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things to help you survive the first trimester

Big sister book or shirt -- however you want to reveal it to friends & fam! Sea Bands NAPS Prenatal vitamins Almonds, greek yogurt & almond butter Water bottle An empty wine bottle

postpartum favorites

Ah, postpartum life! The glorious fourth trimester!! While I am sad I'll never again get a precious squishy newborn to sniff and fawn over, there are certain things I do NOT miss as much... an equally squishy deflated postpartum belly, night sweats with a vengeance, a sweet tooth that cannot be tamed, insanely painful engorged boobs, and you know -- all that glamorous bleeding and leaking.  However, there have been certain things that have made postpartum life significantly easier to manage... like such. Belly Bandit binder My Brest Friend breastfeeding pillow Boob Sweat sopper Lactation cookies Coffee & french press High-waisted leggings (like Zella or Girlfriend Collective, or 90 Degrees) Lansinoh nursing pads Lalabu tank Ergo 360 & infant insert

chocolate chip cookies that boost my milk supply even a year postpartum!

Hey mamas! It may be my utter inability to control myself around these things, but I've made a couple of batches of these oatmeal chocolate chip cookies over the past month and have woken up with my boobs literally soaking through my sheets. YIKES! My daughter just turned one year old and despite her nursing less frequently (1. She has to prove she's a big girl now and eat all the big people food, 2. She loves to steal her sister's sippy cup of cow milk these days, and 3. She has pretty much always hated taking bottles), I have literally had to pump to avoid mastitis and super painful engorged boobs... at over a YEAR postpartum! They also happen to be Drew's favorite cookie and were a huge hit at our small group the other week, so rest assured these aren't just for the dairy cows among us. ;) Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies Ingredients: 1 cup butter, unsalted (softened to room temperature) 3/4 cup sugar 3/4 cup brown sugar, packed 1 tsp kosher salt

the best budget aldi finds

After a slightly traumatic (self-inflicted) financial setback in December last year, I have been bound and determined to cut costs wherever I can and become a much better steward of the finances God has entrusted us with. I met with a financial planner just before Christmas (a FREE service offered by the state of Tennessee, mind you -- a resource I discovered thanks to a friend's recommendation) and one of the areas we saw was eating us alive financially was groceries / food / restaurants. YIKES! Is there anything more painful than knowing the biggest drain of your hard-earned money is going towards something disposable/perishable/temporarily-enjoyed like food? We do love to eat -- good food is a priority for us; we like to eat healthy (and have to, honestly, for my autoimmune disease); and we enjoy the process of cooking/eating (well, Drew more so than me, but I'm working on it!). That said, we committed ourselves to starting the year on Whole30 and getting a hell of a lot s

why this

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I am a chronic blog starter; I have so many interests, I'm split in a thousand directions. I have a business blog, a wedding blog, a cooking blog, a baking blog, a married lifestyle blog, a motherhood blog... you name it, I've started one (and inevitably fizzled out from writing consistently). I write because I love to read -- I love living vicariously through other mothers' writings on their families, I scour through resources from people sharing in my experiences, I reference and bookmark ideas that speak to me or inspire me. I read blogs religiously -- the fluffy, the consumer-driven, the self-helpy. I want to be a resource, too. I have experience in a lot of areas! I'm a mom of two, semi-recently diagnosed type 1 diabetic, event planner, business owner, wife of five years, foodie, Charlestonophile, yoga teacher, barre fanatic. I love to encourage and speak truth into others. I have knowledge and experience I would love to share with other people. And I p