News

  Every month that goes by I can’t believe how big my baby boy is getting, but six months seems like a particularly important landmark.  Half a year.  That’s how long we’ve been a family of three.  That’s how long our sweet David Joseph has been a part of our lives, making our world so much crazier and brighter.  For three of the past four weeks, it was just me and DJ (and visits with extended family).  Joe was in Iowa restoring power to those who lost it in the derecho storm .  Being without the dada was really tough, but made me appreciate how whole I feel when my little family is together, how thankful I am for my...

Mama’s In Loungewear is a blog series that showcases some really incredible mamas and everything they are from the comfort of their loungewear. Our power suits might look more like sweaters and leggings and our conference room more like a kitchen table but we homemaker mamas are changing the world and it’s so important that we show up to encourage and inspire each other.  Featured: Brianna Hale  Etsy shop owner, believer, + boy mom In her own words: First I'm a believer in Christ and try to incorporate my faith in all that I do. I recently just opened an Etsy Shop and am so excited to start the journey as a small business owner. I plan to start a blog...

Five months with our sweet David Joseph. I'm learning to embrace the inconsistency of this stage gracefully, emphasis on ‘learning’.  I have it on good authority that inconsistency is just part of motherhood (not just the 5 month stage, surprise) so I’d better get used to it!   Embracing inconsistency comes with varying degrees of success and is still something that is pretty challenging for me some days.  But I’m working on not putting so much on my plate so that I can enjoy all the snuggles, kisses, and silly moments with my sweet babe.  And show up as my best for the hard moments, like when he’s not sleeping, being a distracted eater, over-tired, or teething (just to name a few)!...

Being a first-time mama, I had no idea what to expect from my postpartum body.  I tried not to put any expectations around what my body would look like the summer after my spring baby was born but it was still disheartening when I pulled out all my shorts and tops from the year before and none of them fit.  And here’s the thing, I was feeling good about how I was taking care of myself and I only felt bad about my body when I tried to squeeze into my old favorite styles.  So I made the decision to invest in a capsule postpartum wardrobe that would help me feel comfortable and confident so I could enjoy summer with...

I’m four months into this mom thing and it fills my heart so much to finally be sharing my precious boy with friends and family.  Month four has been so fun as we ventured out to the lake, met cousins, started giggling, grabbing things, and chewing anything we can get our hands on! My favorite thing about this age is watching my little baby grow and being able to share traditions with him that are so close to my heart.  One of the traditions that I’ve been doing since I was DJ’s age is celebrating the Fourth of July up north with my dad’s family.  Another is spending summer weekends at my grandparents cabin in Minnesota.  Even though a 4+...

I can’t believe that our sweet boy is already three months.  To be honest, it’s been a ride. Everything happening in our world added to the challenges of being a new parent have worn on this mama.  I’ve had to focus on savoring the sweet moments and give myself so much grace when working through the hard things. DJ and I spent our first weeks home with just the two of us after my mom and sister went back to Minnesota, and there’s been a lot of learning.  I’m learning what his sleep cues are, what makes him laugh, and what helps his upset belly.  I’m learning which techniques get him back to sleep so we can actually have a...

Only have clothing in your closet that fits you right now. I’ve never needed this reminder as much as I do being two and a half months postpartum.  If I’m being honest, the proud warrior mama who was so grateful for her strong body started to be replaced by a much more weary and critical version who paid more attention to her saggy belly and flat butt.  And that wasn’t okay with me.  So of doing things that made me feel unworthy and ungrateful for my body, like trying to squeeze into clothing that fit me last summer, I chose to do things that helped me show up as the best version of myself.  And that started with how I...

       I had my first my-baby-is-growing-up-way-too-fast moment a few days ago when we no longer needed to use the newborn insert in our mamaRoo swing. Our little man is getting SO big.  He's getting rolls on his thighs, he's smiling and cooing, and starting to notice his surroundings.  He loves talking with his daddy, falling asleep on his auntie while she’s doing her homework, snuggling with his grandma, pooping on his mama (this has happened more times than I’d like to remember), keeping us all laughing at his silly faces and staring into his big blue eyes. I’m even more in love with being a mom after two months than I was after one month.  As DJ gets...

With the best scientists in the world warning that we have a ten year window to start making some serious change, this black swan event could be the awakening we all need to check the pace at which we’ve been living and consuming.  Being forced into a slower paced life with less money coming in for many Americans, there’s increased consciousness of how we've been consuming and how it’s impacted our health and the health of our planet.  This global time-out could be the start of a new normal where increasingly mindful consumers are demanding better products from increasingly mindful brands, especially in the apparel industry.  Here’s 5 ways COVID will change our consumer habits for the better: We’ll put...

Call us crazy but Joe and I decided that for our first baby we didn't want to find out the gender. We figured this was one of the only truly good surprises left in life these days and finding out our baby’s gender when he or she was born was the way that surprise could be the most special for us.  We also had a practical reason for not finding out our baby’s gender.  We know we want at least two babies and we wanted to make sure all the products we were buying for baby number one would also work for baby number two.  So for us, a gender neutral nursery was a must. It was important for me...