My Motherhood Journey

I recently purchased a Monogram Mini Dog Tag necklace with a birthstone to represent my daughter’s birthday, and being a first time mom – technically.

When I was 15, I found myself pregnant in high school and just knew it wasn’t the right time for me. Because of that, I carried my baby to term and then placed her up for adoption. It was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do, and two days after her birthday (January 2011), my boyfriend (at the time) gave me her birthstone to wear. I wore that necklace every single day, until he and I broke up about 5 years later. Following our break up, I was gifted a different garnet birthstone necklace from a close family friend in order to continue to represent my daughter, Maya.

Fast forward to 2022, and I had my now 20-month old baby girl, Everleigh. I had a very traumatic experience after a relatively “easy labor” which resulted in feeling like I wasn’t able to do anything with my daughter for the first few weeks of her life. Her dad was doing pretty much everything to not only take care of her, but also me. Between a pretty grueling pregnancy, a traumatic birth experience, the decision to exclusively pump, the grief of not being able to breastfeed as I had planned, and the overall postpartum anxiety - it was definitely a long and difficult process to bring my girl into the world.

Once we knew her official birthday, I immediately wanted a necklace to represent her as well, especially after everything we went through as a family to bring Everleigh home. When I found Tiny Tags, I immediately started a long list of items to build a necklace stack. I purchased the Monogram Mini Dog Tag necklace with Everleigh’s name and birthstone on the front, and her birthday engraved on the back.

I absolutely adore this necklace, and already have a plan to go back for a January birthstone to have a small piece of Maya on my stack, too. I may not have raised Maya, but she is a large part of my journey and deserves to be represented in some small way. She's 13 now, she’s met her half-sister, and while we do not see each other very often, it is an open adoption. I’m not sure how she would feel about me wearing her name and birthday, but a small birthstone charm for her would be the perfect addition.

My Tiny Tags represent a lot about me. The trials I’ve overcome that led me to motherhood are a major part of that, and I absolutely adore being able to represent my family in even a small way on a daily basis! I also have a plan to get a paw print charm for our pup and Everleigh’s best friend, and with an engagement ring currently being made, I’ll for sure be back for a date charm when Everleigh’s dad and I officially get married! 

- Jen Buccellato