I’ve been journaling ever since I could write.

My first journal was a Little House on the Prairie journal where you wrote about your best friend and what you liked to do together. It had a purple plaid border on it and a picture of sisters Laura and Mary Ingalls on the cover. I’m pretty sure it even came with a locket.

Over the years I’ve filled several notebooks, diaries, blog posts, and journals with my thoughts and feelings. My parents still have them all in a box in their storage unit! I love journaling for lots of different reasons, and I’ve gone through periods of writing every day to more recently, writing every few weeks. Keeping a journal has always been a big part of my life, and I honestly love doing it!

There are lots of reasons I enjoy journaling, but I’ve narrowed it down to my top five reasons I love to journal, and why you should journal, too, and I wanted to share them today! If you’ve wanted to get into journaling but haven’t ever felt motivated enough, this is a great post to help you get started!

Five Reasons I Love to Journal

1. Journaling improves my emotional and mental wellbeing

Sometimes when I sit down and try to process my feelings, I get distracted or quickly think of other things I should be doing (mom problems, am I right?). But if I sit down and write down how I’m feeling, I’m able to identify, accept, and process what I’m feeling, good or bad.

Sitting down and journaling also helps me get clarity when I’m trying to figure things out. I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve felt lost at the start of a journaling session and then by the end, felt so much clearer.

Journaling helps me get perspective and recognize what exactly it is that I’m worrying about. It helps me both emotionally and mentally because it helps me understand and cope with the feelings and thoughts that I have. We all have rough days, especially as moms, and when we’re feeling overwhelmed or stressed or like we’re about to snap, sitting down and journaling helps a ton! There’s really nothing quite like journaling to regain peace and direction in your life!

2. Journaling is a way to document things for my posterity

I want my kids and my future grandkids to know what my life was like, what I went through, what I learned, and how I felt about different challenges and events in my life. I know very little about my grandparents and their lives, and I don’t want that to be the case for my kids and grandkids. Journals are such great records for posterity, and that’s one reason I love to journal.

I also have one journal for each of my kids that I call their “memory journals,” where I record what they’re like at different ages, funny things they do or say, and little updates about them each year on their birthdays. I know when they’re older and I give them to them, they’re going to be special treasures that they hold dear. And I love writing these things in journals because it makes them even more personal and unique gifts!

3. Keeping a journal helps me remember things

I am notoriously forgetful, and I know that if I didn’t write down how I felt during events in my life, I would definitely forget the details. Journaling is a way to help me remember the little things that mean so much to me. I love to write about the quiet moments when my kids have fallen asleep in my arms, how it felt to hold them for the first time, and what it was like when my husband and I first started dating. It’s fun for me to read these journal entries and have the memories come flooding back to me. There are some things you just never want to forget, and journaling makes it so that I don’t have to worry about that!

4. I’m a better writer than speaker and I get my thoughts down better when I write

As much as I would love to be a motivational speaker, I’d be terrible at it. Even sometimes in regular conversations my thoughts get away from me and things just come out a mess. I’m a much better writer and when I write, I am able to get my thoughts down a lot better. I don’t know if it’s taking the time before writing or making sure that I use the right words, but I’m definitely better at writing than speaking. So it makes sense that in order for me to get clarity, sometimes I need to write things down rather than talk them out with someone.

5. Reading my journal entries helps me see how much I’ve grown

Self-reflection is an important part of journaling, and I’m able to learn a lot about myself when I go back and read old journal entries. I can reflect on how far I’ve come, mistakes I’ve made and what I’ve learned from them, and really see who I am and what makes me who I am. I can also read entires right after I’ve written them and gain new insight and direction.

It’s important to journal so that you can go back and see all the challenges you went through and what you learned. Going back and reading old journal entries helps me remember past blessings I’ve received and helps me see how much I’ve grown, through high school, college, my early married life, having my first baby, all the way up to now.

I truly love journaling. It’s a wonderful outlet when I’m feeling stressed, it’s a great way to keep a record of my life, and it helps improve my emotional and mental wellbeing.

I also think that there’s really a way to make journaling enjoyable no matter who you are. There are so many different kinds of journals and pens to choose from, you can include pictures or old ticket stubs or even family recipes! There are even apps that can help you journal by giving you prompts or ideas to get started!

There are so many reasons why you should keep a journal. All you have to do is find what works for you and get started!

The post 5 Reasons Why You Should Keep a Journal appeared first on Life With My Littles.

Well I finally got my 7-week-old to sleep. After trying two different swaddles, a pacifier, patting his back until my new mom tendinitis kicked in, rocking him, and trying to nurse him three separate times, he is finally in his crib sound asleep. At least until he wakes up in two hours and we get to go through it all again.

Being a mom is hard. From the second you find out you’re pregnant and have to spend the next eight months feeling nervous, uncomfortable, and tired all the time, being a mom is hard.

Then you have to push a 7 or 8 pound watermelon-sized baby out of a teeny, tiny hole, and even with an epidural that’s still no walk in the park.

Then you go through the newborn stage where you are more tired than you’ve ever been before, sleep only in two-hour increments, and constantly have some kind of bodily fluid on your shirt. You change endless diapers and feel like you’re an on-demand milk factory, not to mention that if you have older kids who also need taking care of, you’ll feel stretched very thin because they’ll need feeding and care and attention, too.

We recently had a day that started at 5am with the 4-year-old and 2-year-old waking up before the sun and getting out toys to play with. That night my 7-week-old had only gotten a few hours of sleep, and the rest of the time he spent crying and eating, which meant that I had only gotten a few hours of sleep, and the rest of the time I spent trying to calm him and feeding him. We decided to go to Target to bolster our moods and get a few groceries and of course, my daughter dropped half a bag of popcorn all over the floor. Later in the day while I was feeding baby boy, my older two were playing in the backyard. When I finished, I went out to tell them to come inside and found that they had been playing with the water tap on the side of the house and were both soaking wet and covered in mud. I gave them both baths while our colicky newborn cried in his bouncer the whole time. Not to mention that on this particular day, my husband was working from 7am-10pm. I was asleep with the TV and lights on when he came home.

Sometimes I have moments where I feel completely overwhelmed and I’m just in survival mode trying to make sure everyone is fed and has clean diapers or undies on. Sometimes I don’t enjoy being a mom. It’s hard having to wake up every two hours every night to take care of a baby with colic, and sometimes, I feel like I’ve lost a big part of myself. Life is very loud and very wet these days. There are times when I don’t know how I’m going to make it without a few more hours of sleep.

And that’s okay. It’s okay if you don’t enjoy every moment of motherhood. Nobody said you had to enjoy being covered in spit-up and running on 3 hours of sleep while cleaning up a bowl of cereal your toddler spilled at breakfast.

There are times when everybody is crying and I feel like I’m about to lose it, too. Sometimes, I do lose it. Sometimes I have to lock myself in the bathroom so I can have a break from being touched by one of the tiny human beings I made. Sometimes it’s all I can do to regain my composure and gather the strength I need to go back out again.

There is nothing else in the world that has brought me the spectrum of emotions that I have gone through having and raising my kids, and I’ve only been a mom for four years. It’s physically exhausting, often maddening, and sometimes it hurts my heart, but oddly, I have never been so happy.

I wouldn’t want anyone else to have my job of raising these three perfect, albeit messy and wild, children. I love being the one who does things for my kids. I love that I am the one they come to if they scrape their knees or get their feelings hurt. That’s my job, and I don’t want anybody else to have it.

Yes, this is just another blog post about how being a mom is hard but worth it, but can we ever really read enough of those kind of posts? I say no. We can always benefit from encouragement and support and from knowing that we aren’t going through this alone. It takes a village to raise a mother. We’re never alone, and it’s okay if you don’t enjoy every moment of motherhood.

Being a mom is hard. But part of the job description is that we never stop trying. Eventually, we figure it out and before you know it, the part we thought was hard is over. I may be in the trenches right now, but I know that one day, I’ll look back and remember the good moments along with the bad.

And so will you. You’ve got this, mama.

This post was originally published March 27, 2017.

The post Being a Mom is Hard–And That’s Okay appeared first on Life With My Littles.

Hey, Mamas! Not only has it been a while since I’ve shared a currently post (not since OCTOBER), but it’s been a few weeks since I’ve shared any kind of post! I took two weeks off for the holidays and it was so nice! When you own your own business, you sometimes have to make yourself take time off, or you won’t ever stop working! So every year I take time off in the summer and for Christmas, and it was very refreshing this time!

Since my last currently post, we’ve celebrated Halloween (we were Batman villains), celebrated Thanksgiving, and celebrated Christmas (my parents got to come to town for Christmas, which was a nice treat!). And I guess you can count New Year’s, too, but it’s not as exciting as the other three holidays!

We also finally got to go to another Jazz game here in Minnesota (they won and our oldest son got to come with us!), and J also started basketball (my husband is the coach!).

I redesigned my blog (please tell me you’ve noticed!), changed my weekly email, Mamadvice, to be more useful, helpful, and interesting, and accomplished one of my goals for 2019 (I wanted to run 500 miles in 2019, I ran over 580 miles).

We’ve played in the snow, built some snowmen and a snow fort, shoveled snow, and played with snow inside. It’s definitely winter here in Minnesota. And unfortunately, it will be for like three more months.

We’re doing good over here, and now that we’re all caught up, here’s what’s coming up for us in the next few months:

Resolving to make no resolutions. Yes, you read that right. I decided that I am not making any goals or resolutions this year. Honestly, I’m not good at sticking to them when they are big, yearly goals, and I also kind of just don’t want to. I’m happy with how things are, and just because I don’t have formal resolutions doesn’t mean I’m not going to continue to improve and work on bettering myself!

Celebrating my husband finishing his residency in two months. Four years of undergrad, four years of medical school, one year of residency in Texas, and two and a half years of residency in Minnesota. There’s a light at the end of the tunnel, guys! We got married when he was two years into his undergrad, so I’ve basically been with him on this long journey the entire way. He’s officially done on March 6th, he’s already passed his family medicine boards (so he’s officially certified!), and he’s got a job lined up to start just a few miles from our house. I am so, so proud of him, and so, so excited for him to finally start reaping the benefits of all his hard work.

Starting to think about our garden! Gardening has become such a big part of our lives the last few years, and I can’t wait to start planning and planting our little seedlings in a few weeks! There are some things we planted last year that we don’t want to plant again, and lots of things (like our tomatoes and peppers) that we definitely want to plant again. Although I still have about 15 jars of canned salsa in the basement!

Potty training the youngest! Guys, we might never have to buy diapers again! Last Thursday we went all in and decided to potty train him. He’s been doing great, and has even used the potty at the gym a few times, at church, and at a gas station. I can hardly imagine not having to carry around diapers anymore. I’ve had diapers in my life for almost seven years, so this is a pretty big deal for us! We just have to figure out how to get him to poop in the potty now!

Well I can’t think of anything else anyone would possibly find interesting that’s going on besides those things, so I’ll wrap it up now. Thanks for all your support and here’s to 2020!!

The post Currently: Winter 2020 appeared first on Life With My Littles.

Hey guys! It’s been a while since I’ve done a currently post (which has been on purpose) and I’m excited to fill you in on what’s been going on behind-the-scenes over here!

What’s been up:

Turned 30! What what! The big 3-0! I love being 30! My husband threw me a big party with so many friends and a big inflatable obstacle course. We had some adult competitions and it was a lot of fun! Plus there was pizza and cake and we had great weather, so it was wonderful. I’m more than two months into my thirties and I can honestly say I’m loving it!

Took a trip to Colorado. I grew up in Colorado and we were fortunate to be able to have a “family reunion” in the mountains in July. I say that with quotes because our family only consists of my parents, my sister and me, our husbands, and our collective five kids. We had three dogs there too, so it was a full house. We visited Winter Park and played games and celebrated birthdays and had a fun time. We don’t get together very often so we’re glad we made it work!

Ran another half marathon! Guys, how crazy is that? I’ve run three half marathons since April! If you’d have told me that I’d be running three half marathons in less than six months I’d be like girl, you’re crazy. But I did! It’s so fun to have something that I truly enjoy doing and can actually challenge myself with. I’m not a very fast runner, but I can run far! (Just don’t ask me to sign up for a marathon!)

Gardening! Our garden has been so much more productive this year, and we are taking full advantage of it. We have had so many tomatoes and peppers and I’ve canned over 15 jars of salsa (and it’s delicious, I might add!). My friend taught me how to can so I’ve basically been canning as much as I can (get it?). Plus we have had onions and celery and potatoes and raspberries and strawberries and cantaloupe and corn and carrots and spinach and lettuce and beautiful flowers. I wish I could garden all year round! 

School started! My oldest is now in first grade, my daughter is in her second year of preschool, and our toddler still stays at home with me. School is going well for everyone and we’re settled into a nice little routine. It’s so fun listening to my six-year-old learn to read. We’ve had conferences for him and his teacher said he’s doing great, which didn’t surprise us but is still always great to hear. At the start of last year our daughter was super shy and not at all social, but within a week or two of school this year she knew at least five kids’ names, so we’re proud of how she’s grown, too. 

Also, we went to the Minnesota State Fair, my daughter turned 5, my 6-year-old did his first triathlon, we did a Tough Mudder 5k and a trail duathlon, went up North, and Penelope got spayed.

What I’m excited for: 

Latter-day Mamas. My sister and I have started a new Instagram account for supporting, inspiring, uplifting, and encouraging moms of faith, with an emphasis on sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ as taught by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints! I’ve been trying to find a way to share my beliefs and help other mamas strengthen their faith, and I’m so excited that I get to do both of those things with my sister by my side! We plan on sharing tips for teaching the gospel to kids, holding on to faith during trials, resources for the Come Follow Me curriculum, quotes from prophets and apostles, and anything else we think will help you find happiness and strength as you minister to those around you and strengthen your own testimony. This account is for members and non-members alike who want to grow closer to Jesus Christ. No matter where you are on your faith journey, whether you’re investigating the Church or a life-long member, whether you have doubts or a strong testimony, we encourage you to follow along! 

Halloween. Halloween is one of my top three favorite holidays, and I’m so excited it’s only a few weeks away! We already have all of our costumes ready (I’m going to share hints about what we’re being on Instagram so keep an eye out) and I’m helping out in my son’s Halloween/fall party at school. And my husband actually gets to come trick-or-treating with us this year, so that will be a huge bonus! Yay Halloween!

Doing fall things. Pumpkin patches, apple picking (we’ve already gone once but want to go again!), drinking fall drinks and eating pumpkin treats, playing in the leaves, wearing sweaters, all of it. I really like fall, and as long as it doesn’t snow before Halloween, I’m going to be a happy camper!

Reassessing LWML. Now that I’ve been able to kind of slow down here on Life With My Littles with just one blog post a week and a more focused and planned Instagram account, I feel like I might want to make some changes again. The internet is constantly changing and it’s so hard to keep up and always know what to do and what not to do. But I have 2+ hours four days a week while my daughter is in school and my youngest naps to get some serious work done, and I feel like I want to really take advantage of that. I want to maybe change my newsletter Mamadvice (I love the name, but not sure I want to keep doing it the way I have been), get more focused on my purpose/mission statement to help moms enjoy their lives, and maybe even do a big overhaul of the blog. We’ll see, though. It’s definitely going to take some time if that’s what I decide to do!

Well that’s it, friends! As always, thanks for following along and reading and sharing my posts! Helping fellow mamas is what keeps me going!

The post Currently: Fall 2019 appeared first on Life With My Littles.

Hey mamas!

It’s been a few months since I shared a currently post, and I am happy to report that I am feeling so much better about everything! Yay! You may remember that I was feeling lost and stuck and like I didn’t have enough time to work and be with my kids and because of the change I made to only post once a week, do one currently a quarter, and one Honest Birth post a month, I feel AWESOME! No more stress from my blog! Which is exactly how it should be! 

So many great things have happened since my last currently post, too! I think since I’m only doing these four times a year, I’ll do a section about things that happened, and a section about things that are coming up! 

What’s New 

Ran two half marathons and a mud run. Remember how I was training for the runDisney Star Wars Half Marathon in April? Well I did it and it was awesome! And then I decided since I was already running far, I would sign up for another local half marathon. And THEN I also signed up for a 5k mud run (which I’ve always wanted to do!). So many runs, feeling so awesome, and I’m glad I finally found some type of exercise I enjoy! 

Cheered for my husband in Grandma’s Marathon. My husband did the Star Wars Half and then was like “Psh, that was easy” and he signed up for a full marathon! Such a boss! We all went up to Duluth two weeks ago and cheered for him at the finish line. It was so much fun, he ran in honor of his dad for the AFSP, and he finished in under five hours, despite a bunch of injuries and pain leading up to the race. We made matching shirts and posters to cheer for him and had the best time. So proud of that guy!

Adopted a goldendoodle puppy. Yeah, if you know me this one is probably like WHAT? But we did. My husband has been puppy shopping for a while without me being on board, and one day in April we went for a drive to a breeder and after a lot of deliberation, we got her. Her name is Penelope, she’s really soft and pretty, and she’s already 6 months old (today, actually). She’s a very good puppy (I keep telling myself), even if she does chew shoes and bark a lot.

Enjoying school being out. We’re having so much fun this summer! This is our first real summer vacation since J finished kindergarten last month, and we’ve been really trying to make the most of it. Movies, parks, splash pads, the library, and fun at home. Summer is so fun!

Growing a way better garden than last year! Oh my goodness, the second year of gardening is so much better than the first. Our garden took a lot of work to set up and we made some mistakes last year, but this year it’s going GREAT! Our peas are as tall as me, and we’ve harvested TONS of strawberries. My flowers are beautiful, everything is growing so well and beautifully, and we’re going to have tons of strawberries and like 1,000 peas soon. It makes me so happy just to go out and stand in our garden! We even caught some ladies standing outside it taking pictures last week (it’s really impressive, IMO).

Visited Iowa (and ate at all of our favorite places!) last weekend. We decided to take a trip down to our old stomping grounds and visit Des Moines! My husband went to medical school at Des Moines University and graduated in 2016, so it was a lot of fun to go back for a few days. J and A were both born there, so we showed them around and where we used to live and stuff. But the best part was definitely the food! Zombie Burger, Jethro’s, Scratch, and the Des Moines Farmer’s Market were so, so good. It was a great weekend! 

Rocking bangs. In May I decided to give myself bangs! I love them, my husband does not. But honestly, he can deal because I really like them and have enough confidence that I don’t care if he doesn’t like them!

Writing for the Twin Cities Moms Blog. I talked about this last time, but I’ve had two posts go up and got to go to a professional photo shoot and meet some new mama friends! It’s such a big honor because I’ve wanted to be a part of it for a few years, so I’m still thrilled about it! 

What I’m Excited For

Training for more races. Crazy, right? My husband and I are doing a duathlon relay (he bikes, I run) and a 5k Tough Mudder this month, and then I’m getting ready for another half marathon in September. I realized that if i don’t sign up for things my motivation to push myself wanes, so I signed up for more!

Turning 30 this month! This one’s a big one! I’m actually super excited about it and not sad in the slightest. Almost all of my friends are in their 30s, so I feel like I’m joining an awesome club. I’m going to bake myself a cake and enjoy my day and just have fun with my friends and family. 30!

Driving to Colorado for a reunion. I don’t know if you can call it a reunion technically since it’s just my parents, my sister’s family, and my family, but that’s the whole crew, so we think it’s a reunion. We’re renting a cabin in the Rocky Mountains and it’s going to be a lot of fun! My sister has two boys so the kids are really excited, and it will be fun to be together for a few days! Plus, we’ll be celebrating my dad’s birthday (the 4th of July), my birthday (the 16th of July), my sister’s birthday (the 23rd of July), my nephew’s birthday (August 1st), and I think my daughter’s birthday (September 4th). So it’s basically going to be a giant birthday party for half the family while we’re there.

Harvesting lots of yummy fruits and vegetables! We’ve already had lots of strawberries and lettuce and spinach, but I’m excited to harvest even more! Peas, potatoes, corn, raspberries, celery, onions, broccoli, carrots, and cantaloupe. I think that’s everything else that will be ready this year! It’s so fun and fulfilling to eat food you grew yourself! Especially from seed! I just love my little plant babies!

Well that’s it! We’ve had a lot going on and some fun things coming up! Hope everyone’s having a super fun summer!

The post Currently: Summer 2019 appeared first on Life With My Littles.

A few months ago, I was stuck. Not like having-a-hard-time-finishing-a-blog post stuck, but like what-am-I-even-doing-and-how-am-I-going-to-keep-doing-this stuck. It was rough. 

I felt stuck, and I was having a hard time figuring out how to stop feeling stuck and get things back on track. I felt lost and like I didn’t know where I wanted to go with my blog, like there was just not enough time in the day to get everything done that I wanted, and like I was losing my motivation and desire to keep this space going. The little behind-the-scenes things that I have to do to keep my site running and get my posts out there were draining me and making it hard to keep going.

I’m assuming if you’re reading this, you know exactly what I’m talking about. Everybody has times in their lives when they feel stuck. It might be in your job, in your relationships, in your responsibilities, or in achieving your goals. Sometimes giving up and walking away seems like less work than continuing to figure it out and solve the problem. 

You may have guessed that since I’m still here writing I figured it out and got un-stuck. There were a few things that completely turned it around for me, and today, I want to share them with you. I want to tell you how to stop feeling stuck, get your motivation back, and find fulfillment in your life!

And if you’re thinking that I’m only talking about blogging, I’m not. You can apply these tips to stop feeling stuck in whatever it is you’re stuck in, and I’m positive they’ll help!

Here we go!

How to Stop Feeling Stuck

1. Give yourself a break.

Take a step back, whether that’s for a day or for a week or two. It’s okay to need a break, and depending on what it is you’re stuck in, you can give yourself a long one or a short one. Obviously if you’re feeling stuck in something like motherhood you can’t really take a week off, but you can ask your husband to take over for a night while you go to dinner and a movie by yourself. There’s always a way to give yourself a break.

I love writing and creating content to help other mamas enjoy their lives, but I also needed to remember that my priority is to my family and my health, and when those things suffer, I need to step back and give myself a break!

2. Remember your why.

This is a biggie. No matter what it is you’re stuck in, there’s a reason you got started in it in the first place. Sometimes our “why” gets swallowed up in all the menial tasks we have to do, and we forget what really led us to that thing in the first place. 

One afternoon I sat down with a pen and a piece of paper and wrote down my why, where I want to go (basically what I want to accomplish in the future), why I couldn’t stop, and what was holding me back. Sure, I knew all these things in my mind, but it was a total game-changer to see them written down on paper (especially the “what’s holding me back?” answers).

3. Make a plan.

Your plan might be one or two steps or it might be ten. You can start from the beginning or you can start from the end and work your way back. Sometimes even just having a few simple things you know you can do is enough to get you un-stuck. Look at your answers to “what’s holding me back?” and “where do I want to go?” and use the solutions to make a plan. 

Doing all of this was kind of my plan, and it helped a lot. I also decided to cut back in a few places and give myself some slack (which is why I’m only posting once a week and doing one Honest Birth post per month now). I realized that I needed more time so I needed to be more intentional with my time. I also felt burned out so I decided to take breaks and try and remember that I don’t have to squeeze work into every bit of free time I have. 

It’s okay if you aren’t sure if your plan will work or if it seems more like a starting point than an actual plan. You have to start somewhere, and the rest of the steps will help you figure it out!

4. See how it works for a week or two.

Test it out! You may have struck gold or it may need a little bit of tweaking. You’re not going to know until you try your plan out. Follow your plan for a few weeks and see what happens!

5. Adjust your plan.

If your plan is going pretty well but it could be better, adjust it! Maybe you need to find more time or get some help. Find a way to do so. Maybe your plan is crap and hasn’t helped at all (I hope not!). Trash it and make a new plan. Not every plan will be great on the first try, but that’s okay! You have to be proactive about getting un-stuck because it’s not just going to happen on its own.

I recognized that my plan was going great. I was less stressed, felt like I had more time for my family (which was a big part of me being stuck), and I was enjoying blogging more. I actually haven’t made any adjustments yet, but I may soon with summer vacation right around the corner! 

6. Get help. 

It could be hiring an employee, asking a friend to watch the kids for one morning a week, inviting your husband or kids to pick up a few chores, or just finding someone to vent to. We’re not meant to do everything alone, and the bigger the aspiration, the bigger the team you’ll need. Getting help will look different for everyone, so figure out what it means to you and jump on it!

7. Re-evaluate.

Just because your plan is working for the first month or two, doesn’t mean it will continue to work down the line. Every so often re-evaluate how things are going. Like I said, I’m probably going to have to re-evaluate my plan once school is out and my kids are home during quiet time, and that’s okay. Different seasons in life call for different plans. 

You can do it!

Things can seem pretty bleak when you’re stuck. And figuring out how to stop feeling stuck is hard on your own. Hopefully these seven tips can help you get back on track and help remind you why you started the thing you’re stuck in in the first place. They worked for me and I really hope the work for you, too! 

There’s a time and a season for all things. You don’t have to run faster than you have strength, and you don’t have to chase every single one of your goals right now. Nobody can do it all, and no matter how put together we all seem, we’re all constantly figuring out how to make things work. And that’s fine.

You’re amazing and you can do it and you’ve got this, mama!

The post How to Stop Feeling Stuck appeared first on Life With My Littles.

At first I thought it was just bad PMS.

Last September, the week before I got my period I noticed that I wasn’t quite feeling like myself. I felt down, irritable, and unmotivated. I didn’t want to do anything, I was overwhelmed easily, and all my normal responsibilities felt like way too much to handle. But I knew I was due for my period so I assumed it was PMS. I had just switched to a hormone-free birth control, and I figured my body was probably adjusting and what I was going through was normal.

I asked people on Instagram what they did when their PMS got out of hand and the answers didn’t seem strong enough. “Eat some chocolate.” “Go to Taco Bell.” “Exercise.” “A good movie.” “Diet Coke.” “Ice cream.” These seemed like treatment for the PMS I had experienced in high school, not what I was feeling right now.

The next month it got worse. This out-of-control PMS started the week before my period and didn’t end until several days after I got my period. It was starting to impact my ability to function and be the mom, wife, and friend I normally was. I was spending my days laying on the couch while my kids watched hours of television, I wasn’t making dinner and we were picking up a lot of fast food, and I had even started wearing a hoodie with the hood pulled up over my head because it made me feel like I was hiding. I felt almost like two different people, my happy, normal, busy self during the first two-thirds of the month, and then like an irritable, unreliable zombie the last third of the month. It was horrible.

One day towards the end of my cycle, I broke down. I full on laid down on the carpet and sobbed. I tried to explain what was going on to my husband through tears, and he did his best to comfort me. Lucky for me he’s a doctor, and he thought he had an idea of what might be going on.

PMDD. Not PPD. Not PMS. PMDD. Four new letters that stood for something I hadn’t ever heard anyone mention before.

PMDD stands for premenstrual dysphoric disorder, and I refer to it as the evil cousin of PMS. PMDD feels like an out-of-control, emotional roller-coaster that you get on every month for 8-12 days. You recognize that you’re acting differently, but there’s very little you can do to stop it. It honestly feels like you’re going crazy. Scheduling and planning things becomes complicated because you have to plan outings and events around your cycle. Little things drive you crazy, you snap at the people closest to you, you have anxiety attacks out of nowhere, and all you want to do is lay in bed with your head under the covers. It’s miserable.

There’s not a lot of research done on PMDD because it’s a relatively new diagnosis. I had a hard time finding posts written by people who have actually gone through it, but after searching for a while, I found a few people who recommended trying St. John’s Wort and cutting back on caffeine. One of my good friends even confessed to me that she struggled with PMDD, too, and that St. John’s Wort had helped her.

In November, I tried taking St. John’s Wort starting at day 14 in my cycle and I did feel better by the end of the month. But in December, things didn’t go quite as well. I hadn’t been taking it as long because I tracked my cycle wrong, and the last few days were pretty rough. We had family in town and even my mother-in-law noticed I wasn’t acting like myself. I ended up taking two pills instead of one and it did seem to help, but then in January, the St. John’s Wort felt like it had lost its effectiveness. 

It was about this time that I remembered an episode from my favorite podcast Awesome With Alison where Alison talked about her struggle with anxiety. She said “Don’t wait to get help until it gets worse…Twelve more hours of suffering is twelve more hours of suffering. One more anxiety attack is one more anxiety attack, and there is no magic number or rule of breakdowns or feeling down that you need to hit in order to reach out to get help.” 

I knew that it was time to get help.

I knew that I couldn’t do this on my own anymore and that if I just kept waiting for it to get better on its own, it wasn’t going to happen. PMDD was affecting my relationships with my kids and my husband, my business, and my ability to fulfill my responsibilities. I didn’t want to stay miserable when I could get help.

I saw a doctor in January a few days before I was due to get my period. As soon as she asked me what was going on I broke down crying. I told her how I felt like two different people, how awful I felt from the time a week before my period to a few days after, how I was suffering and the people around me were suffering as a result, what I had tried to make it better, and how I just felt like I needed to reach out and get help. I had some blood tests that all came back normal and she prescribed some antidepressants and a vitamin D supplement. I went home feeling hopeful that things were going to turn around.

I wasn’t on the medicine long enough for it to help during that cycle, but in February, I could definitely tell a difference when my “crazy time” (as I had started calling it) rolled around. I felt 90% better. By March’s cycle, I felt like myself again. I was able to get things done on time, make dinner, and actually be there for my family. Some days are still hard and I’ve had to scale back my work a little in order to prevent the stress and anxiety from resurfacing, but for the most part, I’m figuring it out and feeling a lot better.

If you think you might be struggling with PMDD, find a doctor who will listen to you, show compassion, and help you feel like yourself again. There’s no reason to wait until it gets worse.

I’ve been on antidepressants for three months now, and it’s made a huge difference. I’m so grateful for modern medicine and that I recognized I needed to get professional help. It’s hard to admit that I was struggling so deeply, but I think it’s incredibly important to be honest and open about mental health. There’s nothing shameful about struggling with a mental disorder. 

Maternal Mental Health Awareness Week 2019

This week is Maternal Mental Health Awareness Week, sponsored by The Blue Dot Project, and it’s something I’m very passionate about. You can’t be the best mom you can be when you’re struggling with mental health disorders (as I’ve discovered first-hand), and there are so many different mental health disorders that mothers struggle with. Postpartum depression, prenatal depression, postpartum anxiety, postpartum psychosis, anxiety, depression, OCD, PTSD, bipolar disorder, and PMDD are all real, all heavy, and all incredibly difficult to deal with on top of the craziness of motherhood.

This year’s MMHW theme is #MakingOverMotherhood. The goal is to literally make over the way we talk about motherhood by talking about the things that mothers often hide–the real struggles. We all struggle with feelings of loneliness, guilt, worthlessness, sadness, and for many of us, these feelings are caused by mental health disorders.

The Blue Dot Project wants to make over the image of a perfect motherhood and the notion that moms can do it all without support. “With the prevalence of women suffering from maternal mental health disorders like postpartum depression as high as 1 in 5, acknowledging how difficult motherhood can be is critical to both potentially preventing these disorders by helping to set realistic expectations, and in letting women who are suffering know they are not alone” (from the MMHAW 2019 Press Release).

There’s no such thing as a perfect mother, and the goal of the campaign is to encourage moms to post photos of what’s really going on in their lives, including the things they don’t want people to see. Motherhood is hard for all of us, and it’s empowering and helps all of us when we share authentically without worrying about being judged or shamed.

Whether or not you’re struggling with PMDD, postpartum depression, or none of these things, I challenge you to participate in the #MakingOverMotherhood campaign. Share what’s really going on behind those happy, perfect pictures you post. Open up and let other moms know that things aren’t perfect, we all struggle, and that’s 100% okay. We shouldn’t feel ashamed to share the hard parts of motherhood, because they definitely exist for all of us. 

You’re doing a great job, mama.

Not everything we share with our girlfriends or post to social media has to be perfect, because real life isn’t perfect. We all have bad days mixed in with the good. It’s okay to share the bad, because it helps us all realize that we really aren’t alone in our struggles. You don’t have to feel 100% super awesome all the time (spoiler alert: no one does), and you don’t have to pretend like you are, either. We can’t help each other or truly be there for each other if we don’t open up and share when we’re feeling down or stressed or like we’re in a cloud. Next time you feel like crap and someone asks you how you’re doing, it’s okay to say not good. You’re allowed to have feelings, and oh how big those feelings are sometimes.

It took me a while to get to a place where I felt like I could talk about what was going on (remember, this started in September, over seven months ago, and I’ve only vaguely hinted to it on my blog before today), but I’m happy to share my story if it helps another mama going through PMDD or any other MMH disorder realize that it’s okay to ask for help. Don’t wait another day to get help. You’ve got this, mama.

If you think you might be struggling with PMDD and want someone to talk to, feel free to reach out to me at chelsea@lifewithmylittles.com.

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It’s spring! Finally! Seriously this winter has lasted FOREVER.

We had a good March. We celebrated J’s 6th birthday, went to Disney on Ice (our family tradition!), started our seeds for our garden, the snow melted and we got to play outside several times, we got to do a few fun things during J’s spring break, my husband and I went on a date and saw Jim Gaffigan, we ate lots of Girl Scout Cookies, and have finally gone more than two weeks without anyone getting sick. Things are finally looking up! 

Anyway, you may have noticed that the title of this currently post says “spring” instead of the current month, April. Well remember last month when I said I’d been feeling stuck? I took the time to sit down and really think about what needs to happen in my life to help me feel better. I love writing and creating and I knew that if I completely quit blogging I would have a big hole in my life. Instead of quitting, I decided to scale back a bit. There will be three main changes that you’ll notice moving forward:

1. I’m only going to share one Honest Birth post a month. This has kind of been happening for a while anyway because I’m having a hard time getting people who say they want to participate to actually send in their stories, but I’m going to make it official so I don’t stress about trying to find two people to share each month.
2. Instead of monthly currently posts, I’m going to do seasonal currently posts. So I’ll do a spring one (duh, this one), a summer one, a fall one, and a winter one. I like keeping everyone updated on what’s going on with us, but I feel like Instagram is more the place for that than this blog. 
3. I’m only going to be posting on my blog once a week. A few years ago, I decided to go from three posts a week to two posts, and it was great for a while. But now I’m only going to be doing one post a week. I’m going to work on writing better, more helpful content because helping other mamas is what this blog is all about.

So why the changes? Well besides feeling stuck, my kids are just at stages in their lives where they each need more individualized attention. They all have their own stuff going on and it takes a lot of energy and time to give them what they need. Personally, I’ve also been going through sort of a self-awareness journey, and as dumb as that sounds, I’ve been trying to figure myself out a little more. I have been feeling like I always need to be working in every spare moment I have (I’m blaming my dad for that workaholic part of my personality!), and it’s exhausting. I have lots of posts I want to update and a lot of stuff that I need to get done behind-the-scenes since I’m the only one I employ, and there’s just not enough time. I’ve also been trying to figure out how to stay in a good place and prevent my anxiety and stress from getting the best of me and making me feel like I need to work all the time. I’ll be writing more about that at the end of the month in a post for Maternal Mental Health Awareness Week, so if that’s vague it will be clear soon. I’m just figuring out what I need in order to be at my best.

Change can be hard, but it can also be good, and while the ultimate goal of Life With My Littles is to help other moms enjoy their lives, I also need to step back and reassess mine a little bit. I love writing and creating, but there is a time and a season for all things. I may go back to posting more one day, but for now, I need to step back a little bit.

Anyway, now that you know what’s up, I have a few more things I want to tell you about!

• My half marathon is this weekend! Woo! All the training, all the long runs at the gym, all 18 weeks of getting ready and the race weekend is here! I’m so excited, I know I can do it, and I can’t wait to share all about it. I’m going to write a post about training for a half marathon when you have young kids in two weeks so you’ll get more details then, but for now, YAY! 
• We started our seeds and are planning our garden for this year! So far we’ve planted celery and peppers and tomatoes, but we have more we’re planting tonight and then about half of what we’re planting we’re going to seed directly in the garden mid-May. We want to make sure we pass that frost date! We learned a lot last year so we feel like this year our garden is going to do even better! Yay gardening!
• I also recently applied, was interviewed, and chosen to write for the Twin Cities Moms Blog! I’m so pumped and so excited because the City Moms Blog network is such an incredible resource for mamas, and I am thrilled I get to be a part of it. I already have a bunch of ideas for future posts, and I will definitely be sharing on Instagram when my posts go up on their site. Yay!
• I heard back from Barnes and Noble about stocking “Preggers” in stores. If you want to read about it, check out this insta post.

Well that’s what’s currently going on here! I know that’s kind of a lot of changes as far as my blog is concerned, but it’s what needs to happen right now to help me keep my head on straight. Thanks for the support and for sticking around, mamas! 

The post Currently: Spring 2019 appeared first on Life With My Littles.

Happy March! March is a good month because it means the first day of spring is coming! And that means we can plant our garden soon! Yes, there’s still a few feet of snow on the ground, but I have been thinking about our garden for a few months already! I just can’t wait!

February was a fun month for us. My husband’s brothers both came for a weekend visit for the first time ever, and that was so much fun. They went ice fishing and to US Bank Stadium for some motocross races, and we celebrated my younger brother-in-law’s 18th birthday a few days early. The kids were so jazzed that they were here, and we can’t wait until they visit again. 

The kids also did a kids’ race (J ran a mile and got third for all the kindergarteners and A ran her first 1/2 mile race with her daddy by her side) and we got to see The LEGO Movie 2 (it’s so cute and we loved it!). We celebrated Valentine’s Day and I was in charge of J’s class party again. I got a hair cut (I cut off about 4 inches) and feel pretty fresh now. We’ve also survived several snow days (so many in fact that they’ve already added another day of school in March). Which is crazy because the entire time I was growing up in Colorado we only had like two snow days ever. I did finally get to build a snowman though, so that makes it almost worth it!

Anyway, February was good, and March is going to be good, too! Here’s what’s currently going on for us this month:

Training for my half marathon! Yes, this has been on the last few currently posts, but my race is next month! A little over a month away, in fact! The farthest I’ve gone so far is 11 miles (which is insane to me), and I’ve been working really hard to get ready for the full half marathon. Running is hard, but I really like it. It’s going to be such a huge accomplishment, and I’m really proud of myself for doing this! Also, I am working on my “costume” for the race! Nothing special, but I’m making a Darth Vader shirt to match my husband’s stormtrooper shirt.

Celebrating my son’s sixth birthday and the first anniversary of Preggers! Yay! I can’t believe my oldest son will be SIX this week! Crazy! He has requested lots of McDonald’s and LEGO sets, and instead of a cake he wants me to make him brownies this year. As far as Preggers goes, I am still waiting on Barnes and Noble. I initially thought it would take three months after submission for them to decide, but apparently it takes way longer. Which is fine, it’s just hard to wait! I’ve been in contact with an administrative assistant over there, so I know they have it and it’s not lost or anything! But the first year of Preggers has been great! It’s doing better than I thought it would on Amazon, and get excited every time I see a new sale come through! 

Feeling stuck. I’m not completely sure where I want to go right now. I love my blog and writing, but some of the stuff that goes on behind the scenes has kind of started draining the fun out of it. I want to update old posts for SEO and to make them easier to read, and I also want to write an ebook (like I mentioned last month). I don’t think I want to take time off to do those things, but it’s getting harder to post twice a week and still have time for other things. Finding time when you have three kids is hard! But I’ll figure it out. I’m just not quite there yet!

Done with snow. I’m just done. My husband and I decided that the best word to describe how we feel about winter at this point is “defeated.” Every time it snows now I dread having to go out and clear the driveway. Our snowblower broke so for a few weeks I was shoveling it like I did all of last year. That is HARD WORK, man. But we just got another one and even though it’s not super high quality, it works. Anyway, I’m so ready for spring. Even though the snow is going to take months to melt with all that we have.

Planning for spring break. My son’s spring break is next week and while we aren’t going anywhere, I want to make sure we have fun and don’t just sit at home the whole week! Because seriously, I’m worried about that. Any suggestions on what we should do are much appreciated! 

Planting our garden! Not outside in the ground, but we’re going to plant some of our seedings indoors this week! We went and got a bunch of new seeds on Saturday (and I bought a house plant, name TBD) and soil and I just need to get a table and a few containers to cover them when we plant. I’m seriously so pumped. Gardening gives me life. And food and flowers.

Anyway, that’s what’s going on for us this month! And yay spring (soon)!

The post Currently: March 2019 appeared first on Life With My Littles.

Happy February, mamas! January was just about the coldest month of MY LIFE. We had so many days in the negatives and one day where the high was -12 degrees. THE HIGH. We went to the gym in the morning and my car said -26, but then with the wind chill my phone told me it felt like -50. WHAT THE WHAT!? That’s just unfair. To everything. Including our apple trees I slaved hard over planting last spring (which I will be PISSED if they die). But alas, we have chosen to live in Minnesota, and despite the freezing temperatures (literally), we enjoy it!

Besides being a cold month, January was a good month! We celebrated my husband’s 30th birthday (mine is coming up this year, too!), celebrated my youngest son’s 2nd birthday (my baby is 2!!!), I finally studied and took the test to get a Minnesota driver’s license and passed, and my New Year, New Mama series went up and was a huge hit! I had so many shares, comments, and messages from people telling me they loved the posts and they really helped them out. If you haven’t checked it out yet, I encourage you to go read the posts here.

Little R finished speech therapy this month, too. In the short three months he went, he has made incredible improvement. He no longer just yells “mama” all the time. I mean he still does a lot, but things have been a lot better because I can usually figure out what he’s saying. He says “want _____” and “where ___?” so that’s pretty cool. He’s like a completely different kid than he was in October! It’s great! I’m planning on writing a post about what to expect when your toddler starts speech therapy this month, because I honestly had no idea what to expect when we began!

My husband just finished up two and a half weeks of working nights, which sounds like a bummer but was actually fine because he got to sleep at the hospital most nights, so instead of having to sleep during the day we got to hang out with him! The kids loved it and I got a lot of work done while he was gone at night. It’s good to have him back at home at night, though!

Here’s what’s currently going on this month:

Planning my son’s Valentine’s Day class party. Yes, I was in charge of his Halloween party, too, thank you very much. I had originally signed up just to help for the Valentine’s party like I did with the Christmas party, but nobody signed up to be in charge. His teacher sent out an email asking for someone to volunteer, and I said that if nobody else did I would do it. Of course nobody else did, so I’m in charge again. I’m excited because it’s fun to help out in his class and I like planning and coordinating parties!

Running hard as I train for my half marathon. Guys, when I first sat down and wrote down my training plan in my planner (because that’s what I do!), it was so intimidating. Run 8 miles by the end of January?! WHAT!? But I’m doing it! I’m running further than I ever have before, meeting my goals, and feeling confident about my race in April. And super excited! I also got new running shoes so I’m jacked about that, too.

Making videos. One of my goals for the year was to make one new video a month for you guys. Videos are fun (not to mention they also help me make more $) and I wanted to try and make some more, especially for my most popular posts. I made a video last month that’s going up with my post on Wednesday, and I’m working on the scripts for a few others. I like combining helpful tips with a little bit of humor, and it’s fun to see the finished products! I’ve also started getting subscribers on my YouTube channel (what!?) so that’s cool. And this video has over 10,000 views! Woo!

Figuring out how to help J. Remember last month I mentioned that J was having meltdowns? Well they got really bad and really frequent for a few weeks, and we were feeling so lost and unsure how to help him. Through some trial and error and research (thanks, Dr. Google) we figured out that if we give him a snack and 20 minutes of alone time to decompress when he gets home from school, it helps him not meltdown as much in the afternoon. He also knows that he has to do his homework after that (which is like 5 minutes tops). Giving him choices, having expectations, and making sure he knows the plan has helped a ton. And offering little incentives, too. Taking things away doesn’t work, time outs don’t work, and yelling doesn’t work. But we’ve started getting a handle on it and things have been so much better!

Thinking about maybe writing an ebook. Yes, I already wrote an actual book that’s printed and one of the coolest things ever, but I have so much more I want to share, and I’m thinking maybe an ebook is the way to go. The thing I love about my job is the opportunity I have to share things I’ve learned with other mamas to help make their lives easier and help them enjoy motherhood more. I want to maybe compile some of those things into topics and put out a few ebooks or something. I don’t know. We’ll see. Like I said, I’m “thinking” about it!

Well that’s what’s going on for me this month! 2019 is off to a great start, friends!

The post Currently: February 2019 appeared first on Life With My Littles.