Wellness For The Win (2025)

20/08/2025

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my mom, the best nana, and one of my very best friends 🥹🎉

I am fully aware of how lucky I am to have my mom just 12 minutes up the road, always willing to drop everything to be there for me and my family, especially my boys.

When Levi was hospitalized in Saint Louis for 3 full weeks? She stayed with me the whole time. When he did a 3-week intensive in Colorado (overlapping with her bday), she never left. If Ethan goes out of town, she stays the night to help and make sure I’m not alone. If anything ever happens where we need quick help, we can count on her to be there, within minutes, no questions asked.

To know my mom is to love her. She’s kind, genuine, generous, loving, and full of life. Her laugh is contagious and she loves her people so well. There’s a reason she has so many circles of friends and a full social calendar during retirement.

I could go on and on about how amazing she is and how thankful I am for her strong presence in my life. Idk how I got so lucky but I’m so happy to call my mom one of my very best friends. I truly don’t know what I’d do without her.

I hope your day (week/month) is full of weak coffee (lol), sweet treats, paddle boarding, family time and laughs.

Happy birthday mama, I love you so so much 💕🫶🏼

14/08/2025

I have genuinely enjoyed seeing all of the back-to-school photos everyone has been posting this week 🥹 it gave me ALL the feels because that will be us sending Rhett off to kindergarten next year — thank god cuz I’m not ready 😭

This week Rhett just moved up to a *big boy pre-K* classroom at daycare, so not a massive change for us quite yet!

but as I was scrolling through the photos, I couldn’t help but notice that some people went ALL out - which is amazing and so so fun!!!! - but also made me think about the moms who didn’t maybe feeling guilty about not doing “enough”.

I’m talking to the mom who didn’t have the bandwidth to think about getting a first day of school sign. or the the families who couldn’t afford to go back to school shopping. or the ones who have one child in the hospital and they’re juggling multiple kids & work & all of the other things that life brings. or any other similar situations where maybe back to school snuck up on you and you weren’t able to make it feel like a big, exciting special occasion.

if any of those describe you, I hope you know that you are STILL a great mom. your child doesn’t need fancy signs or balloons or brand new shoes to feel loved. if you told them you loved them before the first day of school, they are lucky. 🫶🏼🤍

ps: this is also NO SHAME to those who did go all out!!!! I sometimes wish I was that kind of mom 😆 I love that you could make it feel so big and exciting for your little one AND for you- sending them off is a huge deal as a parent, too 🥹

13/08/2025

sooo chat GPT convinced me that I need this black & white gallery wall to happen, but I need help narrowing down the pics 🙈 I’m thinking two rows of four, so 8 photos total, but I could be convinced to do 10 😂

the ones that aren’t labeled are from one of our many Colorado trips and I’m not sure which place it’s from without digging lol

aaaaand can’t decide if I wanna include a few from HOME here in KC ❤️

so many good mems 🫶🏼🐎⛰️ lmk your votes below!

11/08/2025

caption was too long so I put it in the slides above 🤍 things I think about often.

I’m so incredibly grateful that I have / had this space prior to Levi being born. it not only gives me community, but also a creative outlet that I feel is just mine. it continues to give me purpose and feel valued outside of motherhood alone, and I think a lot of us need something like that?

and in case anyone read the words differently up there, I truly think stay at home moms are the world’s biggest superheroes. dealing with multiple very mobile / active / opinionated toddlers at once is probably harder than what I do most days with Levi. BUT, oh how I wish he could run & play with me and tell me what he’s thinking. ❤️‍🩹

16/07/2025

early on in Levi’s life, I prayed SO HARD for a miracle. like all the other ones I saw and heard about. the babies who started life in a similar way as Levi, but came out relatively unscathed. who turned out developmentally “normal”. never had future hospital stays, or ongoing struggles or therapies. who were able to eat by mouth, weren’t on 20 different medications, walked and talked and still did everything on time.

I truly prayed so hard that would be our outcome— I didn’t want to imagine any other possibility. I didn’t want any of it.

slowly but surely, I started to recognize that THAT kind of miracle, wasn’t going to be our story.

I’ve had to accept that maybe our story serves a different purpose. maybe we represent a different kind of miracle.

🤍

05/07/2025

it was a happy 4th 🇺🇸❤️🤍💙

after being in our new house for almost 3 years, our neighborhood pool *finally* opened and to say we are THRILLED is an understatement. I grew up spending my summers at the pool with neighbor friends and I love that Rhett can experience that now, too, especially since he can’t play with Levi like he probably would like to.

with every holiday, comes a little sadness. watching (what feels like) most other families at the lake or on vacations that feel too hard for us, or watching younger kids toddling around the pool like Levi should be right now. grieving that I’ll never be able to sit back and watch my kids play in the pool together and that I’ll usually be carrying Levi around both in and out of the pool.

trying to focus on the fact that a) he really enjoys the water and b) our new pool has a handicap chair lift 🥹🫶🏼 grateful for those things, for sure!

overall, we had a really good day and made some great memories. but we also had toddler struggles and tantrums and had to ask Rhett to do things 15 times more than we should’ve, and had some struggles with Levi in the evening that led to us dividing and conquering - as always - and not getting to sit and enjoy fireworks as a family like we hoped to do.

I know these things are not unique to us only as a special needs family but damn can social media make you feel alone in it when you’re just seeing everyone’s holiday highlights. so I hope that helps someone else feel less alone if your day was far from perfect ❤️

so yes, there were some hard moments (hours) but the holiday was spent at home and I am always very grateful for that.

highlights shared here 😌 couldn’t pick just one of Levi’s huge smiles haha 🥹

ps: comment SHOP for links to Levi’s adaptive swimsuit and floatie that works great for him!

https://liketk.it/5hU5P

27/06/2025

don’t get me wrong. I appreciate people so much who try to comfort and support me and get me through when things feel hard.

the reality is, most people have no idea what to say because they have no idea what your life looks like & no, they cannot imagine it

but sometimes you just want to hear the truth

“this sucks”
“I’m sorry this happened”
“it doesn’t make sense”
“it’s not fair”
“I’m sorry every day feels so hard”

26/06/2025

quick & easyyyy meal inspo!!!! because I know a lot of you are busy parents like us and you just want something healthy-ish on the table that doesn’t take forever to prepare. amiright? 🥦🥞🥪🍝🫔🥗

here are some meals we’ve had lately and loved, or some of our tried & trues that we have on regular rotation. if you like this, I’ll share another set of ideas soon!

1) this Mongolian beef kit from was brand new to us recently and we loved it! a little small for two adults to split (especially the rice portion) but we bulked it up with even more veggies & rice and it was bomb!
2) the general tso’s chicken is 🔥🔥 I almost always keep it on hand. I cook the chicken in the air fryer and we always pair with rice and a veggie. better than takeout tbh.
3) this chicken bacon ranch casserole is SO GOOD. I’ve made it multiple times and it’s super easy - see modifications I made on the pic
4) healthier hamburger helper is amazing, so easy. we make it at least 2-3x a month probably. super easy to throw leafy greens in at the end for some extra! 🍃I always roast broccoli with it too
5) English muffin pizzas!!! so simple. I get whole grain ones usually. top with marinara or cream cheese, mozzarella and pepperoni or spinach, peppers, onions, whatever you like!

lmk if this was helpful, and drop your favorite meals that you have on rotation in the comments!

23/06/2025

I saw do a post like this the other day and loved it 😍 just some random favorites lately - favorite shows, games for kids, eats & more - and some posts I’ve saved cuz they were funny or true or both lol❣️

but you must stay for the video of Levi and Ethan 🥹🥹🥹 this is Levi’s version of giggling and it is the best. 🫶🏼

have a good week, friends!

07/06/2025

my people 🥹🫶🏼 thank you for these beautiful family photos 🤍 I couldn’t love them more if I tried!!!!

19/05/2025

it was the best weekend celebrating with the people I love most 🩷💛 heart is full tonight 🥹

cheers to year 33 for me, and 2 for mister Levi man 🫶🏼

12/05/2025

to say my motherhood journey looks different than i expected would be a massive understatement

so many days over the past two years, I have longed for a “normal” life
I’ve felt envious of other families
The ease they appear to experience for the littlest things, that feel out of reach for us

Some days I tear up at the simple sight of a mom holding her baby on her hip with one hand
It’s effortless for them

I’ve felt sad and bitter and angry
even when I’m aware I’m doing it, and know it’s unhelpful to harbor these emotions, some days I can’t help but get stuck there

the black hole of grief swallows me whole

I’ve cried “why us?” over and over again
I’ve felt scared and overwhelmed
I fear what else the future may hold — I wonder if it’ll ever get easier, or just keep getting harder

I constantly pray that my heart, soul — & most of all, my arms — are strong enough to carry it
All of it

Please God, give me the strength to carry it
To be capable of fulfilling this role you’ve given me
One that I’ll never understand or feel equipped for

AND…

becoming a first time mom to Rhett changed me
shifted my priorities
showed me a love I never knew existed
taught me to trust my intuition

becoming a mom to Levi... rocked me
it challenged me in ways I never imagined
forced me to be stronger than I ever wanted to be
showed me the absolute fiercest kind of love
taught me perspective
to find joy & gratitude in the smallest things

both my boys have taught me SO much, in very different ways.

they’ve both made me explode with pride over and over
brought me to happy tears countless times
Rhett melts me with his “I love you mama” and snuggles. his vocabulary blows me away daily.
Levi is the world’s best snuggler and has the best smile in the world that could turn anyone’s day around. his determination is incredible.

I am changed in all of the best ways because I’m their mom.

motherhood is so beautiful, humbling and hard as f**k. we show up every single day, even when it’s messy, and hard, & we’re running on empty.

my boys are my world and I’m so incredibly lucky they’re mine.

happy Mother’s Day to all the badass mamas out there. ♥️

Wellness For The Win

20/08/2025

14/08/2025

13/08/2025

11/08/2025

16/07/2025

05/07/2025

27/06/2025

26/06/2025

23/06/2025

07/06/2025

19/05/2025

12/05/2025

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