Name: Janie Porter
Children & Ages: 3 boys – Sullivan (3 yrs), Porter (2 yrs), Kendall (2 wks)
Hometown/Current Location: La Habra, California/St. Petersburg, Florida
Quick Bio: For 8 years, I worked as a TV news reporter, wearing false eyelashes, dresses and high heels everyday. Now, I’m a stay-at-home mom, lucky if I get a shower before 8 p.m., and let’s be honest, ballet flats are my “dressy” shoes. When I’m not chasing my three boys under 4 years old, I’m sharing my less-than-perfect parenting journey on SheJustGlows.com. Follow me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram too!
Q: What is your favorite piece of advice to new Moms?
A: I’m all about helping you find what makes you glow, and a huge part of that is just loving yourself! My favorite piece of advice to new moms is: Trust your gut! Sometimes, we all just need to be reminded that we’ve soooooo got this. All too often, in our society, it seems everyone, from doctors to mother-in-laws to other moms, want to strip us of our own gut instinct about what’s best for our kids. From vaccines to formula to crying it out, let there be no shame in your game. Because only YOU can make the absolute best decision for your family. #justdoyou and you’ll never go wrong.
Q: Share something you have learned about yourself since you became a Mom.
A: I learned that I have obscenely high expectations of myself, and it made my first few months as a stay-at-home mom really tough. Prior to having kids, I thought that staying home would be a cakewalk, especially since I was coming from a high-stress job as an early-morning TV news reporter. Boy, was I wrong! Turned out, staying home with babies is very stressful as well, although in a very different way than breaking news and covering police shootings. (I call it the Stay-at-Home Mom Conspiracy Theory.) Since then, I’ve learned that part of loving myself is learning that I can’t do it all. And that doesn’t make me any less of a mom.
Q: Share your best or favorite place for a family vacation and tell us why.
A: Last summer, my husband and I took our first trans-Atlantic trip since having kids. Through work, he had an opportunity to spend a week in Paris, and I jumped at the chance to join him. But that meant leaving our 2-year-old and 14-month-old behind. I loved the trip because it not only allowed my husband and I to reconnect, but it also allowed me to experience the range of emotions that come with leaving your babies for that long! I felt so silly, bawling in the airport as I was about to board our plane to Paris, but I let myself feel the sadness of missing my boys. I think it’s a universal Mom emotion: you can’t wait to leave them, but when you do, you miss them more than ever.
Q: How do you incorporate fitness into your daily routine?
A: I’m fortunate that my husband is happy to get up with all 3 of our kids every weekday morning, so that I can leave the house at 5:30am to sweat it out for an hour at a 6am bootcamp. As a couple, we’ve realized how much happier EVERYONE is when I’ve gotten in my exercise for the day. I’m happier, I think more clearly, and I just feel more in-control of my day. And, that’s a win, because as we all know, if Mama ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy!
