It’s no surprise that parents like us are getting creative when it comes to juggling our kids, work, and “me” time. I am often asked how I am able to fit in my meditation practice while I have both young kids at home in quarantine. Simple answer: I include them. Today I am partnering with Brilli, to show you three easy ways to set up your mindfulness space with kids (even if it’s in the middle of the kitchen).
Read MoreLike most households, this time during quarantine has presented logistical challenges for parents. Perry and I are doing what we can to make our work schedules fit around the kids’ needs. Winter has not attended pre-school since the beginning of March, so twice a week, I use Lennon’s naptime to have a pre-planned Mommy/Daughter date to be able to spend quality time with her. Below are the three go-to’s she always asks for.
Read MoreLennon is starting to wean and is really only nursing in the morning and before bed. It’s such a bitter-sweet time for me because I am truly honored to nurse him, but I am also ready to wean. I am ready to end the chapter of baby making, baby growing, baby birthing and baby nursing. I don’t take any of these experiences for granted even for a minute, but I do look forward to moving on from this stage of life.
Read MoreMy dear friends asked me what I wanted to do to celebrate my 35th birthday this year and I immediately reverted into my punk rock/rastafari teenage self (cue Bob Marley music and purple-tipped hair here) and said “oh, let's create vision boards.”
I went straight back to my fifteen-year-old self when every single one of my school binders was covered in magazine collages highlighting my celebrity crushes (hi Brandon Boyd from Incubus), words that inspired me, places I wanted to travel to, and more.
Read MoreWoah. Talk about a major break from blogging. I have been so swept up in motherhood and in launching my wellness company, Mindful Mamas, that I haven’t even had time to breathe let alone write for Love & LaRock.
It’s been my biggest honor to take you behind the scenes into my life. Shy away from the hard topics? Not me! I’ve taken you into the depths of postpartum depression, the ups and downs of marriage and motherhood, navigating career changes, and more. Today, I want to pull back the curtains a bit and talk about what it’s been like to pour our entire life-savings into my new business venture, Mindful Mamas—a wellness company geared toward teaching moms and moms-to-be how to live their best life through self-care and mindfulness.
So ready to get the deets? I am answering the top question I have received on how running a start-up company has affected and enhanced my marriage. Let’s do this.
Read MoreOh the holidays. Now that we have two kids, we are traveling less to be with family, and inviting the family to come to us instead. I don’t know about you, but I find that I vacillate between two buckets of thinking when it comes to the holidays. Bucket A includes ecstatic emotions, smiling as big as Buddy from Elf when he finds out Santa is coming to the North Pole, and becoming fully engrossed in daydreaming about how our family traditions will be experienced by my two small children. Bucket B, on the other hand, rudely points out that I have two full time jobs, I have little to no time to do things like clean the house, and I have massive stress about the logistics of hosting. What will everyone eat? What activities should I plan?
Read MoreThis summer, I made a conscious decision to better nurture myself in the morning. I was so used to waking up and diving headfirst into the hustle and bustle that by the time 9 AM rolled around, I was already feeling depleted. I partnered with MegaFood® to bring you 5 quick and effective ways to make sure you are making time for self-care in the morning.
Read MoreThe mantra, “Sometimes the body takes a back seat while the heart is busy” came during a thirteen hour work day. My partner and I were preparing a pitch deck for a potential investor that wanted to see our plans to bring The Mindful Mamas Club to life in the form of a self-care and mindfulness app for mothers and mothers-to-be. We had been working tirelessly and during a quick stretching break, we were laughing about how tight and stiff our bodies felt.
Read MoreToday, I am sharing ways to incorporate mindfulness into our reading practice. I’m excited to be featuring Dr. Seuss’ book Oh, The Places You'll Go! as it’s about exploring and dreaming with our purest intentions and goals—a journey into mindfulness.
Oh, the Places You’ll Go! was given to both Winter and Lennon as baby shower gifts. My hope is to bring the book along on our journey with the children, as they grow, learn and evolve. I was given the sweetest advice by another mama, to have each of my children’s teachers sign the book at the end of each school year, and to continue this tradition all the way to their high school graduation, where Perry and I give it to them as a graduation gift. This allows them to see the places they have been, each person who has had an impact in their lives along the way and to bring a renewed excitement for the places they will go.
Read MoreSo a few weeks ago I posted a story series announcing our decision to sleep train. I was overwhelmed with the amount of people who wanted to know how it went, so I decided to write up a quick summary on our experiences. While most people were curious, I did get a few hateful messages about our decision and so I kindly ask that you read this without judgement.
It is pretty difficult to be so transparent about my life on such a social platform, but I do it because the positives outweigh the negative. I think the coolest part about parenting is that there isn’t a one size fits all philosophy. YOU get to decide what’s best for your children! So without further rambling, here is our story.
Read MoreBack in November, just after Winter’s 3rd birthday, our nanny gave us two-day notice that she was quitting because she got another job. TWO DAYS! Perry and I looked at each other in a panic because here we were with a newborn, both trying to work from home and Winter’s world had completely been flipped upside down.
After getting over the shock that we lost our childcare, we had to regroup and do so rather quickly. We got so lucky that our neighborhood Montessori preschool had an opening and we started Winter that following week.
Read MoreA little bit ago, I polled you on stories asking what you wanted to see from us in terms of marriage posts. One of the topics that was mentioned the most was how we divide, conquer and balance household responsibilities, childcare, work and social life.
I recognize that everyone has their own way of doing things…ours isn’t perfect, but I think what has helped is that we really honor each others’ strengths and acknowledge our weaknesses. I know what I thrive at and what I don’t. Perry knows what he is a capable of and what he prefers not to do and somehow we overlap each other to make it work. When we moved in together when we were engaged, it took us a longggg time to figure this stuff out. But after eight years of living together, I think we are on the right track!
Read MoreIt has been five months with Lennon. Five whole months! I am so happy I have a mindfulness practice because if I didn’t stop to savor these moments, I would feel so sad with how incredibly fast it has gone.
Lennon is blowing raspberries, rolling over from tummy to back and from back to tummy, wanting to spend all day in his jumper and has the most joyful belly laugh in the world. He continues to be our easy-going child. He goes with the flow and hardly ever makes a fuss. Winter is by far his favorite person on the planet and he giggles and smiles all the time when she is around.
One labor of love that I want to do for my kids is make them a baby book. I say labor of love, because creating baby books is a bit time consuming but I know well worth it!!
Read MoreIn January, I realized that I was working too much. Every spare moment I had was spent on the computer. I really like being a working mother. My work is my passion and I don’t for a second take it for granted. However, when it began to interfere with time spent with my family, I knew I needed to do some soul searching about my priorities and adjust some things.
I wrote a reminder on my mirror that says, “Today you will work and you work hard. And then you will shut it all down and be with family. Today you will love and you love hard too! You have time to do both things.”
Read MoreEvery month, I will be going live on my Instagram stories to interview and feature someone doing really incredible work. I will interview those who are selfless, resilient, giving and uplifting. People like Casey, who are just all around so infectious and amazing to be around.
Read MoreAs a first time Mom, I used to pack everything in my diaper bag! I found myself being anxious about not having this or that, so I would pack it ALL!
My overpacking turned into the very thing that gave me anxiety because when I was out and about, I would have to sift through so much stuff to try to find the item I was looking for. I learned quickly that packing and bringing too much with me negatively affected my mindset.
So for my own well-being, I had to say bye to my Mary Poppins mentality and hello to a simpler version.
Surrounding Lennon’s birth, Perry and I made a conscious effort to minimize our belongings in our house, and get better about packing smarter, not more.
I found that when I pack with purpose, intention and a plan, my outings with Lennon and Winter run smoother and seamlessly. The more time I spend on the front end getting organized, the less time I spend in the long run when I am needing to access to our belongings.
Read MoreI have been thinking LONG and hard about this. I will be the first to admit…because my work is in social media, this is a topic that I continue to come back to time and time again. I am constantly “checking” myself and asking Perry to help keep me accountable when it comes to my social media intake and habits.
Let’s be real here for a moment: I am a 34-year-old adult and there are moments when social media affects my self-esteem and self-worth. I fall victim to comparing my creative work to others, wondering why I don’t have as many likes or followers as so and so and really begin to question what my purpose is on this space.
Read MoreLet’s talk about self-love and bravery for a second. Bravery is NOT telling myself that I need to get my pre-baby body back. Because when I even mutter the words “get my body back” I am telling myself that something is wrong with the way I look right now.
The braver version of myself is softer, squisher, wiser, and full of smile lines etched upon my sleep deprived face. Bravery is acceptance. Bravery is me.
Read MoreI know I am a wee bit late on getting this blog post live, but I did want the chance to write about what the first three months of Lennon’s life was like and here it is. Below is a little round up of common questions I get asked and my thoughts on each topic!
Read MoreNever in a million years did I think a platform that I began creating content for would end up replacing my job as a psychologist and allow me to work from home with my babies. I am so grateful! This is my FIRST full year going at this content creator/entrepreneurial gig and I know the learning curve is going to continue to be steep!
I want to take you all behind the scenes as intimately as I can. There are no hard and fast rules on owning your business and everything I have learned up until this point has been completely self-taught.
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