Allison Cooper

Yes, I said it. I’ll sing it from the rooftops and admit the one thing that many moms might feel ashamed to say out loud: I live for nap time.

I was so consumed with being selfless that I never stopped to take care of myself, and it all came to a head. Now after turning 30 things have changed!

I so firmly believe that everyone should have the freedom to truly be who they are, without limits, and it’s important to me to raise kids who are open and accepting of that, too. Here are five ways I’m raising a gender equal child.

Family travel helped me see what I'd been missing out on.

When I brought my son into the world, I thought that he would be an awful lot like me. He had to be, right? He grew inside me; I nourished him; I was the one home with him day in and day out during those very impressionable years, while my husband worked a grueling military schedule — yet there are few similarities to be found.

So you have made it all the way up to the end of the finish line? Congratulations!

Why the hell didn’t anyone remind me how hard the toddler years are? I’m taking all the mental notes on how to survive the toddler years.

With bottle feeding, you are able to fill the bottle with a very specific amount of formula or breast milk and are able to physically see how much Baby is taking at each feeding. With breastfeeding, that isn’t quite as easy. We know that they are eating, but we aren’t able to tell exactly how much — until now.

To any mom out there who is sick of repeating herself — I feel you. I feel you so hard. It’s a double edge sword, these reminders. They exhaust us.

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