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Dr. Danielle Eddins introduces herself and her podcast, "The Smiley Mommy," which focuses on balancing business and motherhood. She shares that she is a mother of four boys, including one with nonverbal autism spectrum disorder. She left her job as an educator to prioritize her family and faith. Dr. Eddins discusses her background in education, her love for working with children, and her expertise in autism spectrum disorders. She emphasizes the importance of being present with one's family and holding strong to faith. She also talks about her own struggles and how she has overcome them. Dr. Eddins plans to discuss discipline, consistency, and time management on her podcast. She is a single mother and all four of her children have varying disabilities. She encourages her listeners to ask questions and seek advice. Overall, the podcast aims to inspire and provide guidance to parents. Hey there, Smiley Crew, it's your host, Dr. Danielle Eddins, and I'm here at the Smiley Mommy podcast. I can't believe I'm actually on here talking to you guys and doing this. I have been fighting for dear life. When I say fighting, I mean fighting, fighting, fighting, fighting. But it's all going to make sense real soon. So welcome, welcome, welcome to the first episode ever, where we're just talking about overall balancing business and the baby. I was going to say business and the baby. We can call this podcast episode, business and the baby, and the baby can be whatever you like it to be. Me over here in my humble abode, I have four children. I'm an all boy mom. I love these babies so much. They are just, oh my goodness, they're great. They're great. A lot of people always say, when you're having a girl, and I'm like, you know what, whenever the Lord allows, you know, when I get my purpose made, whatever the Lord allows. But for right now, I'm focusing on the four children that are actually here and just providing them the best love life ever. They really are something. So for those who don't know me, my name is Danielle Eddins. You can call me Dani, y'all. Call me Dani. We're about to get real cozy around here. And this podcast and this platform is all about, you know, family, faith, and focus. You're going to learn very quickly all about my background. So I was formerly an educator, well, I'm a lifelong educator. I call myself a lifelong teacher and a lifelong learner. I was a teacher for well over 12 years. I did several different levels. I am an early ed lover. So I did up to, I did, you know what? I have to say one time, one summer-ish, kind of, a few years, I did, you know, dibble and dabble in some middle school, like sixth grade. And actually, I really liked them. At first, I'm like, we're not about to do them big kids. Like, it's giving, no. I really do love the babies, but sometimes I like to, you know, test it while you got to put your little toe in it to see if it's cold or not, you know. But I really love the babies. I've dabbled in special ed a lot. My specialty is autism spectrum disorders and other brain disorders. I'm really, really good with behavior management and things like that. I worked in early intervention. I was a site coordinator and all of that fun stuff. But my oldest son, he will actually be nine years old, you guys, next month, and I am struggling. Like, he's a big old boy. He's, that's a big, like, that's my quarterback, but your baby's always your baby. He can be 22 years old, and I'm still going to try to be hugging him and putting him on my lap. That's a big boy. But when my lovely, lovely, sweet, I call him Papa Bear, when my Papa Bear was a toddler at two years old, we knew before, I knew for sure, because of my background and my knowledge, he was diagnosed with nonverbal autism spectrum disorder. It's been a long journey, but you just got to keep your faith strong. You got to keep going. We're going to dive deep into that. This is what took me so long, but I'm here now, y'all. I am here now. So I left the workforce officially, and I struggled with that. I struggled. I have always been, like, a go-getter type. I don't need nobody. I got this. I'm going to work. Drop the kids off. Boom, boom, boom. Sometimes, I mean, all the kids, at one point, the two older ones, when they were younger, were with their father, and he was a stay-at-home dad, so we would go back and forth. You know, things have changed, changed, changed, but that's okay. So yeah, this podcast is about, you know, my focal point and my theme. There's a theme to this thing, and I call it the family, faith, and focus, and I'm learning in life, like, right now, the most important thing is your family. You can't get the time back with these babies. You have to make the best out of it, so I'm, you know, something I'm really working on within myself is being present, being present, because me, more than anyone, oh, my goodness, y'all, when I finish, by the time I turn y'all loose, let me tell you, I am probably the busiest woman that you will ever meet, but you know what? I'm going to show you how to do life, do this parenting thing, and run a business, and complete school, and do everything that God has told you to do. Do it with grace. Do it with grace, because I want you to remember something. You are graced for this. None of us are who we are or where we are for no reason. I need you to be very, very sure, very, very sure that everything that happens is on purpose so that you can be in purpose, and you're going to hear me say that a lot, okay, but child, I've got so many stories, so there's that family component. There's the faith component. People kind of sometimes put me on a pedestal. Some people call me the autism lady, because that's my specialty, and I be like, no, we not. We don't do no idol worship around here. I really appreciate that you are grateful for me, but I'm just a servant. I really, honest to God, I'm just a servant. That's my mindset. I don't mind help. I love helping people. I always have parents hitting me up like, can you give me a school recommendation? Danny, I think my child has autism. What do I do? I talk to parents all the time, and don't worry, guys, as we get the website up and all of that, I'm going to be offering certain of those services to you, because I'm that chick when it comes to that. I am. I really, really am. I really, really am. So I'm going to show you how to hold strong to your faith when there's nothing left, and let's be clear, y'all, I am wrapping up my seminary doctoral degree. I have a business. I'm in the process. I'm doing a podcast. I have to relaunch my YouTube, because I've been disobedient, but let me tell you, delayed obedience is disobedience, and we don't want to do that, y'all. We don't want to do that. It's not good. As you can clearly see, I do not have no problem talking about Jesus the Christ, okay? This is a Christian-based podcast, and we're just going to listen. I promise you, there ain't nobody else, nobody else in your headphones like me, and we're going to get to the nitty gritty, y'all. I'm going to, I'm excited. I'm excited now that I'm actually on here, and I'm talking, and I'm just going. I really, really pray that I help just one person, just one person. I have done my job. But yes, we're going to have to teach you how to stay present with your family, how to balance it, how to hold strong to your faith when things are hard, and people are like, oh, well, she's always smiling. It's funny that the name of this podcast is The Smiley Mommy, because child, child, when I tell you, we're going to, it's going to be plenty of storytimes, plenty of storytimes. When I tell you, I smile now, but man, oh, man, I have been through hell in my life. I've been through a lot, y'all. And you know what? I come out on top every time. I come out swinging every time, every time. I just give God thanks, because I don't look like what I've been through. I'm grateful for that. That last part is the focus, where I'm helping you and talking, we're going to talk about being disciplined and consistent and being reflectors and really taking that time, like you teach you about time management and stuff like this, and y'all, listen, Smiley Crew, I have struggled. I'm still, first of all, I'm one of those people, I think probably because I've been a teacher for so long. I really believe that a lot of these things such as discipline and consistency, you notice most people struggle with those things, because I feel like they're lifelong skills. They're not just something like you learn how to do like a math equation, or you learn how to write your whatever. I feel like there's always something to learn. There's always something new to be disciplined in. There's always something new to be consistent in, you feel me? So we're going to get into it, okay? And this is all about building faith, finding joy, and embracing laughter. So a little bit about me, y'all. So I am now a single mom. I've been divorced almost three years now. And sometimes I wake up in the morning and be like, it's giving ghetto. But you know what? I'm laughing about it now, because, you know, and I don't have no messy, crazy divorce story. People be like, did he cheat? No, we're actually really good friends. It wasn't nothing like that. But we have moved on. And yeah, that's it. But I am a single mom to four children. Like I said, I'm a boy mom. Yeah, I'm a boy mom to four boys. And y'all gonna listen, you might as well just get something. Right now, I am drinking me one of them uptime mango pineapple energy drinks. And y'all, it is 324 a.m. It's all nighter night. Because my younger son was struggling with going to sleep. He took a late nap. I said, yeah, homie, you got to stop that. We're going to stop this, boo boo. We're going to stop this. But yes, I have four boys. And they are the oldest one is about to be nine. Papa Bear is nine. My meanie just turned seven in April. My toot toot, Mr. Toot Toot is four years old. That baby wild, man. He wild. He about that life. And Mr. Boo Boo is two. He'll be three in August. Something that is different about me is all four of my children have some type of varying disability. And you guys feel free to ask questions. Feel free to ask for advice. We friends now, okay? Like, we besties. Like, what? Like, come on now. Come on. Like, clearly, none of us, we're not regular moms. We're definitely not regular parents. Like, we are on top of this stuff. Like, what? But yeah, so two of the boys are autistic. My second son has something that is called an adjustment disorder. Which is pretty much what the therapist called it was baby anxiety. And I'm like, okay. I didn't know nothing about that. And my younger son, we are still in the middle of the longest testing and whatnot. We've had referrals to so many places. I am based in Boston, Massachusetts. And y'all, these wait lists in these hospitals are over a year. Some are even over two years. It's crazy out here in these streets, y'all. We got to, we definitely got to hold our faith strong. Because it gets discouraging. But my younger son has a physical disability. So he's two. He is speech delay. But he also does not walk. He just started at the age of two. Like I said, he's almost three. He's not newly two. His birthday is in August. So he will be three in August. And he is just now pulling up to stand. It's very hard. They said that it was not low muscle tone. So we are waiting for an appointment with neurology. We're waiting for appointment for genetic testing. And also the orthopedic specialist at another children's hospital. So it's a long journey. And I will make sure that I have an episode about each child, about my school journey, about different things that I find are really, really, really important. But today on this first episode, I want to give you a little brief introduction of myself and just who I am and what I am doing. I run a hair care business called Naturally Nixon. I opened up in 2019. And we have organic, nut and coconut-free, and sensory-inclusive hair care products. If you're interested, just leave me a comment. So you can join the VIP on our private Facebook group. If I do say so myself, my products is a bomb. OK? My boys all have long, lots of hair, lots of curls. So if you want to ask me any questions about hair care or whatnot, let me know. I got you. But pretty much, once I realized I was going to have to leave the classroom and I was going to have to be a stay-at-home mom, I'm like, uh-uh. Lord, no. Stay-at-home who? Stay-at-home mom? What is that? What is that? Y'all, all I knew was work, work, work, work, work. No, for real. Seriously. That's all I did was work, work, work, and go to school. Go to school, go to school, go to school, school, school. And yeah. But child. So yes, my business has been open since 2019. I make, I hand-make all of my hair care products. I'm actually wrapping up a natural hair and skin care certification. So that, just to have that under my belt, I'm like, people be like, girl, you just got a lot of degrees and a lot of certificates. I say, yep, they just on my wall singing the alphabet to me. There's a lot of them, y'all. I have many degrees, many, many, many degrees. But I think, I know there's a lot of moms that kind of feel like they lose themselves in parenthood, especially those of you out there who are single moms. I want you to know that you can start that business. You can go back to school. You absolutely can. I know it's, and then when you also like throw in not even just one child, but two, and not two, but three, and then me over here, four whole humans that I am responsible for, and doing schoolwork, and doing a business, not even just one business, y'all. I'm working on so many projects that when I wrote my first book, and I have books in me, like they are pressing in me, y'all, like they're about to burst out the seams. But we're going to get this, we're going to get this together, y'all, okay? We're going to get this together. If you've got a book, write it. Stop, don't, please, please, please, please, stop thinking, stop overthinking, because I am guilty of that. I am so guilty. I'd be like, oh my God, I was supposed to launch this podcast last year, y'all. Last year, I made the podcast cover, and then I just, I just, you know, sabotaged myself, and don't do that, y'all. I sabotaged myself, and I was like, ain't nobody going to be listening to me. Ain't no one going to, no, no one cares, Dani, like no one cares about some kids, no one cares about what you're going to, going through and whatnot. You better suck it up and just do what you got to do. But no, this is part of my mission. This is part of my purpose, and I have to do it. I'm in the place now where I just have to do it, y'all, you know. So I just want to drop and leave a few tips for balancing business in that, baby. For one, as you know, we the Christian girlies out here. We the Christian mommies. Pray, please pray. You don't do nothing without prayer. As a stay-at-home mom, I have incorporated so much prayer into my regular life. When the kid is starting to work my first and my last nerve, I'd be like, dear God, kids just be looking at me because I will, I'm telling you, when they start the Wildin' Out TV series up in this living room and whatnot, I just be like, I will just gently, just gladly bow my head and just be like, our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. I'm telling you, like, yeah, because trust me, I'm just as human as you want to be. I'm not, people think that because of the degree, because of my background, that that makes parenting easy or something. Wrong. Wrong again. It don't work like that, y'all. It's, sometimes I feel like it make it even more difficult because sometimes I hold myself to a higher standard. I get so frustrated with myself. But y'all, you know what? Give yourself grace. It's going to be all right. And on the days that it's crappy and it stinks, it just flat out sucks, you know what? You are completely entitled to have a bad day or two or three or four, but eventually you're going to have to pick yourself up and you've got to keep going because you've got work to do. So yes, that first tip that I got for y'all, for my entrepreneurial spirited moms out there is to pray. Number two is plan ahead. Planning is important. I know a lot of people don't know or are struggling with time management and that consistency. Like I said, I'm not going to front. I'm not even going to hold nobody. I struggle with it still. But something like, for example, something that I do is I'm like, okay, you know, some nights I don't get a lot of sleep. So what am I going to do? I'm going to get my three older boys' backpacks ready at night and their school clothes ready so that when I do get up, instead of walking into walls and stubbing my toe on the corner of the freaking bed, I'm going to, their stuff already stacked up and ready so I can get them up. You know, sometimes them children, you be getting them up in the morning and they acting like they just standing there with their mouth open. Like if you don't get them drove, honey, honey, y'all, I get it. I literally get it. I'm telling you, I get it. I be in here hollering in the morning and I got my alarms up going off at six o'clock and how many of y'all, like, I don't get the boys up usually until 625, 630. Y'all, I done hit the snooze button about 14 times. I know it's not just me. Don't play me to my face. I know it's not just me. Yeah, I know, I know. But yeah, so pray, pray, plan ahead. And you know what? I have counted this last one, this last tip out and I know it sounds crazy, but praise. And sometimes I just throw my praise music on y'all. I'm going to have to put together like the smiley, like the smiley crew playlist because I'm going to get y'all right. I'm going to get y'all right, okay, because I'd be up in here with my little mom, Fletch, just getting it. Sometimes, sometimes I got to leave the worship music to the side because when that go out, my poor back door will be open. I just be on the front man, hair be all out the bun. Listen, some days we're going to talk about that another time. We don't have to get ugly on the first episode. We don't have to. We don't have to. But yes, y'all, you really have to, in order to, I know it's a huge challenge to balance parenting and any type of work, whether it's your business, school, whatever, whatever, or even it can be parenting and cleaning the house, parenting and mental health. It is a lot. So those time management skills and self-care are very essential. Me, I've been watching Degrassi. I haven't sat there and watched all four. I'm on the 13th season and I was real invested with Claire and Eli. I'm like, no, did she just break? You know what, Claire? Claire, don't do that to my Eli. I like Eli. I don't know. I think he's just the cutest thing. Like, I don't know why. I just love him. He's one of my favorites. But yeah, find something that you like. I don't care if you just want to take a walk around your flipping house, make a cup of tea. I don't know. Watch a favorite show. Listen to this podcast because it's about to be your favorite. Something. Self-care is important, okay? Don't let nobody tell you that, oh my goodness, you can only be a mom and that's freaking it. You can't do nothing for yourself. No, parents, you know, I always call motherhood as ministry for sure. Parenting is definitely important. It's important. It's essential. But if you don't take care of you, I can make, you can rest assured that you won't be able to give those babies your full capacity, your check engine capacity, like going to be blinking, okay? And we don't want that. We don't want that. And as far as business, we're going to definitely get into that. Yeah. I know people always have so much business. I have a lot to say about the business and running things and starting things and how that works with the kids. Like, how do I do my own schedule and whatnot? But yeah, you just, one thing I will say without going too deep on the first, on this first, you know, episode is if you already have your business or you want to start. Well, one thing I will say is take it one day at a time, okay? We know it's a business and we know that you should operate it with character and integrity, but you're a human being and you are not obligated to respond to other, to the businesses every beck and call. Because I used to do that. That is people-pleasing and that is wrong. We are not people-pleasers anymore. Not over here at the Smiley Crew. I'm going to get you together, okay? Because we're not doing that. Have some, have some value yourself enough. And I know I'm probably going to have a lot of moms up here that is just like feeling defeated. You in the right place, I got you. I'm going to drag you to stand up on your feet because I get it. I've been in the mud. I've been down in the dirt and just not, not even that I could, I just didn't, not that I couldn't move, but I didn't want to get up. You ever been in one of those situations that are just so ugly that you're like, God, I freaking quit. You can crack the sky right now. Come get me. Come get me. Because it's giving ghetto. I'm not doing this no more. I get it, y'all. I get it. I get it. But before we close, y'all, I just want you to reflect on the scripture from Philippians four and four, which says rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I will say rejoice. Okay, that's going to be our weekly scripture. I will be on here with a new episode every single Tuesday. I just came up with that on the spot. It's going to be Tuesday. I will make sure that I commit to doing this and I'm going to show you how to find joy in every situation by balancing responsibilities. Because oftentimes I know moms are hard on themselves. We are hard on ourselves. We be out here just being so cruel to ourselves and really, we just have to learn how to balance our unique life. We all got different stuff going on. Do I sometimes, you know, am I late on some of my business orders? Yes, but that's where communication come in. You communicate, y'all. You communicate. It's going to be all right. It's going to be all right. It's going to be all right. But thank you so much for listening to the Smiley Mommy podcast. Again, I am your bestie. You know, we got to make a mom club or something. Dr. Danielle, I didn't call me Dan. Just call me Danny because all this other stuff, we not doing all that. It's too much. It's given. Yeah, this is tired. Energy drink wearing off. It's okay. I'm here to be real and raw. This is for real. Yes, here at the Smiley Mommy podcast, we are all about building faith, finding joy, and embracing laughter. Bye.