 You think being a mom and a wife is easy? We have Danielle here to let us know. Welcome back to Everway Woman with Danielle Addisi for Real Moments with Real Mom. Danielle Addisi, you've just had a baby about a year ago. Yep, yes. You had a 4th of July baby. Yep. What was that like? Oh man, well actually I was afraid that when I approached the due date I would be very afraid but I just, it was so miserable. By the end you're just so grateful. You didn't even celebrate. Oh thank god, yeah. My family came out and they were all just waiting. It was a week after the due date. I was afraid they were going to have to go and it was just, I was really glad when went into labor. How was Holiday in staff because it's the 4th of July? Yeah, she was actually born the 1st and then we stayed until the 3rd so by the 4th of July we were able to watch from our own home the fireworks and that was really, really wonderful. So this is your first year of motherhood. What would you say is the most rewarding part about it? When she cuddles, she's a very active child, she hardly ever sits still so when she finally calms down and takes that moment to really appreciate me and, you know, that look in her eyes that's just, I can't, nothing is like that in the entire world. Was there something within this first year that you didn't expect, like we all get the book, moms get that book, what to expect when you're expecting, but then there are things we don't expect. So was there something that you didn't expect? Yes. When I became, you know, when I was pregnant I knew there would be days where I was very overwhelmed, I knew there would be late nights, there would be hard moments. What really struck me was that it never ends, it never ever ever ends for even just a moment and just, it's like a marathon, you know, I was ready for some sprints but it doesn't ever, you know, slow down. So, yeah, and that was really difficult with my family not being around, they live in Wisconsin, I moved to LA about two years ago so that was a big surprise. So your metropolitan lady married, yes, yes, and how is it with your husband? Now you've been married how long? Two and a half years. Two and a half years, so pretty early on. It was earlier than we expected, yeah, but I mean it's amazing. Yeah, he is absolutely incredible, surviving in the city together does put some strain especially with the baby. We've really worked hard to be supportive but it's hard when you look at each other and you see just the tiredness in the eyes, it's difficult. Now how do you, what would you say is the most, the thing that you've done that he's done for you that has really been supportive that maybe you didn't expect? Wow, he, gosh, he's done so many things, everything from just housework, that's something that I wasn't really expecting him to do. Are you working? I am, yeah, when I first, I went back to work at six weeks, I work at Starbucks for the health insurance benefits and he earns the income, but I went back at six weeks, I was working 35 hour work weeks, I've cut back to about 15, it's kind of slowly, I've become more honest with myself, at the beginning I was like, I can do this. What does that mean when you said you became more honest with yourself? You know, I realized that you can do only so much, you can do a million things but you can't necessarily do them well. Is that because you didn't feel like, sometimes you hear that, oh, the super mom, I can do this, I can do that, we can do everything. Did you feel like the challenge of living up to super mom was unrealistic? Yeah, well, it should be completely honest, the way I would get through on the days that I would qualify as super mom was a ton of coffee and that really had a detrimental effect on nursing and so. So you nursed your baby? I did, yeah. I nursed my baby. Yeah, it was amazing. And difficult. I thought it would be amazing, the first three months or so was not that amazing. At one point I thought, I remember holding my son and thinking, I'm supposed to love this but it just hurts. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, and I thought right after the baby was born, I'm done, the worst is over and it was incredibly painful, it like, it kept going. Yes, I was surprised. Now you seem like you're in pretty good shape and how was that for you coming out of, getting back to the main flow of things, what about your body? See, this is, I'm not back to what I was and that's difficult for me. I do, my strategy tends to be whenever I have a little bit, my life is a little bit saner, I'll do cleanses because there's less to think about, I know a more consistent approach is probably longer term lasting. Like exercise? Oh, exercise! Yeah, yeah, yeah. But you know what? You just joined the Y and that has been absolutely incredible. I love that you said that, that you joined the Y. I think it's wonderful. The Y is a place that touches me and it's family and everything. So that's really great that you could do that. Yeah, well and I didn't know, I didn't realize the impact of two hours of childcare a day. That's the only moment I get to myself in a day, so that's been huge. Yes. So it is, it's challenging being a new mom and being honest with yourself about what their approaches are, not everything about being a new mom is a dream. But thank you Danielle for coming here and sharing your moments with us and we can help bring a little of truth to childbearing, childrearing. Is there any advice you'd like to give to our audience? Yeah, I would just say that I would encourage you to feel like you have permission to feel like you can do less and still be supermom, do less and still be supermom. Thank you. After this commercial break, more every way woman. I'm gonna go and live my life cause the means work in nine to five cause I'm