It's a good thing we had our families waiting for us in Texas, otherwise we might never have left the palm trees and ocean breezes of Laguna Niguel. Even more, it was hard to say goodbye to the network of talented and influential women we met and learned from at the Mom 2.0 Conference. In fact, we owe a big thanks to one of those women, conference founder and last week's Monday M.I.L.K., Laura Mayes. We wouldn't have been able to attend without her kindness.

There were many great moments during our trip, but a big highlight for us was the opportunity to pitch our idea for a "Moms I'd Like to Know" TV segment to the HLN Network for their parent-focused news show, "Raising America". It was done Shark Tank-style with the show's charismatic anchor, Kyra Phillips, and its four producers as judges. It wasn't easy crafting our two-minute pitch, but simplifying and streamlining our vision was a great process for us to go through. And guess what? We got green-lighted! Full disclosure, so did about 20-30 other folks. But the exciting thing is, we made a memorable impression on the network’s team and now have a foot in the door at HLN.

On Thursday, May 9th, I will be joining 14 fabulous writers and storytellers in the Listen To Your Mother Show in Austin, TX. We will be reading our original essays all in celebration of Mother’s Day. How cool is that?! I am so honored to be in the company of these amazing women and men – that’s right – one brave dude is a member of the cast!

I had no idea what to expect at our first rehearsal and while I knew a few of the speaker's names, I had never gotten to know the depth of their souls. I can’t think of a time in my life where I’ve been in a group of people like this of all ages and walks of life with stories so raw, so touching, so funny and so moving. In less than 2 hours, I had been invited into their unbelievable moments of motherhood and what an honor it was.

There's no need for us to describe Wendi Aarons to you, because she's already summed it up so nicely. On twitter, her description reads: “Humor writer, mother, curmudgeon. Co-creator of MouthyHousewives.com and @PaulRyanGosling’’ We suggest you follow those last two links and prepare to laugh, hard.

Before she became a mom, Wendi worked for major movie studios like Warner Brothers and Walt Disney. But then she had kids and, in her words, “stopped contributing to society.” But here’s the thing you should know about “Wendi’s words”— they’re very funny. (Although she swears her kids don’t think she’s as hilarious as we do.) Her humor pieces have been published by McSweeneys, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, US Weekly, The Stir, AustinWoman, KUT, the list goes on.

This Thursday, we are heading to Laguna Niguel, CA for the hugely impactful: Mom 2.0 Summit, the premier professional conference for influential mom bloggers and female entrepreneurs who create online content. We are really looking forward to hob nobbing with the crème de la crème of Mom influencers and the brands who love them. But none of this would be possible without the visionary genius behind it: Laura Mayes. Not only is she an Emmy-winning writer, and a co-founder of the Mom 2.0 Summit, Camp Mighty, Go Mighty, Kirtsy and The Search Party. She's also a Mom. And a wife. And an awesome friend.

Over the last few years, Laura has created, developed and produced a variety of events and programs for women in media including industry conferences, brand events, book and product launches, national art exhibits, and nationwide programs to educate women about social media. She also created and edited the Kirtsy book, Kirtsy Takes a Bow: A Celebration of Women’s Online Favorites and continues to write for a variety of blogs and publications, including her personal blog, Blog con Queso.

When Amy Miskovsky agreed to help her brother start a film festival, she had no idea what a success it would be. At the time, she was a stay at home mom and thought planning a film fest sounded like fun. In fact, the first one she planned was the first film festival she had ever attended! She had no prior knowledge of independent film or film festivals other than watching different short films her brother was involved in. But that didn't stop her from helping create The Hill Country Film Festival. Now in its fourth year, she's beginning to feel like a well-seasoned vet. Proof that anyone can recreate themselves postpartum!

Amy has a Master’s degree in Clinical Psychology and is a licensed Professional Counselor. She worked in the mental health profession for 8 years prior to starting a family and has two precious girls—Kate (4 ½) and Lauren (19 months).

Don't miss the Hill Country Film Festival in Fredericksburg, TX May 2-5. Get tickets to her festival here!

I travel for work 2-4 times a month. The jockeying at an airport, flight delays and the taxing/takeoff/landing from a flight often makes it undesirable to get my laptop out and start working. So I generally bring a book. This quiet time during traveling sometimes affords me the chance to plow into a book. This week I was very appreciative of my quick trip to Chicago, both legs were late and both legs had us sitting on the tarmac for an hour due to weather. This week, the weather and my late flights were a blessing – both awarding me a large amount of reading time. I blew through the following book in 4 days at times unable to put it down.

The book Unbroken had been recommended to me by 5 friends that assured me I would love it. I 100% did. I do not typically read biographies - in fact I have never actually made it through one. Unbroken was recommended to me because of my continuous desire to read any historical fiction books about Chinese, Korean or Japanese history. I'm not sure how it started - but the first time I read a book about China set in the mid 1800's I was hooked. I am a huge fan of Lisa See, Gail Tsukiyama, Amy Tan and Julie Otsuka. The history of their books both fascinates and shocks me each time I read one. I am always stunned by the events that shaped these countries and at times been shaken at how much of it I either never knew or was never taught in school. It has been a great journey to learn about history through stories.

If you’re not in the advertising industry, you may not have heard about the national 3% Conference or the organization's local event taking place tonight at GSD&M Advertising in Austin. Well, it’s more than just a conference; it’s a national movement to build the case for more female leaders in the creative departments of advertising agencies. Sadly, as of now, only 3% of creative directors are women.

No doubt there are several reasons that number is so shockingly low. After 11 years as a copywriter in the ad industry, I can speculate on many of them. But when it comes to what I know for a fact, I can only tell my personal story— why I am not part of the 3%.

After graduating from the University of Texas, I was lucky enough to land a job at GSD&M, a long shot on the heels of the dot-com bust that racked the ad industry and sent many of my advertising schoolmates onto alternate career paths. But I had made it. I got the job I’d wanted since Junior Career day in high school. I was a copywriter!

In honor of Austin's 3% Event this Wednesday, today's Monday M.I.L.K. is Carlotta Stankiewicz - a Mom, Associate Creative Director and Writer. We first met Carlotta at the advertising agency, GSD&M in Austin, TX when we were both copywriters under her tutelage. She was and still is, one of our biggest role models in the biz for how to be a female AND a mom AND a creative director in the advertising industry. We shared her story back in January when we interviewed a group of ad moms in Texas and now we're thrilled to hear her speak this Wednesday at the 3% Event. Carlotta has been working for 22 years in the ad industry while raising two amazing daughters along the way. Tempted to quit and find work in a more "single-mom" friendly industry, Carlotta instead approached GSD&M and worked out a solution. She voluntarily demoted herself from Creative Director back to Writer and worked 20 hours a week. “I downsized myself. I took a big pay cut. But it allowed me to stay employed, keep my benefits and stay in the advertising world. It was giving up a lot. I had to give up being a creative director. It was giving up the ego part of it, the production and high profile projects. But it was so worth the trade off.”

When the darling Maids from TX M.I.L.K. asked me to write an article on Advanced Maternal Age (A.M.A.), I was thrilled and immediately said yes. Who better to write this piece than me? I became a first-time mom last May at the age of 38 to an adorable, dashing, daring baby boy. I’m a writer. And I’m a TX M.I.L.K. lover. I dove right in, conducting copious amounts of research, interviewing renowned experts in the fields of parenting and elderly gravitas (as it’s coined in the medical profession in case we don’t feel quite old enough). I also reviewed an interview Claire and Lauren conducted with Sharon Munroe, founder of the Advanced Maternal Age Project: a fantastic resource and hub for older moms based here in Austin.

I was prepared to provide a never-before seen perspective on the trend. Readers would laugh, be informed, moved, and more. It would be…perfect!

As our 2nd annual Moms Rock! Showcase rapidly approaches, I can't help but think about what the event is truly about. We started Moms Rock! for the same reason we started TX M.I.L.K. - to spotlight inspiring women who are doing fascinating/creative/charitable/powerful/entrepreneurial/musical things while raising tiny humans along the way.

But motherhood can get a bad wrap. Sometimes it makes us feel boring or uncool. So that's where Moms Rock! can help. When those mom musicians get on stage and show us how much talent and individuality they possess, we'll be reminded that we have talent and individuality, too. We are moms and, whether we shred the guitar or not, we truly rock.

Take my mom for example. She is a church-going accountant with two grown children and she totally rocks! She called me about a month ago and said, "Cat Power is playing ACL Live. Why don't I buy us tickets?" How cool is that? Our mother-daughter date was a blast. I love that MY MOM was the one who led the way, snaking through the crowd until we were literally standing on the front row. I've always had a girl crush on Cat Power, but I think my mom stole the show.

In honor of Congenital Heart Defect Awareness Week, we’re bringing you the story of our long time friend, Lani DeGuire Ripple. Her daughter was born four months ago with a CHD and, since then, Lani has done everything she can to educate herself on her little girl’s condition. She was kind enough to share her experience with us- the good, the bad and the ugly- in an effort to put the spotlight on CHDs.

HAVE YOU ALWAYS KNOWN YOU WANTED TO BE A MOM? I think I always kind of assumed that I'd be a mom someday, but I didn't give it much thought in my younger years. Once we started trying (and trying and trying) to have a baby, the desire definitely grew stronger.

WAS CONCEIVING EASY FOR YOU? Oops, I gave my answer away in the previous question. I didn't take fertility drugs or have any treatments or anything, but it did take a while to get pregnant ����� both times. I don't tell many people about this (so why not start on the Internet?), but we actually lost a baby at 13 weeks during the summer of 2011. The baby had a very rare chromosomal abnormality, and the pregnancy simply wasn't viable. It was devastating, and I remember thinking "this is the hardest thing I'll probably ever go through." Turns out I was wrong. Just so there's no confusion, our first baby's rare condition and Nina's rare condition are completely unrelated. It seems lightning really does strike twice sometimes.