I knew she would be a girl.

When I was in Los Angeles two weeks prior to that day, leaving my son at a friend’s house to have the thawed embryo transferred into my womb, I knew she would come, if I could get out of her way. That was my struggle, not the question, but the surety.

When I made one call from outside the fertility doctor’s office to my sister in New York and she said, “Go for it,” I felt the hand of Fate pushing me into the elevator.

Courtesy Sophie B. Hawkins

I wanted to lean back and let the elevator doors bang on Fate, and yet I had created Fate’s opportunity by freezing my embryos 20 years ago and now thawing them. I couldn’t refreeze the embryos if I wanted to.

When my doctor strongly advised transferring the only two viable embryos of the remaining 11 they thawed, I still knew just one child was coming out. “I know you don’t want twins,” she said, “but at this stage, it’s too much of a gamble to just put one embryo in.”

I shrugged my shoulders. “Okay.”

I believe, because of my experience, that we are chosen for specific actions and responsibilities throughout our life, that our life is the work, and we fulfill as much of our “life’s work” as possible. We all have experienced shirking what we know is our deepest, hardest work, and we are familiar with the pain and self-loathing the avoidance causes.

On the other hand, when we finally get to our deepest, hardest work, the joy is immeasurable. When we finally sink into what we are meant to do, as many times in our life as we are called, we begin to really create. Because no one else could do the work we are meant to do, we can explore and expand boundaries, and discover our own rhythm.

Courtesy Sophie B. Hawkins

The science of freezing eggs without sperm now exists; the options for creating and bearing human life are plentiful, but if it’s not supposed to happen, it still won’t. If it is supposed to happen, it’s not any easier than it ever was, just different. Only the very important things demand our all, cause lots of struggle, and eventually make us happy.

I went through these rigorous processes becoming a musician and then artist, and now I’m going through them as a mother. It is not work for work’s sake, but for life’s sake. By constantly redefining boundaries, every moment exploring the edges of them, tipping over them like water, drawing new ones and having them challenged, we are creating new life.

In dreams and in death we are expanding, becoming part of something beyond ourselves. Contraction is also a way through, out, to something bigger. We need to contract in our own rhythm, giving birth to new life.

My pregnant belly keeps moving the boundaries of my body out. For six months I wasn’t comfortable with getting bigger, I didn’t feel safe taking up so much space, but now, seven weeks away from delivery, I am becoming part of a new space.

The changing boundaries of my body are attracting new relationships, creating two women I’m getting to know, my self and my child.

Courtesy Sophie B. Hawkins

For me, having a girl is so different than having a boy. When I was pregnant with my son, Dashiell, I felt physically comfortable with the testosterone coursing through my veins, as opposed to all this estrogen.

I’ve always had great working relationships with men, and growing up, I played with boys. My brother and my father were my easiest relationships in the family; I identified with them. I know how to be myself with males.

Now I’m learning to be myself with females, and perhaps finding a lost self, and letting her emerge.

On the kid’s musical I’ve been making with the first-graders at my son’s school, I’ve begun working with the girls more. I’m discovering how to help them open up to their primal creativity.

Drums.

I had forgotten, but I started my whole career by learning African rhythms, songs and stories on the djembe when I was 14 years old. I’ve forgotten a lot about being a girl.

Courtesy Sophie B. Hawkins

We are constantly being made to expand; by force, by gracious intervention, by loss, by need. I observe Dashiell and his friends as they make up worlds, change rules, become characters, and I wonder why each of us is expected to grow up and be a brand.

Dash and his girl friend scuttled off to a hidden part of a pool the other day and filled their bathing suits at the chest with rocks.

“Look! Now I have boobs!” he announced. “And now I have boobs!” she joined gleefully.

Many mothers in the pool shot disapproving glances, a sure sign the kids are all right.

My belly is like a drum, the girl inside is beating against it, my son is leaning his head on it to listen. I wonder what he’s hearing. I would never have had the opportunity to know if I hadn’t moved out of her way, and out of my own way, too.

Courtesy Sophie B. Hawkins

— Sophie B. Hawkins

More from Sophie’s PEOPLE.com blog series:

• Sophie B. Hawkins’ Blog: Making the Decision to Become a Mother – Again
• Sophie B. Hawkins’ Blog: Nurturing My Son’s Sustainable Heart

Please welcome our newest celebrity blogger, Naya Rivera!

The actress is most known for playing Santana Lopez on Glee and has also had roles on The Bernie Mac Show and in At the Devil’s Door.

Rivera, 28, and Justified actor Ryan Dorsey, 31, tied the knot in July 2014 during a destination wedding in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.

In February, the couple surprised fans with a special announcement: they’re expecting their first child!

In addition to her personal blog, you can also find the mom-to-be on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter @NayaRivera.

Courtesy Naya Rivera

With my first trimester behind me, I was looking forward to the second phase of my pregnancy; a time that some refer to as “the golden months,” where things like nausea, extreme fatigue, and bloating are safely in your rear view mirror.

And guess what? They were right!

Well … for the most part.

During my second trimester, I felt like the black cloud of extreme fatigue had lifted and I was 100 percent myself again. I was ready to hit the town in a cute outfit, grab cocktails with my girls, have wild sex with my husband … Oh, but wait, I’m still pregnant.

There were times during my second trimester when I felt so good that I forgot I was still carrying a child. This mind f— of trickery led to what I believe should be called “the second trimester slump.”

Yes, it was amazing to finally not have to deal with the misery and discomfort most women face in their first trimester. But how awful is it to feel like your old self again, but not be able to participate in any of those fun activities you once took for granted?

During this time I had many a vivid dream about martinis and the occasional cigarette that felt so real I found myself panicking when I awoke thinking that I must have sleep smoked or drank. I didn’t of course, but was deeply repressing my urge for my old life.

Courtesy Naya Rivera

Other things changed as well. Things like sex with my husband became a bit odd for me due to the fact that I was now limited to about two positions in order to not squash — as my husband puts it — “its roof” or have the baby (my belly) staring him in the face. I feel like men are constantly imagining their baby winking at them when they make love to their pregnant wives thus making sexy times more few and far between.

Speaking of your belly, this is the time when most women really pop. You’re now sporting a full on bump, that albeit cute, comes with its own set of challenges. Now that my midsection was large and in charge I started to require assistance to tie a shoe, get up, and adopted a stop drop and roll technique for getting out of bed.

With all of these massive, and sometimes difficult changes happening, there is one thing about the second trimester that makes it all worthwhile: Those first real kicks from your baby. I had felt flutters here and there throughout my first trimester, but by the end of my second, baby Dorsey was a full on kicking machine! I felt the baby all day, every day and it always made me smile. I will never forget the moment Ryan felt the baby kick for the first time. It truly was one of those precious memories I will have forever. It also serves as a great party trick when you can press a spot on your belly and watch baby kick back!

So enjoy all those little moments mommies-to-be, and look forward to the last few months of this incredible journey. I know I am!

Here are my favorite preggo products right now:

• An essential oil cocktail for stretch marks (Mix 5 drops of frankincense, myrrh, and french lavender with almond oil and rub all over belly, butt, back, and thighs. Use only 100 percent pure essential oil!)
• Baby Keepsake Book and Planner by Mindy Weiss
• BellyBuds

Courtesy Naya Rivera

— Naya Rivera

More from Naya’s PEOPLE.com blog series:

• Naya Rivera’s blog: My Fabulous First Trimester

Please welcome our newest celebrity blogger, Terri Seymour!

The British-born star is an actress and TV personality, and serves as a correspondent for Extra.

Seymour, 40, and her boyfriend, British model Clark Mallon, are new parents after welcoming their first child, daughter Coco, in March.

She can be found on Instagram and Twitter @TerriSeymour.

JSquared Photography

I had heard mixed reports from friends about breastfeeding: Some loved it, some hated it.

I’m happy to say I absolutely love it!

I’ll never forget the moment the nurse placed Coco on my chest for the first time. I had taken all the classes, so I had been told how important that bonding moment was, but nothing prepares you for the overwhelming love you experience when feeling your sweet baby against your skin.

It’s amazing how they know exactly what to do in their first moments on Earth almost more than we do! I was crying tears of joy, and baby Coco found her way to my breast and the bond began.

It’s all such a whirlwind. Here you are with this tiny baby, and you worry about whether you are doing everything right. I saw two lactation specialists in the hospital, and I even had a company called My Nursing Coach come to the house as I was worried I wasn’t doing it right, and that I wouldn’t be able to produce enough milk. Linda was so reassuring and supportive providing me with some great tips. Even to this day, I still text her for advice.

Courtesy Terri Seymour

Despite being sore, which of course is to be expected, I have been extremely lucky (knock on wood) in that Coco has been a natural and loves her milk. And of course, there are so many benefits: The baby’s immune system is boosted, and they are less likely to get sick, to name just a couple.

For us, the baby weight comes off quicker (without going to the gym … ugh, going to have to go back soon!); and I’m not going to lie, for the first time in my life I have boobs, and I love it.

Okay, enough boobs and back to baby!

Now nearly three months later, Coco has a great appetite and keeps me busy with her feeding schedule. Speaking of the little monkey, here she comes for another feed!

The biggest surprise for me with feeding is how often the little one gets hungry. Coco likes to feed every two hours (but by the time you’ve finished it’s actually every hour).

Then there’s the pumping. Does everyone hate pumping as much as I do?! But as a working mum, it’s a fact of life, and at least we know our little ones have what they need during those guilt-ridden hours away.

While breastfeeding has been such an amazing experience for me and Coco, the biggest challenge for me has been breastfeeding in public. Coco loves to go out and be in the fresh air. I shouldn’t be worried about what people think as this is natural, but you can’t help that when people are staring.

I recently went out for lunch and was fiddling about under a muslin trying to breastfeed and my boyfriend Clark said, “You look ridiculous!” I jokingly posted a picture on Instagram and people responded with comments like: “Be proud,” “Undercover nursing,” “Don’t hide it.” That made me think, “They’re right. There is absolutely nothing to hide, and I’m so lucky to be able to do this.”

So calling all breastfeeding mums, if you have any good tricks let me know here or @terriseymour!

Courtesy Terri Seymour

— Terri Seymour

More from Terri on PEOPLE.com:

• Terri Seymour Welcomes Daughter Coco
• Terri Seymour Gets Belly Kisses from Kelly Osbourne
• Terri Seymour Expecting First Child

Look who’s back: It’s celebrity blogger Eva Amurri Martino!

The actress, who has followed in her mother Susan Sarandon‘s footsteps, is best known for her roles in Dead Man Walking, Saved and Californication, and she has starred on The Mindy Project and New Girl.

Two years after tying the knot in Charleston, South Carolina, Amurri Martino and her husband, sports commentator Kyle Martino, announced they were expecting their first child — a baby girl.

The couple welcomed their now 11-month-old daughter Marlowe Mae in August 2014.

Amurri Martino has started her own blog, Happily Eva After, where she shares about her adventures in motherhood. You can also find her on Instagram and Twitter @4EvaMartino.

Nina Suh/Love And Lemonade Photography

About two months ago, I went through what I now know to be a sort of Motherhood Rite of Passage: My daughter had her first major fall.

It was absolutely terrifying, and it taught me so much about motherhood and about myself as a person.

(Spoiler alert: She’s absolutely fine.)

So, let me start out by saying that I was the one “on duty” when this happened. Marlowe was just getting into that wriggly, squirmy phase at the onset of crawling when it is nearly impossible to keep them on a changing table. She was fussy from a cold and fighting me; I was exhausted. I turned my head to grab a diaper and in a nanosecond she was on the floor.

And I swear to you I will never forget the sound of the thud when my daughter hit the floor. It is quite literally the thing that nightmares are made of.

Promise.

Immediately she was screaming and I was hysterical. I picked her up (which I now know you are NOT supposed to do) and was like a deer in headlights. I was nauseous and dizzy, and my adrenaline was thumping.

How could I have let this happen? What was wrong with me?

Let me also mention that my husband was on a work trip. I was alone in the house, and it was nighttime. I ran with her to my bedroom and called her pediatrician.

Repeatedly.

He finally picked up and, sobbing, I told him what had happened. I also asked him, in between sobs, “Just tell me. Am I the worst mom you ever knew?”

I swear.

(His answer: “Nope.”)

He talked me through feeling her bones and head for any breaks or bumps, and then asked me how she seemed. Did she seem tired? Did she seem like herself? I panicked. It was nighttime and she was exhausted — of course she seemed tired! This was day four of a terrible cold — of course she wasn’t herself! How could I tell if something was really wrong?!

He also told me that a fall from the height of my changing table was probably not enough to cause serious damage. We hung up, but I was still scared.

And then she started vomiting and things really got nuts.

Almost anyone knows that vomiting after a fall is a red flag. I called the doctor back and he told me to keep her in bed with me and wake her up every two hours, assessing her alertness when doing so. Okay … well, welcome to the worst and most awake night of my life.

Nina Suh/Love And Lemonade Photography

Even though the doctor didn’t seem very worried, I was absolutely sick with guilt. I felt enough shame and fear and self-loathing to sink myself into the biggest black hole in the universe. I truly believed in that hour that I was the worst mother who ever lived, that I had ruined my child forever, and that nobody would or should ever forgive me. After all, I had never heard of anything like this happening to any of the moms that I knew.

As my child slept (finally), I was awake sitting upright in bed with my eyes as big as saucers. After a few minutes, I decided to call my friend who has three amazing kids, teaches an expecting-parents class, and is generally a supermom. Crying, I told her what had happened. Her first words were, “Okay, first of all, she’s fine.”

But what about the vomiting? What about the fall? What about what a bad mom I was? I just couldn’t believe that things were going to be okay. She reminded me that if my pediatrician were really worried he would have had me go to the hospital, that I was watching her and would absolutely be able to tell if something were really wrong.

Then she told me that every mom she knew, herself included, had at one point had a baby roll off of something. She even listed a few mutual friends and told me to call them. And then she really came through with the words that saved the day: “I forgive you. But you need to forgive yourself.”

I tear up now even thinking about it because that’s what it was about, really. Even with all of the medical advice, my pediatrician’s reassurances, and the stories about other women I knew who had been through the same thing, I just wanted to know that somebody forgave me. I needed to feel like, even though this was a stupid mistake, it didn’t define me as a mother or as a person.

Of course I didn’t forgive myself right then. It took a little while and a lot more commiserating over coffee with girlfriends of mine who had gone through similar experiences, but it definitely got me thinking.

It made me think about the impossible standard we hold ourselves to as parents and as people. About our reluctance to ask for help or to share our shortcomings, even with our good friends! I know one thing for sure, and it’s that we all feel this way at one point (or more!) in our parenting journeys.

We aren’t perfect. But maybe if we learn from our shortcomings and dumb never-do-it-again mistakes, they can be worth something. And maybe, just maybe, if we share our shortcomings with our friends, we may be beacons of light for them when their guilt is pulling them down.

After all, “forgiveness” is not a four-letter word. It has more power than you realize, especially when you keep some for yourself.

Nina Suh/Love And Lemonade Photography

Xoxo,

— Eva Amurri Martino

More from Eva’s PEOPLE.com blog series:

• Eva Amurri Martino’s Blog: Having an Honest First Trimester

Please welcome our newest celebrity blogger, Naya Rivera!

The actress is most known for playing Santana Lopez on Glee and has also had a role on The Bernie Mac Show.

Rivera, 28, and Justified actor Ryan Dorsey, 32, tied the knot in July 2014 during a destination wedding in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.

In February, the couple surprised fans with a special announcement: they’re expecting their first child!

In addition to her personal blog, you can also find the mom-to-be on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter @NayaRivera.

Marilyn Buissink

After months of changes, anticipation, and excitement it’s finally here — the third trimester!

When I reached the final leg of my pregnancy, I was ecstatic. I could see the finish line and it felt so good. Sure, my back was on fire and I was tipping the scales at numbers I didn’t think I could ever reach, but who cares?! WE’RE ALMOST DONE!

Being in my third trimester means hard work is ahead and every day a new body part aches or seemingly falls apart. But it also comes with its share of really fun and exciting things too.

First on the list was a major baby prep, otherwise known as nesting. This is when your motherly instincts kick into high gear due to a cocktail of hormones causing you to become the master of almost any DIY project. I could be seen carrying almost everything we own out to the street to be thrown away. I needed less clutter and an entirely new decorating scheme, STAT.

I spent days washing everything in the baby’s room and closet, putting together chairs, strollers, and crying to my husband that we needed a new “vision” for the backyard. “I’m thinking one giant pink flamingo in the pool.” (See Instagram post below.) Ryan was great during all of this and even got in on the nesting action himself, taking on a huge re-staining/painting project for our entire backyard.

Courtesy Naya Rivera

Once I came down from my nesting high, I turned my attention to the baby shower. A baby shower is one of those events that a girl dreams about her whole life, or at least I did. The planning of this event was usually fantasized about with my best friend while also planning our future weddings.

“I want to have someone hand deliver the invitation as a message in a bottle … get it?!” We would make lists of who we would invite, and things we would veto. “How do we feel about the game where everyone eats shit (candy) out of a diaper?” Of course times change and I didn’t stick to any of my childhood plans, but instead enlisted the help of a fabulous party planner, Sharon Sacks, and together we planned the most perfect day to celebrate baby Dorsey.

Marilyn Buissink

Marilyn Buissink

Marilyn Buissink

Marilyn Buissink

Marilyn Buissink

Marilyn Buissink

Marilyn Buissink

On a side note, let’s be honest, baby gifts are the best! The absolute overload of cuteness that comes with baby clothes, gear, and toys is enough to make you forget that the heels you’re wearing at the shower are leaving 2-inch deep indents in your skin.

But seriously, I’m so grateful that not only is our baby already surrounded with so much love, but that we are fortunate and able to provide a great life for the little one.

So hats off to all of the strong, powerful women and mothers in the world, baby or no baby, you’re all amazing! And to all my third trimester mamas, we’re almost there!!!

Here are my favorite preggo products I’m loving right now:

• Earth Mama Angel Baby Organic Third Trimester Tea
• Power Mama Spanx
• Pregnancy loungewear by Bellabumbum

— Naya Rivera

More from Naya’s PEOPLE.com blog series:

• Naya Rivera’s Blog: My Fabulous First Trimester
• Naya Rivera’s Blog: Getting Through the Second Trimester Slump

Please give a warm welcome to our newest celebrity blogger, Jana Kramer!

The 31-year-old country singer/songwriter, whose latest single is “I Got the Boy,” is also known for her hits “Love” and “Why Ya Wanna.”

Before moving to Nashville, where she lives with her husband, former NFL tight end Michael Caussin, and their three dogs, Kramer was an actress, playing Alex on One Tree Hill and guest-starring on Friday Night Lights, Entourage and 90210.

The couple wed in Charlottesville, Virginia, in May and are now expecting their first child — a baby girl! — in February.

Kramer can be found on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter @kramergirl.

Courtesy Kramer Caussin Family

​Hi everyone and welcome to my very first pregnancy/baby blog!

I was super excited when PEOPLE.com asked me to write a blog about my journey because it’s one that my husband and I are so excited to be on. I have been on Google so much reading people’s stories, so I’m glad to have my outlet here.

It has been quite the journey so far, but one I’m so thankful for!

I am currently 15 weeks along and my husband and I were so anxious to find out the sex of our baby that we did the early blood work test at 10 weeks to find out that we are having a baby … GIRL!

I had my nurse call my best friend Kathryn to give her the news. We then invited our closest friends over and had them fill up water guns with paint of either pink or blue. Mike and I were so anxious to see what color it was going to be. Check out the gender reveal:

Courtesy Kramer Caussin Family

So a little about me before I start my rant … I’m from Michigan originally, and I have been singing since I was a little girl. I ended up going into the acting side of things first and got the opportunity to be on some amazing shows like Friday Night Lights, Entourage and One Tree Hill, just to name a few.

Music was always my passion though so I packed up and moved to Nashville and I’ve been living here for about five years now. I’m signed over at Warner Music and my second album is about to be out. It’s an exciting time!

But what I’ve always wanted to be was a mom — so this will be by far the best job.

My husband: His name is Michael Caussin. Born and raised in Virginia, and played in the NFL for five years. He has now retired and is currently in his transition phase and has a great new job with ETC Group, where he does sales work. I’ve never been more proud of my husband for his grace and strength departing and leaving a job he loved so much, but injuries plagued his future.

I do know one thing for sure though — I have never seen him happier knowing he has a baby girl on the way!

Our dogs: Sophie, Chance, and Biscuit are our gorgeous doggies that we cuddle and love so much! I think it’s safe to say their life is about to change soon since a baby is on the way, but they will always get spoiled!

Courtesy Kramer Caussin Family

Okay, so here goes.

My husband Michael and I just got married in May, but we have been so anxious to start a family for quite some time now. We started trying early on, and ultimately ran into some problems, which sadly I have been hearing about more and more from people these days.

We met with doctors and went through some not-so-fun stuff. Without getting into detail, it was a very stressful time for something that is supposed to be fun! My heart goes out to the women who struggle with conceiving.

Nonetheless, I truly do believe at the end of the day it was not on our time.

And … a month later, I was pregnant!

Mike and I were so happy!!! But then came the part that I wasn’t quite prepared for: the morning sickness. My mother always told me to never use the word hate, BUT I HATE the word morning sickness. It’s not just in the morning. And people who don’t understand or haven’t been pregnant only think it’s in the morning.

Courtesy Kramer Caussin Family

So that leads me to the Southern phrase, “Bless their hearts.” My “all day” sickness kicked in during week six. I really dislike throwing up — I mean, who actually likes to throw up? — but even when I ran to the bathroom to puke, I didn’t get the relief you usually get when you throw up.

My poor husband — he has the worst gag reflex. I have the best video of him cleaning my puke and he’s gagging while doing it. It was a small victory to see him feeling what I felt for just a moment in time.

So here I am, 15 weeks, my second trimester — still puking, still only able to eat bagels and cereal. The hardest part has been performing. I have a barf bag on stage and usually am able to get through the concert, but after every show, my sweet assistant Brittni holds my hair as I puke.

It has been so hard to not tell my fans what was really wrong. To them, I have had a stomach bug for more than three months now. I have seen pregnant women at my show and I’ve wanted to literally stop singing and just ask them when their sickness went away. The silver lining in all of this, though, is hearing that heartbeat. Knowing I have my baby inside of me.

In the end, it makes it all worth it knowing that in six months, I’ll be looking into her beautiful eyes. Until then, I just go back to praying that I’ll wake up one day soon and feel great. I want to be able to eat real food again!

Now my question is, should I post that video of my sweet handsome husband gagging? Hahahah. I laughed … oh boy, did I laugh.

Courtesy Kramer Caussin Family

Here’s to hoping that by the next blog, I’m able to scarf down lots of food!

I guess my question to all of you is, when did your morning sickness go away? And this worry in my stomach of, ‘Will everything be okay?’ — is that normal?

Random fact: I am CRAVING chocolate milk!!! Like LOTS of it. What are you craving?

— Jana Kramer

RELATED:

• Jana Kramer on Michael Caussin: ‘He Doesn’t Judge Me or My Past’
• Jana Kramer Marries Michael Caussin
• Jana Kramer Takes Us Behind the Scenes of Her Big Night (and Spills Wedding Details!)
• Jana Kramer Is Engaged to Michael Caussin

Our newest celebrity blogger Terri Seymour is a new mama!

The British-born star is an actress and TV personality and serves as a correspondent for Extra.

Seymour, 40, and her boyfriend, British model Clark Mallon, are new parents after welcoming their first child, daughter Coco, in March.

She can be found on Instagram and Twitter @TerriSeymour.

Courtesy Terri Seymour

Being from the U.K., I knew traveling was in my near future. But a family emergency had us flying back to London sooner than we expected.

Traveling for the first time with a new baby is always going to be a daunting experience for any parent, but flying back sooner than we had planned had us in a panic trying to get everything together in time.

Firstly, we had to get Coco her passport! Eventually, she will have dual citizenship, which is fantastic, but because of our emergency, we had to get her passport rushed through. As well as getting her passport photo (which is the cutest picture ever), we had to get to the federal building to hopefully get it expedited. It was so hot outside waiting in the long line, but Coco was an angel and the agents were amazing.

A few hours later, we left with new U.S. passport in hand, plus cutest photo ever inside. (Very important if traveling for an emergency and trying to get a passport: Make sure you go with full travel itinerary and a letter from a doctor if needed.)

With the mad rush over, it was time for packing. I am the worst packer: It takes me forever. I always overpack, so I made sure I allowed myself extra time, as obviously now I am packing for two … and I really am packing for two because Coco has more clothes than me now!

Of course, she has two suitcases of her own; a girl never knows what the weather is going to be like. From swimsuits to sweaters down to the cutest shoes you’ve ever seen, she was ready for London from head to toe!

Courtesy Terri Seymour

Some of my friends with babies gave me great advice on the must-haves for a first-time flight with a new baby:

• Travel-size bottle of baby wash/shampoo
• Washcloths
• Plastic bags for dirty clothes and storage
• Diaper cream
• Clothes and socks
• Swaddles, muslins, blankets (I learned the hard way — you can never have too many of these!)
• Breast pump (if needed), bottles or bags for milk
• Bottles and nipples, etc.
• Baby carrier
• Nail clippers/file
• Baby-safe pain reliever
• Inflatable baby bathtub
• Car seat
• Car seat base/collapsible stroller
• And a good book (You’ll be lucky!)

With all of our suitcases, we headed to the airport, our first time traveling as a family. We had an evening flight, so Coco was in her PJs ready for a nice long nap, and we arrived at the airport with minutes to spare. We rushed through check-in and up to security. We were scrambling to get all our extra baby paraphernalia in trays to get through to make our flight on time.

I had pumped some breast milk just in case for the flight. Of course, our bags were pulled aside to be checked, and while the TSA agent was going through the diaper bag, an alarm went off reading “explosive alert!” He ripped his gloves off and looked terrified. I didn’t realize my breast milk was that strong.

It can take extra time in security with a baby, so be sure you allow more time than usual, unlike us!

My pediatrician told me once on board to breastfeed Coco during takeoff and landing, so I woke her up to feed her. This is important because the pressure can be very painful for their sensitive little ears. During feeding, Coco pooped everywhere, so I joined a new kind of mile high club! (Note for next time: Take more blankets for baba!)

Clean, changed and cozy, Coco luckily slept for most of the flight, waking up an hour and a half before landing. We arrived in London and had a wonderful time. A trip to Wales, a wedding and time with my mum in Buckinghamshire meant it was a jam-packed holiday, but of course I still got to sneak in some baby shopping for Coco!

Courtesy Terri Seymour

We had to do it all again on the way back, but it was all worth it for our family and friends to meet Coco.

Needless to say, Clark and I are exhausted now and I think we could do with another holiday to get over our trip. But this time I think we will go somewhere a bit closer, maybe somewhere we can drive to!

— Terri Seymour

More from Terri’s PEOPLE.com blog series:

• Terri Seymour’s Blog: The Cup Runneth Over 

Look who’s back: Our celeb blogger of three years, Elisabeth Röhm!

The American Hustle and SAG award-winning actress is set to star alongside Jennifer Lawrence in the new David O’Russell film, JOY, in theaters Christmas Day.

Röhm’s book, Baby Steps: Having the Child I Always Wanted (Just Not As I Expected), is available now.

She can be found on Facebook, Google + and on Twitter @ElisabethRohm.

In her latest blog, Röhm — mother to 7-year-old Easton August — travels to Washington, D.C., and hopes the trip will leave a lasting impression on her daughter.

Courtesy Elisabeth Rohm

We will never forget … always in our memory.

Summer is all about the small and big adventures we share with our little ones, getting lost a little bit, wandering together and making time for each other. Making memories.

Some of what we most look forward to are the trips we can take, perhaps traditions shared every summer or the lasting impression of new lands, new borders, new tastes and smells as we watch our lil one’s world become a bigger, brighter, broader place.

I remember summer as being such a significant time of the year in my family. Things are less busy, and Mom and Dad always had more time for me. From the long drives in the car to Vermont, to visiting my Aunt Laurie and cousin Jaime in Memphis, to an epic trip I took with my father to Japan where I discovered I was a towering blonde amazon.

Not to mention, my 16-year-old coming of age trip to Greece, and we’ll leave it at that, if you know what I mean!

As I looked ahead at the easy breezy months of Easton’s vacation, I was so excited to add Washington, D.C., to our list for many reasons. One was the extra special and meaningful reason why we were invited. I was asked by the American Heart Association to speak on their behalf of my mother’s memory and the importance of CPR training and how it might have affected our family on a deeply personal level.

Courtesy Elisabeth Rohm

I know I’ve talked to you ladies about that here, PEOPLE.com. It would be meaningful to me, and I hoped it would be inspiring for Easton one day when she too looked back on the memory of going to D.C. to hear her Mom give a speech about her Grandmother.

Losing my mother to heart disease at far too early an age was especially painful because it was long before Easton could really create a deep lasting recollection of her. Also, I wanted to share with Easton how we can turn our hurt and loss into helping others. I know we’ve discussed the question of how do we turn our kids into future philanthropists and people of service, and this seemed to be a good opportunity. Hopefully, she too might care one day to do the same. Not to mention, she’d get to hear all about her Grandma — or Grammy — instead of just knowing her as, “Your mom.”

My mother was a wonderful woman who was devoted to helping people. She was passionate about speaking up and being an advocate of others, which is what she would have expected of me and why I’m dedicated to helping the American Heart Association.

Courtesy Elisabeth Rohm

While in D.C., sharing my story at the American Heart Association and the Ministry of Science and Technology of the People’s Republic of China‘s celebratory memorandum of understanding signing event, was truly an honor. The agreement will help advance CPR training and cardiovascular science sharing in order to help save more lives. You can learn more about the agreement here.

(To learn more about what the American Heart Association is doing domestically with their Hands Only CPR campaign please visit www.heart.org/HandsOnlyCPR.)

The momentous moment we had with the American Heart Association could have only been matched with the magic that was being in Washington, D.C. We had spent the winter in Boston where we filmed JOY. During our time there we got to walk the steps of the freedom trail, and Easton seemed to really respond to learning about our country’s history.

Being in D.C. brought this to a whole new level. I even got to brush up on my history, as it had been some time since I’d turned my mind to such facts about this free nation in which we are so blessed to live. The White House, The Capitol, and all of the monuments, you really do feel like you are in the presence of some of the most historical and influential moments of our time.

Not to mention, the small moments of sharing the unique and sentimental feeling of an East Coast summer with my sun-kissed California beach girl, who had never caught a firefly in the palms of her hands, gotten drenched in an unexpected thunderstorm, or felt the thick as butter humid air envelope her body in a way that I had always known growing up.

Overall, it was a wonderful, enlightening, educational, and extremely meaningful trip to our nation’s capital. Being able to share moments like this with my little girl make it all worth it.

Courtesy Elisabeth Rohm

It still saddens me that Easton will never truly have the kind of relationship every kid deserves to have with their Grammy, but moments like the ones we had in D.C., remind me that she is still very much alive and present through me. Without the memory of her strength and humanitarianism, I am not sure I would be able to continue to harness my grief and sadness in such a productive way with the American Heart Association. I find that through these moments, I am not only able to feel closer to my mother, but Easton will also be able to see her through me.

We are truly blessed to have been able to go to such a wonderful place, working with such an amazing organization with such an important message that will always keep me close to my mother’s memory.

Until next time, PEOPLE.com …

— Elisabeth Röhm

More from Elisabeth’s PEOPLE.com blog series:

• Elisabeth Röhm’s Blog: Getting Back to Business
• Elisabeth Röhm’s Blog: Gone Baby Gone
• Elisabeth Röhm’s Blog: Moms Are People Too

Celebrity blogger Marla Sokoloff is a new mama again!

Since audiences first got to know her at age 12 as Gia on Full House, Sokoloff has had many memorable TV roles — Jody on Party of Five, Lucy on The Practice, Claire on Desperate Housewives — as well as turns on the big screen in Whatever It Takes, Dude, Where’s My Car? and Sugar & Spice.

Sokoloff, 34, most recently played Dani on ABC Family’s The Fosters and also starred in a two-episode arc on Grey’s Anatomy.

She wed her husband, music composer Alec Puro, in November 2009 and the couple — plus pup Coco Puro — make their home in Los Angeles.

On March 13, they welcomed their second child, Olive Mae, a sibling for 3-year-old daughter Elliotte Anne.

You can find Sokoloff on Twitter and Instagram.

Courtesy Marla Sokoloff

When my first daughter Elliotte was 10 weeks old, I wrote a blog called Finding My Mama Mojo. It was all about how I was finally finding my groove as a new mom. Just like all moms before me had forewarned, things got easier every day — I was able to deal with sudden baby dramas and split maternity jeans with a simple laugh and I was handling every baby blip with ease.

I had very few tears and almost zero breakdowns. I was fortunate enough to never suffer the baby blues or any postpartum depression — it was almost as if I was giddy in my new role.

At the time, I attributed this all to my terrifying pregnancy with Elliotte. I was so happy that our girl was alive and well after her health issue in and out of the womb that the overwhelming relief gave me a contagious high that made Elliotte’s infancy nothing short of blissful. (It definitely didn’t hurt that this kid was instantly an overachiever who slept through the night by 8 weeks old. Don’t hate me until you continue reading.)

My gratitude for her existence far outweighed any postpartum hormones that were going to battle with me. I was out and about with my new baby fairly quickly with makeup on and hair washed, pushing my shiny new stroller, feeling like a million bucks.

Courtesy Marla Sokoloff

Here I am, five months in to my life with my second child Olive, and I’m so far from having mojo, the fact that I even wrote a blog 10 weeks postpartum blows my mind! This time around feels different for so many reasons, the main obvious one is the double workload.

But aside from that, finding my mojo, per se, feels like a daunting task that I know (and hope) many of you moms can relate to. Feeling like myself again sounds very far away from where I stand now and I’m longing for the days of that coveted mojo.

Everything seems harder — from losing the baby weight to keeping the hair on my head. (But for real talk … what’s the deal with the postpartum hair loss?)

Other daily events that almost always fall through the cracks are workouts (yet I always seem to get the workout clothes ON — the follow through isn’t always there) grocery shopping, dinner making, hair washing, makeup wearing, blog writing, you get the gist.

I still feel that all-encompassing love toward Olive and even the tiniest smile from her makes my heart melt, but this time around it’s a little harder to see the light at the end of the tunnel as far as life returning to our new normal.

Olive is still working on sleeping through the night so the thought of a good night’s sleep sounds like a fantasyland. Due to her being a preemie, her developmental milestones are a bit delayed so we are just giving her extra time to get there.

I never really realized how sleep affects everything and anything you do, and not a single movement in your day is the same without it. During these five months of complete and utter sleep deprivation, I’ve noticed that I not only look different, but I’m so depleted in every facet of my being it’s really hard to be a good mom to both of my girls. Deep breaths and practicing patience are constantly a work in progress and I’m always in a state of survival mode until the sun goes down.

Courtesy Marla Sokoloff

The hardest part of transitioning from one to two for me has been staying ahead of the overwhelming feeling that there are just not enough hours in the day to get everything done. Some days I feel like everything is being compromised. I try my hardest to give my time to my girls equally, but that is truly hard when Olive is still so little.

This cycle then catapults me into feeling the ever-present mom guilt and inevitably ends with me in a puddle of tears in front of my husband, telling him I’m ruining their lives. (Oh the things we say to our significant other while we are overtired and vulnerable!)

Luckily, Elliotte is at the age where helping me with her sister is one of her favorite things to do. That transition has been so wonderful and the bond between these two sisters is an incredible thing to watch unfold. Elliotte was the first to get Olive to truly belly laugh and just the site of her sister forms the largest grin on her precious face. These are the moments that make those tears and breakdowns that I somehow skipped the first round, completely worth it.

I realized around four months in that I was so busy trying to prioritize my family, I wasn’t putting any focus on the one person in my life who was truly being neglected … me. Each day, I had a list of things that needed to get done for my kids and my husband, if I was lucky I would fit in a weekly lunch with a girlfriend, but putting any focus on myself or my career seemed selfish.

I would actually feel guilty if I took 30 minutes to go get a manicure while my daughter was in preschool because she too loves getting her nails painted. Every move I made just felt like I was doing something wrong.

It took me awhile to see that this newfound mindset of putting me on the backburner wasn’t going to sustain and that it’s completely okay to add myself and my career to the priority list. The second I started to see myself slipping away, I forced myself to reel small pieces of myself back in.

Courtesy Marla Sokoloff

I know in my heart that finding time for myself and my career are the components to making me a better mom. Giving myself the permission to take time for me again sounds simple, but it’s turning out to be the hardest part in all of this.

I know once we get out of the zombie trenches and my littlest one is a wee bit older, I can start to chip away at the old me again. My tired eyes will be gone and long healthy locks will be in tact. I know there will be a morning that I will get to take an extra-long shower and my jeans will go on with ease and I will just simply be back.

I know that day will come when I will once again find my mama mojo, but for now I’m just going to call myself a mom in progress.

I would love to hear from all of you — maybe your second was a breeze and your first was the tough one? Whatever your journey was/is feel free to share in the comment section below or send me a tweet @marlasok.

Xo,

— Marla Sokoloff

More from Marla’s PEOPLE.com blog series:

• Marla Sokoloff’s Blog: Sharing Olive’s (Early!) Birth Story
• Marla Sokoloff’s Blog: Welcome to the Threenage Years
• Marla Sokoloff’s Blog: Learning to Love Two

Jason and Molly Mesnick‘s baby girl has reached a major milestone: she’s 2! 

The couple celebrated their daughter Riley Anne‘s second birthday with a Mickey and Minnie Mouse-themed bash on March 14 in Washington.

Joined by family and friends, the guest of honor — who dressed the part in a Minnie dress and matching ears! — enjoyed playing with her pals, making her own hair accessories and noshing on the red and black spread of sweet treats.

In her guest blog for PEOPLE, the proud mama is recapping all the festivities, plus her thoughts on Chris Soules and fiancée Whitney and that gorgeous new sparkler she’s sporting on her finger!

Kelly Clare/KCB photography

I know it sounds so cliché, but I cannot believe Riley is 2! People really do mean it when they say, “Enjoy it because they grow up so quickly.”

It feels like just yesterday she was learning how to smile and crawl. These days, we can’t even get her to stop talking, singing, and she’s running around nonstop!

Riley has been a constant joy in our lives. She is so full of life and nothing makes me smile more than seeing her happy.

Kelly Clare/KCB photography

To celebrate her birthday this year, I told myself I wouldn’t go nearly as big as I did last year. To say I went over the top for her first birthday is a vast understatement. It was a party that I catered more towards the adults, since, well … she was only one.

Granted she is only a year older, but I wanted this year’s party to be more about Riley.

I enlisted the help of my dear friend — and without a doubt the most talented person I know — Jenny Keller of JennyCookies.com. Jenny is so creative and she doesn’t miss a single detail — this party was no exception!

We started the planning process by locking down our theme. This was a lot harder to decide than you’d think. Riley is a fan of so many characters, but we ultimately landed on Minnie Mouse. From there the ideas started pouring out of Jenny.

Kelly Clare/KCB photography

Minnie Mouse shaped plates, Minnie & Mickey ears for every guest, Minnie’s “bow-toque” for a craft, a “hot diggity dog” bar for the food, vases filled with daisies! Again, Jenny didn’t miss a single detail.

Our invitations were one of my favorite details from the party. Each family received a gift box, filled with confetti and a balloon, from Harper Gray. They had to blow up the balloon to get the details for the party!

We also found the most amazing location for the party. As a parent, you always hope that you will be able to relax and enjoy a party without having to worry about what your kids are doing or what kind of mischief they’re getting into. ROMP is a modern play space FOR kids, so the parents were able to simply let the kids run free without a worry in the world! There were tons of toys for little ones and a play structure to entertain even the older kids.

Kelly Clare/KCB photography

To set the tone for the party, every guest was greeted at the door with their own pair of Mickey/Minnie socks. They also received a pair of Mickey/Minnie ears to wear. These made for some REALLY cute pictures at the photo booth! Everyone was in character from start to finish.

The kids enjoyed the freedom to run around, a craft station where they could make their own bows and necklaces, along with a coloring table for the smaller ones. The adults congregated in the kitchen area where they were able to enjoy the hotdog bar.

Each of Riley’s friends left with some major loot! The personalized goodie bags included Minnie hair ties, custom M&M’s, and gifted items from Stephen Joseph and Mabel’s Labels. I did include one of my favorite items for the parents … a free membership courtesy of Net Nanny.

Kelly Clare/KCB photography

Altogether, the party turned out better than I ever could have imagined and I couldn’t have done it without the help of Jenny Cookies. Riley had so much fun, she is STILL talking about her “Minnie party!”

With a Minnie-themed party comes a lot of Minnie-themed gifts! I think she added at least four new Minnies to her collection of stuffed animals. Her Papa also got her a Bitty Baby from American Girl, which she literally hasn’t put down in a week. She’s obsessed with it!

Speaking of obsessed: Jason and I are so excited for Chris Soules and Whitney. We met Chris a couple of months ago. At that time, we didn’t know how the show ended, but filming had wrapped, and he seemed so happy and in love! They seem like a perfect match and we wish them nothing but the best.

Kelly Clare/KCB photography

It’s been three months since Jason surprised me with a Neil Lane ring for our 5th wedding anniversary and I still look at it constantly as if I just got it. This was the greatest surprise!

It’s not about the idea of a big beautiful new diamond, rather the idea that Jason knew I would love to have a symbol that is synonymous with the show that brought us together.

Kelly Clare/KCB photography

— Molly Mesnick

Please welcome back DeAnna Pappas Stagliano!

The real estate agent and Bachelor alum, 33, was one of two finalists on Brad Womack‘s first season before headlining The Bachelorette, where she chose Jesse Csincsak.

Although the engagement didn’t work out, she met Stephen Stagliano through his twin brother Michael, who was a contestant on Jillian Harris‘ season.

After getting engaged in 2010, Pappas and Stagliano tied the knot in October 2011 in Georgia.

In 2013, the couple announced that they were expecting their first child. Born Feb. 6, 2014, daughter Addison Marie is now 19 months old. In August, the couple announced that they are expecting their second child, a son, due Feb. 26, 2016.

Pappas Stagliano can be found @DeAnnaPappas on Twitter and @DeAnnaStag on Instagram.

Courtesy DeAnna Pappas Stagliano

After a long hiatus from my PEOPLE blog, it feels really good to be back!

Bachelor in Paradise is almost over and it is making me so sad. I thoroughly enjoy this show sometimes even more than watching The Bachelor or The Bachelorette! I think it’s because there are so many more relationships playing out on this show instead of just one person with 25 women or men.

I also feel like on The Bachelor and The Bachelorette, we get the same story lines. There is always the single mother, the person who’s lost someone close to them, the wild guy who gets too drunk on night one … the list goes on and on. At least on Paradise, we know these people already, we already love them or hate them, and we have more than one love story line.

I also love the idea of fresh faces coming in each week just to rock the boat a little. I’m rooting for the veterans, Tenley and Kirk. Good solid people. But if Ashley I. calls Tenley an old lady one more time, I might lose it.

Courtesy DeAnna Pappas Stagliano

For those of you who have not heard, Stephen and I are expecting our second child— a boy — in late February. We are super excited!

I paired up with Gabriel Cosmetics for Organic September to help promote clean living and was very happy to share a video on their Instagram account announcing that we were having a boy. I have used their kids line called Clean Kids Naturally on Addison since she was born. I am looking forward to sharing some skin-loving products with you all this month on social media.

My pregnancy this time around has been very different from my first. For starters, I was super sick for weeks! Everything turned my stomach. I could not even look at a glass of water without gagging. Eating was a task all in itself. I ate whatever sounded good in that moment and for the most part it was McDonald’s, In and Out and Taco Bell. Disgusting!

Outside of pregnancy, I am a healthy eater. I do not deprive myself, but I also have not eaten McDonald’s in about 20 years. If I am going to consume those kind of calories, I want to waste them on wine or my mother-in-law‘s chocolate chip cookies!

Courtesy DeAnna Pappas Stagliano

My hormones have been raging too. Some days I feel out of control. The acne has returned … back, chest, and face. It’s like high school all over again without the peer pressure.

I also feel huge. I started showing sooner with this pregnancy, which I know is normal. It’s just been tough on my self-esteem. I felt so beautiful the entire pregnancy with Addison. I am not feeling so pretty these days. I have already gained 12 lbs. The number on the scale can be scary at times.

I already have stretch marks which makes me sad. I did not get a single stretch mark with Addison. Help a mama out!!

On a more serious note, I spent Friday morning in the ER because I was feeling extremely dizzy and faint. The doctors came to the conclusion that I had vertigo. Luckily, our baby boy is safe and well with a strong heartbeat!

Courtesy DeAnna Pappas Stagliano

I hope you all understand an expectant mother being real about pregnancy. Please do not confuse this with not being grateful for the blessing growing inside of me. The Lord has blessed my family well beyond what we deserve. I am thrilled to be having another baby. My body is just not my own these days and that is okay … sometimes the changes are just overwhelming.

We cannot even begin with boy names. The decision this time has been so hard, whereas with Addison we had her name picked out before we were even pregnant! Stephen and I cannot seem to agree on a single one! The ones I love, he cannot get on board with and vice versa. Suggestions are welcome! I’ll be reading your comments and checking in during the remaining six months as I get bigger and closer to my due date.

Please share some of your favorite names for Stephen and me to consider! What did you love or hate about pregnancy? Has anyone had the same experience as me?

— DeAnna Pappas Stagliano

More from DeAnna’s PEOPLE.com blog series:

• DeAnna Pappas Stagliano’s Blog: Bachelor and Baby Birthday Parties
• DeAnna Pappas Stagliano’s Blog: Babies, Blowouts and Breastfeeding — on a Plane!
• DeAnna Pappas Stagliano’s Blog: Finding Out I Was Finally Pregnant

The first photos following the birth of Johnathon Schaech and his wife Julie Solomon‘s son showed a smiling, happy family of three.

But now, on the eve of their son’s second birthday, Solomon is reflecting back on the first few months following Camden Quinn‘s birth in September 2013.

According to Solomon — whose husband appeared in HISTORY’s miniseries Texas Rising in May and will soon star on ABC’s new show, Quantico, premiering Sept. 27 — shortly after they left the hospital with their newborn, she began to experience symptoms of baby blues.

“There were times that I would be crying in the shower, as the shower seemed my only place of peace and refuge,” she recalls.

In a guest blog, Solomon, 31, shares her postpartum journey, how she managed to bounce back and her thoughts on having a second child in the future.

Solomon, a publicist, can be found on Twitter, Instagram and her website.

Samantha Klose/Klose Up Photography

Many women, including myself, face a spectrum of emotions after having a child. When I look back at my blissful pregnancy, and what I see of those pregnant around me, it goes something like this: For over nine months we are nurtured through prenatal care. Midwives quell our anxieties, doulas are at our every need, doctors try to adhere to our every sickness and questions, friends gift us with massages and showers. Family members are there with advice. Strangers open the doors for us … And then our baby is born. Easy, right? Ha!

Fast forward to month three (or sometimes longer) with a child in your arms: You might feel alienated (I did), scared (I did), and possibly on the verge of either a major crisis — postpartum depression — where you feel like you’ve lost yourself (me again!)

Lack of sleep, hormonal imbalance, breastfeeding struggles, living away from family, and too few ladies’ nights leave us stuck in survival mode.

With my son’s 2nd birthday on Saturday, I have started to look back and remember those difficult months immediately following his birth in the fall of 2013. Maybe you can relate with a stint of postpartum that I experienced after having my son Camden.

I was beyond fortunate enough to not have a full-blown case of postpartum depression (and my heart goes out to those women that have to endure the severity and extreme cases of PPD), but I definitely hit the spectrum after my child was born.

My “baby blues” (as some like to call it) started from day two post-hospital and lasted roughly three months (when he was around 12 weeks old and started sleeping through the night. I am no expert, but I am sure they were related).

There were times that I would be crying in the shower, as the shower seemed my only place of peace and refuge. I would have no idea why I was crying, nor did I even know if I was sad … I was just a flat out hormonal basket case, but more than that, I was sick.

I would find myself staring off into space, nothing eased my anxiety. I would be happy one minute, and super moody and angry the next. I lashed out at my family, trusted no one. I wanted no one around, but yet was super co-dependent at the same time. I loved every ounce of my new child, but yet thought I had ruined my life because I would be the worst mom.

I remember thinking to myself as I was breastfeeding early on, “What the F were you thinking!?! Having a baby was the dumbest idea you have ever had …” As sad as it is to admit out loud, at the time it seemed what I thought was my truth.

Samantha Klose/Klose Up Photography

Looking back at it now, it makes me so grateful because I was fortunate to have a husband, family and other moms around me who took PPD seriously and supported me in what I needed for a healthier, balanced state of being.

Fast forward two years later, we have gotten into the routine of our new life as a family. I am even crazy enough to think about having #2 someday (lol) and I am a much better wife, daughter, sister, friend and overall human being on this earth because my sweet Camden is who God chose me to raise.

Even though I see my experience as a gift, I firsthand realize postpartum depression is no laughing matter. I have friends who are AMAZING women — strong, independent, nurturing, successful — find themselves in the never-ending cycle of baby blues, or even more severe, full-blown postpartum depression or postpartum psychosis. Postpartum is serious business, and must be addressed as so.

When I was going through my experience, I came across a woman named Rebecca Egbert, founder of The Mother Love. I started reading her blog and signed up for her Daily Doses of Love emails.

Egbert shares her suggestions for helping postpartum women achieve a holistic balance. Her tips, mixed in with a good sleeping and breastfeeding schedule (don’t even get me started on breastfeeding a.k.a. the hardest thing a woman can ever go through! For me, it was harder than childbirth and labor … and I had a natural childbirth! So give us breastfeeding women a break, okay!), finally helped me overcome my baby blues and get on track to a balanced and healthy new lifestyle as a mom.

HER TIPS:

Pay Attention to Lab Results
Remember how many times you peed into a cup or had blood drawn during prenatal care? Turns out, paying attention to those labs postpartum is also important. For example, your iron, vitamin D, thyroid, or glucose levels can reveal why you might not be feeling well. Four to eight months postpartum is also when baby blues can turn into a more severe cases of depression and the identification of a thyroid function issue can be determined. If you’re feeling off, simply contact your care provider to have your labs drawn.

Physical Therapy for Pelvic Floor and Repairing Ab Muscles
For more enjoyable sex and preventing prolapse and incontinence, you can work with a women’s health physical therapist within the first four months of postpartum. The proper sequence of healing is: Restore diaphragmatic breathing, strengthen the abdominal muscles, and restore pelvic health.

Samantha Klose/Klose Up Photography

Clean Eating
Eating triggers the parasympathetic nervous system, the system in our bodies where all healing happens. Eating clean is an easy action for our bodies, and helps regulate stress, anxiety, and sleeplessness. Eliminating sugar is key. It helps build good-gut flora, which is necessary for digestion, but it also assists in weight loss.

Also, keep that wine in check. Drinking more than one glass of wine (or alcohol) a day triggers the sympathetic nervous system. This is the system responsible for triggering fight or flight, makes you feel anxious, and where our stress response happens. So, keep your drinks to one or two a week.

Meditation
Meditation is the one standardized medicine Egbert “prescribes.” It can provide focus, productivity, resilience, creativity, and less brain fog. If you are not already familiar with a meditation practice, you can buy the yearly subscription to Headspace as a start.

You Are Still You
As we care for these little babes, a lot of us feel guilty about having passions and ambitions. Babies can change your life, and in many ways, turn it completely upside down, but they don’t change what makes you you. Don’t be afraid to go after the things you want. By doing so, you’ll empower strong little humans that believe in wonder, imagination, and possibility. Check in with yourself often and play your intuition in your favor.

Find Your Peeps
Many times, motherhood can feel alienating. Find the women in your life that make you feel strong and invest in those relationships. By creating a band of strong mothers (and non-mothers) who are willing to foster vulnerability, you can create a system that breeds bright futures. If Mom is healthy and baby is healthy, our communities and futures are healthy.

Samantha Klose/Klose Up Photography

The most important thing I took away from the postpartum experience was that it is NORMAL, OKAY and HEALTHY to take time to (as I like to say) “mourn the loss of the ‘old’ you” in a way. There are so many parts of what you knew to be your life and the makeup of who you were that may be gone in order to make room for the new beginning and new life.

Just like with any loss, you have to give yourself time to mourn, reflect, learn and grow. But with this loss comes so many amazing gains that are far more than I could have ever imagined.

What was your postpartum experience like? If you feel open to share, I would love to hear from you!

— Julie Solomon

Jana Kramer is pregnant!

The 31-year-old country singer/songwriter, whose latest single is “I Got the Boy,” is also known for her hits “Love” and “Why Ya Wanna.” Her new album, thirty one, will be released on Oct. 9 and features 11 tracks, six of which Kramer co-wrote. Check out “Said No One Ever,” streaming now here.

Before moving to Nashville, where she lives with her husband, former NFL tight end Michael Caussin, and their three dogs, Kramer was an actress, playing Alex on One Tree Hill and guest-starring on Friday Night Lights, Entourage and 90210.

The couple wed in Charlottesville, Virginia, in May and are now expecting their first child — a baby girl! — in February.

Kramer can be found on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter @kramergirl.

It’s official: I’m wearing pregnancy leggings – Courtesy Jana Kramer

I can’t believe it has already been five weeks!!! A lot has changed, but unfortunately I’m still getting sick. I have tried it all, but still can’t seem to shake the nausea and vomiting.

Sometimes I will be having a great day … for example, the other day I started to work out again to help make myself feel better. I thought maybe it would help — and it really does, BUT soon after I was sick again. I know other women face this, it’s a small price to pay for the joy I have and how thankful I am to be with child.

For those of you who never got sick, I secretly curse you.

But enough complaining, I’m just going to channel my inner Olivia Pope and I’m going to be a gladiator. (I love that show!! I binge watched the entire four seasons of Scandal early in pregnancy and can’t wait for it to come back on.)

Now second semester is all about screenings. I’m not sure if other women have felt the same, but before my anatomy screening, I was getting so worried because I would feel flutters and then it would go away. Between worry and the dreaded Google I was scared s—less. Always trying to be positive, but really worried about all I had read.

Entertaining me while we wait for my ob/gyn – Courtesy Jana Kramer

However, we had our anatomy screening the other day and it went great! My husband and I were both very excited to see how much she has grown. She is measuring out great and everything looks to be on track.

When I saw her feet I started to cry. Her sweet little foot print! She was squirming around and kept putting her hand to her face. These moments remind us not to focus on the negative or the worst case scenario and always think all will be okay. Have faith.

Our baby girl loves putting her hands up – Courtesy Jana Kramer

As far as my body, well, I have for sure popped. NOTHING fits, so I have become so creative trying to find ways to still wear my jeans. I tried the whole rubber band thing, but now I’m at the point where I can’t zip my pants and people say, “Um, your zipper is down,” to which I respond, “Oh, I know … if I could zip it, I would.”

So, it really is time for leggings and pregnancy pants! HOT! Hahaha. I honestly just can’t wait ’till fall and colder weather. I have bought a ton of ponchos and long sweaters and really just want it to get cold. I have completely moved all short tops and everything that doesn’t fit out of my closet, but of course the heat wave in Nashville is still around.

Performing while pregnant isn’t always easy – Courtesy Jana Kramer

It really is crazy though, everything that is happening to my body. And even though I can’t fit into anything, I feel pretty now. There is something so beautiful about a pregnant woman. I thought I wouldn’t feel pretty, but I feel the prettiest in this moment even if I cannot fit into my skinny jeans.

I have a sense of pride and responsibility as well. Clearly, my perspectives on life and beauty are changing for the better.

My eating has been pretty good. I have been craving mangos and Pop-Tarts! What are my pregnant ladies craving today??

All right well, I’m on a flight now and of course I have to pee so thanks for reading my blog. I’ll be back soon!!

xo,

— Jana Kramer

More from Jana’s PEOPLE.com blog series:

• Jana Kramer’s Blog: We’re Having a Baby Girl!
• Michael Caussin and Jana Kramer Expecting First Child

Celebrity blogger Marla Sokoloff is a new mama again!

Since audiences first got to know her at age 12 as Gia on Full House, Sokoloff has had many memorable TV roles — Jody on Party of Five, Lucy on The Practice, Claire on Desperate Housewives — as well as turns on the big screen in Whatever It Takes, Dude, Where’s My Car? and Sugar & Spice.

Sokoloff, 34, most recently played Dani on ABC Family’s The Fosters and also starred in a two-episode arc on Grey’s Anatomy.

She wed her husband, music composer Alec Puro, in November 2009 and the couple — plus pup Coco Puro — make their home in Los Angeles.

On March 13, they welcomed their second child, Olive Mae, a sibling for 3-year-old daughter Elliotte Anne.

You can find Sokoloff on Twitter and Instagram.

Courtesy Marla Sokoloff

Author’s Note: When I started writing for PEOPLE.com four years ago, I promised myself that I would be completely honest in all of my blogs. I didn’t see the point in sugarcoating motherhood because as parents, we all have our highs and lows whether we choose to admit it or not. I knew that my honesty would come with some judgment (remember my “No … I Really Mean It” blog? Yikes).

But I just tell my story as it is for me and my family. My hope has always been that at least a handful of moms out there say, “Thank goodness someone else out there is going though the same thing.”

I wrote this particular blog when my baby Olive was just over 4 months old and I will admit, I was having a pretty rocky moment in my parenting journey. I often found myself wondering if I was ever going to feel like myself again.

My baby girl is now 6 months old and I feel like I’m finally coming up for air. SIX MONTHS later. I’ve decided to post the blog as is because I know there is a mama out there who may have a 2 month old or even a 2 week old who is feeling the exact same way and may need to hear that it does get easier. And trust me when I say, you are not alone. It gets better. You will return. It’s still hard, but the days (and nights!) become more manageable.

Please read and relate if applicable, but let’s refrain from judgment and mom shaming as we are all on this ride together …

Courtesy Marla Sokoloff

When my first daughter Elliotte was 10 weeks old, I wrote a blog called Finding My Mama Mojo. It was all about how I was finally finding my groove as a new mom. Just like all moms before me had forewarned, things got easier every day — I was able to deal with sudden baby dramas and split maternity jeans with a simple laugh and I was handling every baby blip with ease.

I had very few tears and almost zero breakdowns. I was fortunate enough to never suffer the baby blues or any postpartum depression — it was almost as if I was giddy in my new role.

At the time, I attributed this all to my terrifying pregnancy with Elliotte. I was so happy that our girl was alive and well after her health issue in and out of the womb, that the overwhelming relief gave me a contagious high that made Elliotte’s infancy nothing short of blissful. (It definitely didn’t hurt that this kid was instantly an overachiever who slept through the night by 8 weeks old. Don’t hate me until you continue reading.)

My gratitude for her existence far outweighed any postpartum hormones that were going to battle with me. I was out and about with my new baby fairly quickly with makeup on and hair washed, pushing my shiny new stroller, feeling like a million bucks.

Courtesy Marla Sokoloff

Here I am, four and a half months in to my life with my second child Olive, and I’m so far from having mojo, the fact that I even wrote a blog 10 weeks postpartum blows my mind! This time around feels different for so many reasons, the main obvious one is the double workload.

But aside from that, finding my mojo, per se, feels like a daunting task that I know (and hope) many of you moms can relate to. Feeling like myself again sounds very far away from where I stand now and I’m longing for the days of that coveted mojo.

Everything seems harder — from losing the baby weight to keeping the hair on my head. (But for real talk … what’s the deal with the postpartum hair loss?)

Other daily events that almost always fall through the cracks are workouts (yet I always seem to get the workout clothes ON — the follow through isn’t always there) grocery shopping, dinner making, hair washing, makeup wearing, blog writing, you get the gist.

I still feel that all-encompassing love toward Olive and even the tiniest smile from her makes my heart melt, but this time around it’s a little harder to see the light at the end of the tunnel as far as life returning to our new normal.

Courtesy Marla Sokoloff

Olive is still working on sleeping through the night so the thought of a good night’s sleep sounds like a fantasyland. Due to her being a preemie, her developmental milestones are a bit delayed so we are just giving her extra time to get there.

I never really realized how sleep affects everything and anything you do, and not a single movement in your day is the same without it. During these months of complete and utter sleep deprivation, I’ve noticed that I not only look different, but I’m so depleted in every facet of my being, I’m finding it really hard to be a good mom to both of my girls. Deep breaths and practicing patience are constantly a work in progress and I’m always in a state of survival mode until the sun goes down.

The hardest part of transitioning from one to two for me has been staying ahead of the overwhelming feeling that there are just not enough hours in the day to get everything done. Some days I feel like everything is being compromised. I try my hardest to give my time to my girls equally, but that is truly hard when Olive is still so little.

This cycle then catapults me into feeling the ever-present mom guilt and inevitably ends with me in a puddle of tears in front of my husband, telling him I’m ruining their lives. (Oh, the things we say to our significant other while we are overtired and vulnerable!)

Courtesy Marla Sokoloff

Luckily, Elliotte is at the age where helping me with her sister is one of her favorite things to do. That transition has been so wonderful and the bond between these two sisters is an incredible thing to watch unfold. Elliotte was the first to get Olive to truly belly laugh and just the sight of her sister forms the largest grin on her precious face. These are the moments that make those tears and breakdowns that I somehow skipped the first round, completely worth it.

I realized around three months in that I was so busy trying to prioritize my family, I wasn’t putting any focus on the one person in my life who was truly being neglected … me. Each day, I had a list of things that needed to get done for my kids and my husband, but putting any focus on myself seemed selfish.

I would actually feel guilty if I took 30 minutes to go get a manicure while my daughter was in preschool because she too loves getting her nails painted. Every move I made just felt like I was doing something wrong. Don’t even get me started on how bad I felt after attending a Taylor Swift concert!

It took me awhile to see that this newfound mindset of putting me on the backburner wasn’t going to sustain and that it’s completely okay to add myself to the priority list. The second I started to see myself slipping away, I forced myself to reel small pieces of myself back in.

Courtesy Marla Sokoloff

I know in my heart that finding time for myself and my career are the components to making me a better mom. Giving myself the permission to take time for me again sounds simple, but it’s turning out to be the hardest part in all of this.

I know once we get out of the zombie trenches and my littlest one is a wee bit older, I can start to chip away at the old me again. My tired eyes will be gone and long healthy locks will be intact. I know there will be a morning that I will get to take an extra-long shower and my jeans will go on with ease and I will just simply be back.

I know that day will come when I will once again find my mama mojo, but for now I’m just going to call myself a mom in progress.

I would love to hear from all of you — maybe your second was a breeze and your first was the tough one? Whatever your journey was/is feel free to share in the comment section below or send me a tweet @marlasok.

Xo,

— Marla Sokoloff

More from Marla’s PEOPLE.com blog series:

• Marla Sokoloff’s Blog: Sharing Olive’s (Early!) Birth Story
• Marla Sokoloff’s Blog: Welcome to the Threenage Years
• Marla Sokoloff’s Blog: Learning to Love Two

Please give a warm welcome back to our celebrity blogger, Elisa Donovan!

Best known for her roles as Amber in Clueless and Morgan on Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Donovan stars in the ABC Family franchise The Dog Who Saved…

She is the narrator of the audiobook for Sheryl Sandberg’s best-seller, Lean In.

Donovan, 44, is also a writer and yogi. A recovered anorexic, she assists in counseling and supporting young women struggling with eating disorders.

She lives in San Francisco with her husband, Charlie Bigelow, and their 3½-year-old daughter Scarlett Avery.

She can be found on Facebook, as well as Twitter and Instagram @RedDonovan.

Courtesy Elisa Donovan

Greetings from the front seat of my car, parked on the side of the road beneath a shady Australian Willow tree in a neighborhood I don’t recognize.

I can faintly feel the nice breeze outside as I crack the window just enough to get some air, but not enough to disrupt the carefully orchestrated combination of sensorial elements which have finally put the mini-slavedriver in my back seat to sleep.

Please excuse any typos. It’s tough to type when your elbow is jammed between the dashboard and the window, while balancing a laptop on one boob and a steering wheel.

Have I lost my mind? Obviously.

But these were my options:

1. Navigating the cosmic and legendary meltdown of a screaming 3-year-old, who has suddenly decided she does NOT want to nap anymore, yet so desperately needs the sleep that she rolls around with her tongue hanging out, mumbling and whining like that girl who shows up to a party having had four too many cocktails already and then starts in on the sangria.

OR:

2. Driving around in my car every afternoon for 20 minutes or so until my kid’s screaming abruptly shifts to a snoring snoozefest, then pulling over on the side of the road under a shady tree and reading a book for two hours.

I mean, the choice is a no-brainer.

Hey, I read two books over the course of two weeks, a great luxury I have not afforded myself in months. So really, this is working out great for me.

Courtesy Elisa Donovan

Let me be clear: My kid is running my life. Yes, I have succumbed to the insidious brutalization and beat down by a preschooler. Being one of those moms who always says things like, “Oh, we will never let Scarlett run our lives. After all, she’s 3 and we are like, really OLD!” This has not been the easiest of humilities to swallow.

But the key is: We never let her think that she’s running things. As far as she can tell, we are In Charge.

But there are limits to my compromises. Yes, I will sacrifice my posture and a flat surface to do some writing, in order to give Scarlett the sleep she unequivocally needs for the time being. But when it comes to behavior and manners, I lay down the law.

It was recently brought to my attention by a British friend of mine that we Americans are deifying our children. That, culturally, we have decided our kids walk on water and can do no wrong and that they deserve a medal just for waking up in the morning. And as a result of that belief, we don’t really discipline them or teach them limitations.

Jeez, why are the Brits and the Europeans always right about everything? (Sorry Paris, we regret our fanny packs and running shorts we traveled the world in in the ’80s, okay? Although, according to Project Runway this season, fanny packs could be having a major renaissance … so, hold your judgment.)

I think my friend has an excellent point though, and I’ve seen it myself, and it drives me crazy. If Scarlett were to scream and yell and throw things in a restaurant, or run around smacking other kids on the playground, she’s not “expressing” herself or showing how “smart” and “independent” she is. She’s just behaving badly.

Scarlett expresses her smarts and independence with her wardrobe choices, her building skills, her dance moves, and her rather innovative interpretations of the books we read. Her throwing a fit is not, in my opinion, her expressing herself. Though she might be releasing some frustration and dissatisfaction, that doesn’t mean I’m supposed to endorse it.

It’s just bad behavior.

And if I don’t tell her so, how will she ever know it’s wrong? Believe me, I understand the feeling when your kid starts screaming and flailing like you’re hanging him from a sharp object by his toenails, when all you did was ask him to put on his shoes. Or when your 3 year old has a tantrum over a cupcake and suddenly flings a xylophone at your cranium insisting, “NO! You don’t DO THAT!” like you just lit her hair on fire or something.

Courtesy Elisa Donovan

When these things happen, of course I’d rather just give her whatever crazed incensing thing she’s asking for just to make it stop, indulge her just to end the torture for both of us. I don’t want to have to deal with disciplining her and listening to her even higher pitched screech.

But the problem is, then I’m breeding a self-centered egomaniac. And in our society that has made perfecting the art of taking selfies an almost biblical pursuit, I’m pretty sure we already have enough of those running around. So if I don’t show Scarlett that this is not how we behave, how is she ever going to understand how to be a functioning and secure human?

So I suck it up, and try to teach her that big girls don’t throw things at people’s heads when they don’t get what they want, and that we can’t eat cupcakes all day long even though it sounds like an awesome idea.

This balance of allowing Scarlett to express herself, and be strong and independent, while showing her boundaries and right from wrong, is an exhausting endeavor. And as a self-professed non-conformist, I bristle at the word “rules” … icky … I am not a believer in following much of anything, but isn’t knowing how to respect and connect with people one of the key qualities in leadership? Call me old school, but I sure freakin’ hope so.

But like everything on this whole adventure, it’s a dance. And sometimes I really don’t know the steps.

Last week Scarlett and I were circling around trying to find a parking spot on a busy street in San Francisco. She began with a simple enough question of, “Mommy, why are we driving around and around?” To which I responded, “We are looking for parking.” Which set off a particularly lengthy and labyrinthine back and forth of:

“WHY?”
“Because there aren’t any spots.”
“WHY?”
“Because there are too many cars.”
“WHY?”
“Because there are a lot of people driving.”
“WHY?”
“Because there are a lot of people that live here.”
“WHY?” … which went on and on and on and on, and then culminated in my exasperated and final reply:
“BECAUSE THE WORLD IS OVER POPULATED AND PEOPLE NEED TO STOP PROCREATING!!!”

This was the first and only time that Scarlett has ever been satisfied with one of my answers, and she nodded her head and said, “OHHHHHHH.”

And that was that.

Courtesy Elisa Donovan

Clearly as far as parenting goes, I am #KillingIt. #MotherOfTheYear.

— Elisa Donovan

More from Elisa’s PEOPLE.com blog series:

• Elisa Donovan’s Blog: A Little Something for the Moms-to-Be
• Elisa Donovan’s Blog: The Boob Lesson
• Elisa Donovan’s Blog: Time Is a Four Letter Word

Jana Kramer is pregnant!

The 32-year-old country singer/songwriter, whose latest single “I Got the Boy” has been certified gold, is also known for her hits “Love” and “Why Ya Wanna.” Her new album, thirty one, features 11 tracks, six of which Kramer co-wrote. Stream the record here.

Before moving to Nashville, where she lives with her husband, former NFL tight end Michael Caussin, and their three dogs, Kramer was an actress, playing Alex on One Tree Hill and guest-starring on Friday Night Lights, Entourage and 90210.

The couple wed in Charlottesville, Virginia, in May and are now expecting their first child — a baby girl! — in February.

Kramer can be found on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter @kramergirl.

CMA Awards – Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagic

Hello, third trimester!!!!!

Wow, wow, wow. I can’t believe I’m already in the last trimester. Even though I’ve been so sick through my pregnancy, it really has gone by fast!

The last few months have been so busy. The whole month of October, I was on the road promoting my new album thirty one and my single “I Got the Boy” while still playing a ton of shows. Because I’m one of the lucky ladies still nauseous at this stage of my pregnancy, it hasn’t been the easiest BUT I’ve managed to get through it thanks to the help of trusty Pop-Tarts that seem to help ease my stomach. That and Tootsie Pops.

Our babymoon in Laguna – Courtesy Jana Kramer

At the end of October, my husband and I took a much-needed babymoon to beautiful Laguna Beach, California. We realized that it was our very first vacation together! With how busy our schedules are, we’ve never had the time. But holy moly, those four days were everything.

We had the most amazing, relaxing, PERFECT time. It was really nice to reconnect together after such a busy and demanding summer. To just be together and laugh and do nothing while soaking in the sun was awesome.

BMI Awards – Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagic

Right after the babymoon, it was back to Nashville and CMA week! It was a bit of a challenge to dress my bump, but I had a custom dress made by Gahlia Lahav and I felt beautiful on the red carpet. My husband looked incredibly handsome and just to have him by my side supporting me made the night perfect.

I ended up staying out a bit too late doing karaoke at Carrie Underwood‘s after party, and paid for it at 3 a.m. with my pregnant nausea, but it was so worth it to see the husband and friends having fun. And I’ll admit, even though I was stone cold sober, I had the greatest time cutting loose!

After the week of all things CMA, it was time to go back out on the road.

Shooting for Fit Pregnancy – Courtesy Jana Kramer

What started the third trimester off with a bang was the insanely gorgeous shower that was thrown for me by my best friend Kathryn Woodard and Chrissy Kling of Good Carma Studio. The shower was sponsored by USANA and it was simply breathtaking. To see all my family and friends and the love in our house made Michael and I so happy. We got some ridiculously cute outfits for our little girl and of course all the necessities that we are gonna need.

After the shower, Michael and I sat in the room reflecting on the day and it really hit us. There were a few tears shed, for sure. Another exciting moment was a few weeks ago when we finished the nursery. The room is fit for a princess!

Little bat girl in the bat cave for Halloween – Courtesy Jana Kramer

Food-wise nothing really has changed. I’m still eating things to help calm the stomach and at night all I really want is a bowl of cereal. We went to Michigan for Thanksgiving this year, so I ate my Grandpa’s stuffing! It is what I think about all year!!!!

I’m still working out with my trainer Erin Oprea, and I love taking walks around the neighborhood. I will say though, it is getting harder to walk because she is laying right on my bladder and Lord is it frustrating to have to pee every second and barely have anything come out. #pregnancyproblems

Takin’ a break from walking on a nice day – Courtesy Jana Kramer

My fears of delivery are getting a bit more real. I am the kind of person who loves to plan and know exactly what day and when I’m doing things so the fact I have no clue when and how this little girl wants to make her debut makes me a bit anxious. If she is anything like me though, she will make quite the entrance. Haha.

Here’s to the next 10 weeks!!!!! So close!!

— Jana Kramer

More from Jana’s PEOPLE.com blog series:

• Jana Kramer’s Blog: Focusing on the Positive (and My Pants)
• Jana Kramer’s Blog: We’re Having a Baby Girl!

Celebrity blogger Naya Rivera is a new mom!

The actress is best known for playing Santana Lopez on Glee.

Rivera, 28, and Justified actor Ryan Dorsey, 32, tied the knot in July 2014 during a destination wedding in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.

The couple welcomed their first child — a son named Josey Hollis — in September.

You can also find the first-time mom on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter @NayaRivera.

10 weeks – Courtesy Naya Rivera; Inset Getty

On September 17, at 8:31 a.m., my life changed forever. I went from being pregnant with my first child (for what felt like an eternity) to being a mom!

Seeing Josey for the first time literally took my breath away. Really, I gasped! It was such a surreal moment to be face to face with my son.

Looking back on the entire journey feels like a dream that I can’t believe I accomplished. And reality set in quickly when they placed him in my arms for the first time. This was my son, to have and to love, cuddle and oh wait … to feed.

Mom in black. #SOtired – Courtesy Naya Rivera

Throughout my pregnancy, I got a lot of advice on everything from birthing to newborn care to nutrition, but no one ever really broke it down to me when it came to breastfeeding. Bottom line, it’s hard! Breastfeeding is like finding out that all of a sudden you can get bacon from your elbow.

Really, it’s a trip.

One minute there’s nothing going on with your perfectly perky boobs and the next a nurse is rolling yellow stuff out of your nipple and putting it in your baby’s mouth. Things like achieving a proper latch, combating engorgement, and practicing different holds soon became my sole priorities. Our bedroom became a haven for all things breast; breast pads, shields, pumps and creams.

At times I started to feel like I was only a tit to Josey and there was many a time I would walk in the door to a crying baby and immediately have to strip and feed.

6 weeks – Courtesy Naya Rivera

It wasn’t all bad though, the bond between a mother and baby when you’re breastfeeding is incredible and something no one else shares with your baby. There’s also something amazing about the fact that you are sustaining a human life solely with your body. The benefits of breast milk for babies far outweigh the negative side effects for Mom.

All that being said, I was incredibly proud of myself. The three of us are toughing it out together in the middle of the night and early in the morning. But just like breastfeeding, the bond we all share supersedes the lack of sleep we now get. I think that’s how it will be for the rest of our lives as parents — taking the good with the bad, the easy with the challenging.

11 weeks with Daddy – Courtesy Ryan Dorsey

And at the end of the day, when Josey smiles at us, it’s all worth it.

I’ve done a lot in my life and accomplished many things, but nothing I ever do will be as good as Josey. With him, I’ve done my best work.

Baby products I’m loving right now:

• Munchkin latch bottles
• Pampers Swaddlers
• WubbaNub pacifiers
• Little Giraffe blankets

— Naya Rivera

More from Naya’s PEOPLE.com blog series:

• Naya Rivera’s Blog: The Third Trimester – I Can See the Finish Line
• Naya Rivera’s Blog: Getting Through the Second Trimester Slump
• Naya Rivera’s Blog: My Fabulous First Trimester

Look who’s back: It’s celebrity blogger Eva Amurri Martino!

The actress, who has followed in her mother Susan Sarandon‘s footsteps, is best known for her roles in Saved and on Californication, and she has guest-starred on The Mindy Project and New Girl.

Two years after tying the knot in Charleston, South Carolina, Amurri Martino and her husband, sports commentator and 36 Hours host Kyle Martino, announced they were expecting their first child — a baby girl.

The couple welcomed their now 16-month-old daughter Marlowe Mae in August 2014.

Amurri Martino has started a lifestyle blog, Happily Eva After, where she shares her adventures in motherhood, among other topics. You can also find her on Instagram and Twitter @thehappilyeva.

Nina Suh – Love & Lemonade

Let’s talk about you and me. Let’s talk about all the good things and the bad things that may be … Okay, those are obviously Salt-N-Pepa lyrics, but I have found postpartum sex to be one of the least talked about (and trickiest!) parts about returning to life as you knew it after a baby.

If you feel uncomfortable talking about sex, or if it’s just an unsavory topic to you, please stop reading! It’s totally fine. Because I guarantee you, I am about to really get into it …

Sex after baby is a topic that eight or nine months ago I would have never even thought I’d be ready to discuss. It’s symptomatic of how insecure and strange I was feeling about my own sexuality and our sex life at the time, and I was so worried about what I thought it meant about me and our marriage.

Let me back up a little bit. I feel like the angst about sex starts well before baby arrives, during pregnancy. I will tell you that I was NOT one of those pregnant ladies who just felt “so feminine and sensual.” I actually ended up having a really enjoyable pregnancy with Marlowe, and loved my bump and the feminine feeling it gave me — but this didn’t translate at all to my desire for sex.

While I had always enjoyed a healthy sex life with my husband, my pregnancy threw it a little off of its tracks. We still had sex, but it was less frequent — and as my due date approached, practically nonexistent. There was just something about having sex while feeling Marlowe moving around in my belly that felt bizarre to me and really turned me off. I still felt really affectionate towards Kyle and wanted him near me all the time, but intercourse seemed like a no-go.

I mention this because I knew a couple of people during my pregnancy who were all about sex when they were pregnant and it ended up making me feel like a total asexual weirdo. It really worried me that I was somehow not like other pregnant women — even though I know now that this isn’t the case at all.

I did have one friend who told me that when she was pregnant with her kids she dutifully had sex with her husband regularly anyway, wishing she could have been on her iPhone catching up on emails while it was happening (ha!) and that made me feel a little better.

And then, just as you are feeling like a beached whale, your child comes out and destroys your vagina. Like the majority of women, when I birthed Marlowe I tore. Badly. Let’s suffice to say I needed a lot of stitches and the healing process was worse than the birth itself.

She’s lucky she’s so cute.

Of course I began to heal, like everyone does, but by the time the famous “six week mark” came around I was totally NOT ready to hop back in the saddle.

My OB/GYN has this joke that he makes with all his postpartum moms at their six-week checkup. He’ll breeze in the room and announce “Let’s check you out — your husband already called me six times this morning to see if you are allowed to have sex yet!” It’s hilarious (and by the way, I’m sure has really happened more than once), and it also really speaks to that expectation that the six-week postpartum mark designates the time that women are “supposed to” start having sex again.

But I will tell you that even having this appointment gave me anxiety. I felt so exhausted, emotionally raw, and my body felt like it was still majorly healing from my birth — the last thing I could think of was sex! This made me so insecure and overwhelmed that I wasn’t living up to the normal expectations of a postpartum wife — and that made me feel even less sexy.

I also felt so drained from having my baby on my breasts every couple of hours. After going through nine months of my body belonging to another person, and now having that tiny person on me all the time, I was feeling like I couldn’t handle any more physical contact. Even talking about having sex again reduced me to tears.

So we waited. And waited. And waited.

Nina Suh – Love & Lemonade

Finally it was nine weeks postpartum and I thought my husband was going to spontaneously combust. I will give Kyle a lot of credit — he never put pressure on me in any way — but a wife is a wife and I knew the signs. It was killing him.

So we had sex.

And it was TERRIBLE.

It’s important to me not to mince words here — I think women being honest with each other is really important. I had heard tales of “the first time after baby” and it sounded painful, but what I experienced was even worse than what I had imagined! In my opinion, having sex for the first time after birthing a baby feels like having sex for the first time ever. It’s awkward, emotional, and extremely painful.

I was shocked and immediately started asking around to all of my friends who had had children. “Oh yeah,” they all told me. “It’s the worst. It took us a year to get back to normal.” Now I was panicked. A YEAR?!!!!! Like a year as in 12 months, 365 days? They must be exaggerating. They told me that practice makes perfect and that the best way to feel better was to get back to having sex consistently. Great.

I talked to my gynecologist as well. He told me that when you breastfeed, your body produces hormones that can turn down your sexual drive as well as make it more difficult for your body to tell itself that it is being turned on. Or in other words — your body isn’t making any of its own lubrication. He said that it majorly contributes to the pain of sex post-childbirth, and he recommended buying lube and using “a lot of it.”

Great.

He gave me a number for the amount of times we would probably have to have intercourse before it started to feel better. I forget the number now, but I think it was something like six or eight. He told me to call him if it wasn’t improving.

More from Eva’s PEOPLE.com blog series:

• Eva Amurri Martino’s Blog: The Story of Marlowe’s First Major Fall
• Eva Amurri Martino’s Blog: Having an Honest First Trimester

All of this information was just so crazy to me. It seemed like an even more full-time job to re-activate my sex life than it even had been to get pregnant! And whereas with the struggle to conceive I was completely dedicated and on top of it, this struggle to get back in the saddle with our sex life just felt so … Meh.

I’m going to be really honest and say it: I didn’t care. I love my husband beyond words, and find him extremely handsome, funny, smart and adorable, but I had a newborn. I was an exhausted emotional wreck just trying to find time to take a shower more than twice a week. The idea of working hard at having sex felt the same to me as riding a bike to China for a hamburger. Not interested.

And that was a major mistake. Nothing terrible happened, but I can look back now and realize that the number one thing that would have helped us as a couple transition faster and more easily into our life post-baby was to focus much more on us. On our relationship and on what mattered to both of us. I think if I had taken all of the advice about postpartum sex as I received it, things would have improved much more quickly. As it was, we did begin to have sex more consistently, and it did become better eventually, but surprise surprise — guess when we were finally “back?”

A year! A year postpartum, just as I had been told.

Of course the sex was better before that, but it was when Marlowe was around 12 or 13 months that I noticed we were completely back to our old (great) ways.

A year now doesn’t seem so long. When you become a parent, that time kind of flies by, and I wish that I hadn’t put so much pressure on myself and on us to be back to our normal sex life right away. I wish I hadn’t worried so much about what was expected and had focused more on how both of us were feeling at the time.

So my main message is this: There is no normal. It’s okay to have mixed feelings about your sensuality and sexuality after welcoming a child, and it’s okay to allow yourself time to process those changes. It’s also okay if you literally can’t wait to have sex as soon as those six weeks are up! Get it, girl!

HERE ARE MY TIPS FOR THE MORE HESITANT NEW MAMAS:

Lubrication is your friend. This one is all-natural and you can order it online (aka a 17-year-old boy isn’t going to ring you up at the register). Go crazy with the lube. Trust me.

Wine. Share a glass of wine with your partner. It’s one glass, enough to loosen you up, and not enough to make you hungover when the baby wakes up in approximately 43 minutes.

Take a bath. In my opinion, there are few things more relaxing than a bubble bath and a nice glass of wine.

After the first few times (ouch), find a week where you guys can plan on having sex every day. Yes, every day. The key to postpartum sex is getting to the point where the sex isn’t built up at all. You’re not worrying about when it’s going to happen, or how it’s going to happen, and it just becomes something that you do together again. Not a special event. This trick really helped us get back on track.

Fake it ’til you make it. I’m not talking about faking orgasms — that is entirely up to you. What I’m talking about is putting on your sexy persona as if it’s a beautiful silk robe. Just try it on, see what it feels like — how you feel with it on. Pretend to enjoy your sensuality and your sensuality will follow suit.

Give yourself a break. You created a human. You brought a new and perfect life into the world. You are not how you have sex, or who you have sex with. You are not what your body looks like — you are what your body has accomplished. Allow yourself the power and confidence of somebody who has done something truly remarkable and luxuriate in that feeling. The rest is details.

xoxo,

— Eva Amurri Martino