Category Archive: Uncategorized

Dealing with Postpartum OCD & Intrusive Thoughts

Photo by Sydney Sims on Unsplash

May was Mental Health Awareness Month, so I wanted to talk about something that I’ve been struggling with over the course of my pregnancy and postpartum experience. I’ve been working on this post for a while since I’ve been trying to find ways to cope, which is why it’s a little late. I was also a little hesitant to share as part of what I’m going to talk about. This has a way of isolating you, making you think you’re crazy. It’s something that I don’t think is talked about enough. Trigger warning- I talk about postpartum OCD, anxiety and depression.

Continue reading →

Nine ways to make tummy time more tolerable

Photo by Alpine Rose Photography

Tummy time sucks. There, I said it. Max and every baby I’ve ever met hates tummy time. The doctors and articles all say it’s required for numerous reasons, but there’s something a bit unnerving about letting your screaming baby lay on their belly hating every minute of it. For me, Max’s tummy time cry is like nails on a chalk board. He’s also rolling over now and when he finally gets himself off of his tummy, just for me to flip him back over, it almost feels like I’m betraying him! So I’ve been looking for just about any tip or trick to make tummy time even remotely more manageable. I decided to do a bit of research to find out why tummy time is so important, and see if there were any ways that we could make tummy time a little more tolerable. Read on to find out what I found!

Continue reading →

Allergy Friendly Sweet Potato Gnocchi and Broccoli Rabe

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

My husband is by far the best cook that I know. I love having friends and family over for dinner because watching them in complete awe when they see how great of a cook Brian is, is amazing. This works out quite well for me as I am terrible in the kitchen- like burn toast, light eggs on fire bad. I can bake pretty well but for some reason when I try to cook, it always blows up in my face- literally!! Brian has a few specialities that he loves making, and he’s constantly coming up with new things that he’ll make so I thought that every few posts, I’ll post one of his recipes.

Continue reading →

Top five reasons why you should absolutely do a maternity photoshoot

Alpine Rose Photography

Your body is changing, your clothes might not fit, how could anyone possibly recommend that having someone take your pictures right now is a good idea?! Well I’m here to tell you that it is an AMAZING idea, and one you should definitely consider. I almost cancelled my photoshoot, but I’m so glad I didn’t. If you’ve read my posts, you know that I struggled with my pregnancy, from my mental health to my body image, but even going through those struggles I would do a maternity shoot all over again. Read on to find the reasons why, plus see some of my favorites from my shoot!

Continue reading →

Five Senses Gift & More- Valentines Day Gift Ideas

This post contains affiliate and non-affiliate links.

Five senses gift
Photo by Laura Ockel on Unsplash

Valentine’s Day can be SO hard to shop for. All the standard gifts are pink or have hearts and it can be pretty hard to find a gift that isn’t cheesy or played out. Not to mention the fact that men are the hardest people to shop for ever (but from after my last post apparently men think that about women too!). I think I’m pretty good at finding unique gifts to give my loved ones so I wanted to share a few ideas I had. If you’re struggling to find the perfect gift, look no further! I love love love thoughtful gifts, and I think everyone does. Everyone likes to know that their significant other has put effort and thought the gift that they are given through, so I have a few gift ideas that might take a bit of effort but that really stand out. Gift baskets are my favorite, so the first gift- the five senses gift- is my favorite of them all. Read on to find out more!

Continue reading →

Six things to stop saying to pregnant women

Everyone is super excited when a family announces that they are pregnant. A lot of parents talk about how fun it is to be a parent and how life gets so much better when you add a baby to the mix. BUT sometimes in everyone’s excitement, people can say things that they don’t realize are stressing the mama-to-be out!

Photo by Camylla Battani on Unsplash

I’m going to blame the hormones for this, but when I was pregnant, with everything that a lot of people told me, I was pretty nervous my life was going to suck after I had Max. I thought I’d be like 500 pounds, a sleepless zombie, and that being a mom was going to be the hardest thing in the world in the worst way possible. I’m happy to report that none of these things happened. Being a mom is actually awesome, despite what everyone had me believing while I was pregnant. It’s not always sunshine and rainbows, but it’s not the hell that some people will lead you to believe. So I put together this list of things to stop saying to pregnant mamas, because even with good intentions or saying these things light heartedly, you could be really scaring them! Here are the top six things to stop saying:

Continue reading →

11 things that surprised me about postpartum

I thought I had a lot of surprises when I was pregnant, so I felt like I was pretty ready for postpartum and all of the changes that would come. I was ready to be back in my body and have everything be normal again. I knew about postpartum hair loss, to expect to look pregnant for a while after, but I mostly thought I would deflate and might be a little hormonal.

Some of those things did happen, but there was a lot that surprised me once I finally reached the postpartum stage. For the most part I was too wrapped up in learning how to be a new mom for any of these to be too crazy annoying, but nonetheless I think it’s important to talk about all these things because it seems like not many people do. So many people talk about how to care for your new baby, products you might need for postpartum, products you need for your baby, but not too many people go into detail about what exactly might happen once you are in the postpartum phase. So here are some things that took me by surprise:

Continue reading →