MetroMom Brandy Addison
Three sons, 50-hour work weeks, one side business, oh yeah - while working on one Master’s degree: MetroMom of the Month Brandy Addison has what it takes to balance it all while still feeling glamorous.

MM - Your life was dramatically different before having children. How did having children change your career?

Before children, I was a Senior Intelligence Analyst for the United States Air Force. I was lucky enough to be given the opportunity to travel the world, spending over two years in Italy and a year in South Korea. After four years living overseas, I decided to come back to the states, initially settling in Virginia. This is where I met my soon-to-be husband, but not before being deployed to Iraq on a special Weapons Effectiveness team. I returned safely and also returned to a marriage proposal, of which I said ‘YES’! Soon after we got married, we became pregnant with our first son, Tyler. He was a year old when I decided the military lifestyle was not something I wanted to raise a family in, so after eight years in the USAF, I left. We came to Texas when I was presented a job offer I couldn’t refuse that allowed me to use my skill set received while in the USAF in the civilian world. I always knew, even with having children, I’d want to stay in the work force. Growing up in an environment where women depended on their men for the livelihood; I knew I was destined to break that mold! Initially, Aaron and I knew we wanted two children. He and I both grew up, essentially, without siblings. We both were pretty confident that we wanted Tyler to grow up with a sibling, someone to grow up and old with. Shortly after Tyler’s 2nd birthday, we started trying to conceive again. Unfortunately, we didn’t actually successfully conceive our 2nd child until first enduring three miscarriages. Finally, after our 4th try, we conceived Ronin! We thought we were done, until surprise … Liam decided he wanted to be part of this family, too!! We are blessed with three beautiful boys; Tyler Sean (5 years), Ronin Jude (3 years), and Liam Jack (17 months) … maybe one day, Momma will get her little girl! (Wink!)  

MM - What was your inspiration for making a business out of Beautiful Blankets by Brandy?

One of the things my Mom taught me growing up was how to sew. This came in handy when I started having children, especially little boys! So, one day, I’m on the hunt for a super cute/soft/cuddly blanket for Tyler’s first blanket. Much to my chagrin, I found a sea of super cute blankets for little girls, but the selection for little boys was out dated, boring, and definitely not trendy. So, I decided to put my sewing skills to good use and I made him a blanket myself. Ronin and Liam received their own personal blankets as well! I received many compliments on my blankets when skirting my babies around town. Telling people I made the blankets myself, I started getting requests for me to make blankets for their babies, grandbabies, and such. I loved it! The material I was using to make the blankets wasn’t cheap though, so my hubby convinced me to start making the blankets for people, but selling them rather than gifting them. This was the beginning of Beautiful Blankets by Brandy. I made a page on Facebook and soon decided to launch a webpage where I could direct people to look at past work and contact me if they were interested in having me make their blanket. After several months, I was receiving more requests through Facebook than I was on my webpage, so I decided to let my Go Daddy membership expire. Now, I just use Facebook (and word of mouth) because it works best for me and my small little niche in the world of baby retail. My 15 minutes of fame was when I was approached to make a blanket for Matthew McConaughey and Camila Alves new baby, Vida. So, if you’re ever reading a gossip magazine and see her toting around a beautiful orange and turquoise blue blanket … that’s all me!

MM - This year you graduated from Amberton University with a Master’s of Science in Managerial Science while you worked full-time, gave birth to your 3rd son, and started a new business. How do you efficiently manage so many things?

In this day in age, I knew higher education would be a ‘must have’ in order to keep climbing the corporate ladder. I timed it all to have me completing my degree before my children started Kindergarten. I knew I wanted to devote my evenings to their education, rather than rushing them through their school work and reading just so I could focus on my own school work. I graduated in May, and Tyler started Kindergarten in August … mission accomplished! I do believe I will go for my PhD one day, but it’s my children’s turn right now. While going to school, I still worked fulltime, usually pulling 50 hours a week. I also gave birth to Liam last summer, during all of this. At first, I thought about taking a break from school, while I was on maternity leave, but decided it would only throw a wrench in my initial goal of completing school before Tyler started Kindergarten. So, I stuck with it. I definitely think it has to do with my ability to be extremely efficient and organized. For some people, efficiency and organization come easy. For others, I think it’s an uphill battle. I am just lucky enough to be someone where these skills come easy for me. I also have to attribute my ability to do all of this and more to my wonderful husband! He and I have grown leaps & bounds over the past year as a team. I definitely couldn’t do what I do without him and I love him for that! We get up in the morning and get the children ready for school together. We share the chores, cooking, and getting the kids ready for bed. It’s not a Parent/Child relationship either; he doesn’t need me to ask him to do things. He knows what needs to be done to keep this household running smoothly, just like I do. If he sees a load of laundry that needs to be done, he does it, no questions asked.

MM - In hindsight, did you have realistic expectations in the amount of work it takes to launch, manage, and promote a new business?

No way!! I knew there would be work that needed to be done, but I had no clue just how much! And I still don’t, which is probably why I no longer maintain my website. I just knew I couldn’t do what I wanted to do with it and I’m not someone who will do things halfway. I like to think I know when to throw in the towel and that’s what I had to do. I noticed by spending so much time trying to promote my new business that I was taking away from my husband and myself. I wasn’t going to let that happen, so I stopped. Yes, I definitely still get requests to make blankets and other items, and I gladly make them (for a small fee). But, I’m not up all hours of the night pushing my business; it wasn’t worth the dark circles under my eyes!

MM - You also make sure to make time not only for you and your husband but for yourself. How do you do this and what do you do with your “Me Time?”

After having children, I forgot who I was. I let myself ‘go’ physically and that quickly took a toll on my personal confidence. I no longer felt sexy, which lead to me not wanting to be intimate with my husband. It all just snowballed from there. Eventually, I found myself unhappy with myself, my marriage, and decided things had to change if I wanted to live a quality life. I first had to start with myself. This is also about the time I found MetroMoms. It was a great group of women that had the same interests as me and it’s been a great family of choice for me! I have made some great friends and we always find time to get out (without kids/hubby’s) for a glass of wine, shopping, or just hanging out. I also decided if I wanted to regain a healthy relationship with my husband that I’d have to start by making myself happy. I knew I’d have to start this change by losing weight. So far, I’ve lost a total of 40 pounds, and I hope to lose a few more. It wasn’t just about the weight though, I had to find myself again. I’m not just a wife, and I’m not just a Mom. I’m someone who loves to go dancing with my girlfriends or sit in the sunshine and read a good book. I’m someone who loves to watch football, especially college football! I love drinking wine with my girlfriends, but also love a big steak and a cold, cold beer! I love making people laugh and also have this incessant need to help people. My husband and I make it a point to go on dates at least once a month, if not more. Sometimes it may be a date, other times; it’s going out with friends. Either way, we make it a priority to get out and spend quality time with each other. I forgot what a great conversationalist my husband is; I’m glad we finally got back to this point in our relationship!
 
MM - You have also just launched a new blog. What are your goals with this?

I was working out the other day, jamming out to Christina Aguilera’s new album. It was perfect timing for me to hear one of the songs off this album, Let’s Get Glam! Just the other day, I had a conversation with a young lady who is absolutely beautiful, not to mention a knock out! She had zero self confidence about herself and I was flabbergasted! So, something about this conversation and hearing that song, it just inspired me to create a photo blog where I could post ‘every day’ women and allow these women to express why that picture encapsulated a moment in their life where they felt GLAMOROUS! Every woman is GLAMOROUS and I’m on a campaign to help change the way we (women) think about ourselves by showing each other just how GLAMOROUS we all are!

MM - What is your parenting motto?

Lead by example and integrity first. My hope is that one day; my children will look back on their childhood and respect me as their Mother. They’ll know that I did everything I could to raise them right and cultivate a sense of oneself in them.