Well if you are wondering, you have come to the right place! First, I am a mama to a sweet almost 5 year old ballerina and a funny two year old little drummer/superman who are a little over 17 months apart (meaning I was the no makeup, hair-always-in-a-ponytail mom chasing a 3 year old while nursing my baby with nursing cover hooked under my elbow,and a backpack diaper bag on my back. Ahh, a look I have perfected).
Second, we are Greek (cue in my Big Fat Greek Wedding music…except both my husband AND I are Greek, so double it, the families, the whole thing!). Keeping that in mind, I see my role in this season of life as balancing raising and teaching my children while putting emphasis on our faith as Greek Orthodox Christians, creating and keeping family traditions, deciding on what to do in our weekly church playgroup, attempting to eat healthy (or should I say eating ANYTHING AT ALL...). Then you sprinkle in dance lessons, a hubby who is not a fan of a hectic environment, dishes, laundry, cleaning up, the occasional tantrum, and my girl wanting to change her dress (and of course she ONLY wears dresses, AND they have to be the “twirly dresses”) about 5x per day.
So again, who is Elina? Well I am no stranger to challenges, that’s for sure! I’m usually in a state of chaos while appearing calm, exhausted with a prayer on my lips, or lose my cool completely and feel guilty about it for the rest of the day.
Becoming a stay at home mommy (which is the greatest blessing I could ask for) from a social worker is what led us to create StayWHOLE. As a social worker, I learned and trained about coping skills and how important it is to have a healthy outlet of Hurt, Anger, Lonliness and Frustration. But once I got married, welcomed into our family our first puppy Noelle (a sweet and adorable bundle of challenging situations), a year later our wonderful daughter, and an amazing son a year after that, I gained a new appreciation for the skills I learned not only in college and as a social worker, but from my own family life growing up. StayWHOLE has helped me with life's challenges and now I want it to help you!