Milk and Motherhood: May 2023

 May... when it may snow or it may be 90 degrees. I'm feeling major summer vibes with the longer days and everything FINALLY turning green. It's been a late spring here in Nebraska, and it reminds me so much of my third child... waiting and waiting and waiting... and then making up for lost time ever since. He's officially been walking half of his life and he's about to turn 17 months old, so there's that. I always thought people were being dramatic when they talked about early walkers. Nope, turns out they're just going a little bit insane trying to keep up!

What I'm learning

This season is what I make of it. One of the Lazy Genius principles is to know your season, and sometimes I just need to admit that this unique season with my unique kids is really hard but it's also proportionally so sweet. I am wrapping up a few big work projects (local friends, some fun news coming at you next month) in order to settle into summer a bit and figure out what's working (and not working) with parenting and homeschooling before deciding how I was work to fit into that next fall.

What I'm reading

I just finished Teaching from Rest and wow, I really really needed it. It's been on my unread shelf for several years, and it gave me a lot to reflect on as we wrap up our third year of homeschool.

In fiction, apparently I'm on a retirement novel kick. I enjoyed The Vibrant Yearsby Sonali Dev and I'm mid-way through The Road Towards Home by Corinne Demas. They've both been sweet and slow without being boring or maudlin.

What I'm listening to

Okay this has been a lit month for my earbuds. 

First: The Witch Trials of JK Rowling. WOW even if you've never read Harry Potter, but you look around at the world and wonder how so much has changed so quickly in the last 5 years, this is for you. Listen and then EMAIL ME BACK so we can talk about it! I'm just going to copy the description here: The Witch Trials of J.K. Rowling is an audio documentary that examines some of the most contentious conflicts of our time through the life and career of the world’s most successful author. In conversation with host Megan Phelps-Roper, J.K. Rowling speaks with unprecedented candor and depth about the controversies surrounding her—from book bans to debates on gender and sex. The series also examines the forces propelling this moment in history, through interviews with Rowling’s supporters and critics, journalists, historians, clinicians, and more.

Second: A friend shared this Apple News podcast episode with me called Why we don’t take postpartum mental health seriously enough — and what that means for new parents -- trigger warning to several disturbing postpartum news stories involving psychosis and self-harm, but if you're farther along postpartum or if you're a professional in the field, I highly recommend listening to this piece of journalism.

Third: I cannot wait to share my interveiw with Adina Rubin on my podcast, but in the meantime she's released a few good episodes on PP fitness on her podcast! 

On the podcast

Last fall, I started a podcast called Milk + Motherhood and it's been so fun. Season 1 was focused on postpartum identity, recovery, and nutrition. Seson 2 is diving into more specialized subjects regarding breastfeeding and postparutm. Even if you don't listen, check out the shownotes for a wealth of additional information on these subjects. Here's a review of the episodes I've published since my last newsletter:

17.) Progesterone and Postpartum Mental Health with Hormone Geniuses Teresa Kenney and Jamie Rathjen. In this interview, we talk about postpartum hormones and about how they can contribute to mental health challenges. Jamie and I both received NaPro progesterone injections for PMADs and Teresa is a Nurse Practitioner who prescribes them often, so we cover a lot of the basics and some questions about this treatment option.

18.) Tapping out of Rigidity and into Resilient Motherhood with Theresa Piela. I always LOVE talking with Theresa because she has such a calm and joyful presence. We talk about how it hasn't always been this way, how EFT tapping has changed her stress response and thought loops, and how I also expereinced benefits from tapping during pregnancy and postpartum.

19.) Infant Palates, Airways, and Teeth with functional dentist Dr. Molly Hayes. She and I talk about how the palate is formed in utero, how breastfeeding helps after baby is born, red flags for infant airway issues, and... science experiments!

If you're loving my podcast, please subscribe and leave an Apple podcast review! It's really easy to type a few sentences in, and it helps more people find the fantastic information my guests are sharing with you all. 

What I'm cooking

I'm a little burnt out on food after the final flurry of cookbook testing, but this weekend we made the autumn pork salad (could easily be made with grilled chicken, too) from my cookbook. 

I have also made several loaves of chocolate babka and OMG. I'm really glad it's warming up so I will be less inclined to bake this on every single cold day, but it's a WINNER and will absolutely be my holiday gathering contribution in the future. I used the Bakerita GF sourdough bread recipe, making sure to add the 15g of olive oil and adding an additional 2 Tbs room temp butter to the mix. Then after it rises, I follow just the filling directions and recipe from Farmhouse on Boone's chocolate babka (this filling recipe fills 2 loaves). Then I rub some melted butter over the top and bake at 350 for 40-45 minutes. The hardest part is letting it cook before slicing into it!

What I'm feeding my kids

We don't spray our yard, and it's certainly a haven for lots of "weeds" like clover, violets, dandelions, and creeping charlie. The first two are welcome any time. The second two are the bane of my existence because they're so prolific. All that to say, I find myself pulling A LOT of dandelions in a short amount of time every year. This is the first year we decided to actually do something fun with them, and I think this will be a new tradition! I had the kids pick a bowl full of just the yellow flowers while I spent time uprooting the plants themselves. We used the flowers to make dandelion shortbread cookies (I added lemon zest and used Bob's Red Mill 1:1 GF Flour) and dandelion playdoh and it actually wasn't as intimidating as I thought. Pulling the weeds was the hardest part.

Milk and Motherhood: April 2023

 TS Eliot says, 

"April is the cruellest month, breeding Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing Memory and desire, stirring Dull roots with spring rain."

This is, perhaps, the most eloquent way to describe my emotions lately, as we shift from a very long, very cold winter, into a long-awaited spring. March was still legitemately winter in Nebraska this year, but these last few weeks have been teasing us with sunshine, rainstorms, and torrential winds blowing in a new round of weather every few days.

I've planted all the spring seeds, adding some new blueberry bushes to the garden roundup and anxiously awaiting the day it's warm enough to plant seedlings. (I outsourced all seedlings to my friend Elizabeth this year, because... toddlers.)

My big project these last few months has been a digital cookbook for food allergy mamas, and I'm incredibly proud of the product I launched last Friday! It's only $25 right now, and the price will increase Friday at midnight.

What I'm learning

This season is what I make of it. One of the Lazy Genius principles is to know your season, and sometimes I just need to admit that this unique season with my unique kids is hard. I am wrapping up a few big work projects (local friends, some fun news coming at you next month) in order to settle into summer a bit and figure out what's working (and not working) with parenting and homeschooling before deciding how I was work to fit into that next fall.

What I'm reading

Reflective of the angsty feelings that come with April, my reading life has been all of the place. I have started a lot, but haven't finished much. As I type, I realize my favorites were all food-related. Even writing a digital cookbook is no joke. LOTS of food on my mind recently.

One surprising gem of a read was  Truffle Hound  by Rowan Jacobsen. It's essentially a food jouranlists dive into... truffle hunting. I like truffle things, but the book made me wonder if I've ever had REAL truffle, or just truffle *flavoring.*

Another win was David Lebovitz's  The Sweet Life in Paris . It's a classic, and while I have zero desire to ever go to Paris, the food there sure sounds good. 

I'm only midway through, but I also started a book called  Nasty, Brutish, and Short  and before the title scares you away, it's a HILARIOUS book on kids and philosophy. The author has done multiple podcast interviews if you search for Scott Hershovitz in your podcast app. I really love philosophy, the classics, and child development so this has been an enjoyable diversion from my normal Kindle que.

What I'm listening to

 This Motherly interview  with Dr. Mona Delahooke about co-regulation and the body budget is one of the best podcast interviews I've listened to in a while. 

Same goes with  The Place we Find Ourselves: How to Heal from Sorrow and Grief . I've been really dealing with some grief of leaving the baby stage and not really ending this season of life on the "note" I legitemately worked hard to achieve. This episode didn't discuss birth trauma or colicky babies at all, but it certainly still applied. Can't wait to listen to Parts 2 and 3.

On the podcast

I recently started a podcast called  Milk + Motherhood  and it's been so fun. You can always find more info on Instagram (@happy.mama.healthy.baby), where I've made it really easy to see episode recaps on my feed. Season 1 was focused on postpartum identity, recovery, and nutrition. Here's a review of the episodes I've published since my last newsletter:

13.  Made for the Work of Motherhood  with Mary Haseltine. Mary and I talk about what God actually said to Adam and Eve in the garden, what "work" means, and why we are made for this.

14. I decided to wrap up Season 1 with  The One with All the Birth Stories , because I reference my expereinces in many of my interviews, and it made sense to lay it all out. I am actually grateful to Katelyn Fusco for sharing this audio with me. It was recorded when SHE interveiwed me for HER podcast, the Happy Homebirth Podcast (spoiler: I ended up having zero homebirths). She is such a compassionate interviewer, it didn't make sense to monologue these stories when there was already a fantastic dialogue out there.

15.  Breastfeeding a Baby with Food Allergies  -- we kicked off season 2 kicked off with a really thorogouh interview with none other than Dr. Trill from Free to Feed. I STILL learned so much from this interview even after all we've gone through.

16.  Infant Food Allergy Q and A  with Dr. Trill. She and I actually talked for so long, I dedied to break our interview into two segments. This one answers all the listener questions I collected on Instagram in February!

If you're loving the podcast, please subscribe and leave a review! It's really easy to type a few sentences in, and it helps more people find the fantastic information my guests are sharing with you all. There will be a giveaway before season 2 starts, and all Apple reviews will be entered in the giveaway!

What I'm cooking

All the gluten-free sourdough things. I finally dove into bread last fall, and recently braved Bakerita bagels (yes, the kind you boil first) and CINNAMON ROLLS! 

I used Bob's Red Mill egg replacer and Bob's Red Mill 1:1 flour blend + my Bakerita GF sourdough starter in  this recipe  from A Girl Worth Saving and they're THE BEST gluten free, vegan cinnamon rolls I've ever had. It will definitley be our new holiday standby. 

I also made a version of the  Fed and Fit strawberry cake  for Easter and it was a huge hit.

What I'm feeding my kids

We have been making a lot of breakfast cobbler from  this cookbook  for breakfast, snack, desserts, etc. I also splurged and purchased  GoMacro kids bars  from Thrive. It's obviously processed food, but the ingredients are halfway decent, they're free from my youngest kiddo's allergens, and they're conventient on-the-go.

Milk + Motherhood: March 2023

 Reflective of how busy February was, I never did finish this half-written missive in time for a February newsletter! I think I was so excited for creativity and ambition to return postpartum that I finally got in over my head. All the balls were kind of in the air, and then my youngest dropped to one nap and basically all the balls dropped along with that loss of time. Such are the cons of choosing to work from home, so I've had to remind myself that I'm my own boss and I can make my job work for me, not vice versa. So I logged off of Instagram for Lent and I'm already loving the extra time spend on catching up on all the things: my to-do list (kind of), finishing my allergy cookbook (coming in April), but also catching up on my Dwell Bible reading plan, podcast interviews for season 2, and (hopefully) journaling and processing how quickly my third baby is growing! 

I had to laugh as I deleted January's content and started on this month. That New Year's Resolution to sit down while eating? Imagine me laugh-crying because that same week, my 12 month old learned how to scale all of the household surfaces and spent a solid month pushing things over to the table, climbing up, and gleefully dispersing all objects on said table to all four corners of the room. So meal time has been a blance of feeding him in his highchair until he's whiny and restless and letting him run around while we all *try* to eat and have a baby billy goat climbing into everyone's lap and using that as leverage to get onto the table. I know I'll eat in peace again, and a very tiny part of me will miss this, but it's kind of exhausting in the meantime.

What I'm learning

I took what was supposed to be a long-awaited restful trip for 36 hours at the start of the month. I went to KC, saw some old friends (that part was amazing), went to see Abby Halberstadt speak at a one-day homeschool conference (meh), and raced home. Between the pumping and the having to be so selective about avoiding food allergens and just... not fitting in the way I did when I lived there, it was a wonderful and thought-provoking break from the everyday, but it wasn't exactly restful. 

You could probably say I hit some good burnout late January/early February. It's been a long year of physical and emotional recovery, so adding the cold dark weather, and self-imposed impossible to-do lists was a recipe for never feeling like anything got done, let alone done well.

I'm still paying attention to this process and learning from my mistakes, for sure. I hope I alwyas will be!

What I'm reading

The  Outlandish Companion  was actually just as long as the Outlander books are and it took me several weeks to chug through it, but it was so enjoyable, as is everything Diana Gabaldon has written!

As for non-fiction, I thought I'd read everything Ruth Reichel wrote, so I was pleasantly surprised to find  Garlic and Sapphires  at my library book sale. I guess I'm getting old, because reading about life in the early 90s without the internet and cell phones just felt so simple and refreshing.

What I'm listening to

I had a long queue of audiobooks and podcasts to catch up on while I drove to and from KC, and instead I ended up listening to playlists from the last 4 years almost the entire time. It was a really sweet way to reflect on the journey we've been on the past 4 years in our marriage. That's a story for another day, though. I've also been loving the new-to-me Sandra McCracken song  In the Valley  lately. I actually don't feel like I'm in the valley for the first time in a long long time and for some reason it makes the song even sweeter, looking back at how far I've come. 

I'm also working my way through Read-Aloud Revival podcast episode 216:  How to Teach from Rest . The quote, "there is time enough for what God has called us to do" has really been resonating with me.

On the podcast

I recently started a podcast called  Milk + Motherhood  and it's been so fun. You can always find more info on Instagram (@happy.mama.healthy.baby), where I've made it really easy to see episode recaps on my feed. Season 1 has been focused on postpartum identity, recovery, and nutrition. Here's a review of what you'll find on Apple or Spotify from January and February:

8.  How to Literally Feed Yourself When You're Raising Tiny Humans : My doula and chef friend Tori Weber and I talk about how to actually impelment postpartum dietary recommendations when your hands are full.

9.  Restoring Womanly Movement Postpartum : Physical Therapist Dr. Cait and I talk about how we grow with each kid, how we need to apply our maternal mama bear instincts to our own postpartum care as well, and physical and emotional patterns that we can get into that don't serve us.

10.  Tummy Time, Co-Regulation, and Retained Reflexes:  Honestly, after most of my interviews, I think, "I love doing this and that was the best conversation ever." But this one was with one of my absolute favorite women, PT Stephanie Novacek. I worked alongside her for several years and I still learned so many things about infant movement patterns and co-regulation in this conversation.

11.  Wise Traditions in Early Motherhood with THE Sally Fallon Morell : I was so nervous about this conversation, but Sally was SO easy to talk to and we had a blast talking about raw milk, human milk, ancestral diets, and the importance of Dr. Weston A. Price's research.

12.  What to Expect When You Were Expecting to Sleep Like a Baby : In this interview, Taylor Kulik and I talk about all things sleep. Namely, what's normal in regards to infant sleep and how to cope with and investigate sleep patterns that are abnormal. You guys, the great irony is that the night I posted this episode was the FIRST TIME EVER my 14.5 month old slept through the night. You hear in the episode that he spent months 4-9 waking every one to two hours and crying inconsolably at night, so I thought this day might never come.

I have one more episode to post for season 1, and then Season 2 will start at the end of April. I have already done 5 interviews for seaon 2, with guests like Dr. Trill from Free to Feed, Adina Rubin with Strength Training for Happy Hormones, biological dentist Dr. Molly Hayes, and more!

If you're loving the podcast, PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW ON APPLE. It's really easy to type a few sentences in, and it helps more people find the fantastic information my guests are sharing with you all. There will be a giveaway before season 2 starts, and all Apple reviews will be entered in the giveaway!

What I'm cooking

I'm still doubling meals to eat two nights in a row, and it really helps my decision fatigue with meal planning as well as the budget. We've been eating lots of recipes from the upcoming Nourished with Nuance e-cookbook as my wonderful recipe testers and I work out the last few kinks. Cookbook comes out in APRIL! I promise not to spam you, but you'll get 1-2 extra emails that month with early access and also a special email discount code.

What I'm feeding my kids

I have been making one chocolate cake per week because I'm determined to find one good cake recipe free from all the allergens for the cookbook. I've been making gluten and egg free cake fails for almost 6 years now, and I'm determined to get this one right. So.... we've been eating a lot of gummy or crumbly choclate cake, but the kids aren't complaining. The major WIN, though, is the muddy buddy bars from the cookbook. They're easy, fun, and delicious.

Parting thoughts

Thank you so much for subscribing to this little missive, following me on social media, supporting my podcast, and using my affiliate links when you purchase something like Perfect Supplements, Earthley, Lactation Lab testing, etc. I will never promote somthing I haven't personally spent money on, and using my affiliate links allows you to support the information I share on Instagram and my podcast without any additional cost to you. It truly means so much when I see someone purchase through my links- you can find them all at the bottom of each email, on my Instagram bio, or by clicking  here .

Milk + Motherhood: January 2023

 Happy New Year! The holiday season is behind us, for better or for worse, and now we enter the part of the year where, at least in the Midwest, it feels like it's awlays winter and never Christmas (to quote CS Lewis). My youngest and likely last baby also turned once since my last monthly update, so I feel like I've climbed a mountain and I've turned around (to quote Fleetwood Mac... and now I'm realizing that song explains my life so accurately right now). 

What I'm learning

I'm feeling such a big shift right now since the new year also directly corresponds with leaving the baby stage of life, and I'm evaluating what I what this new season to look like, insofar as I can control that. 

This year, I really want to focus on deeper work. Really focusing on local resources to improve postpartum care in my little town. Diving in the podcast and providing a postpartum and breastfeeding resource unlike anything else that's out there. Getting the word out about our Nourished Beginnings course so moms-to-be have concise, practical prenatal breastfeeding education at their fingertips. 

But also, sitting down to eat my meals, being better at distunguishing between work time and mom time, adding in more subjects to our homeschool routine. Deepening friendships. It sounds like a lot of things, but it really all has the same desire at the root of it: authenticity and presence. The opposite of multitasking.

What I'm reading

In fiction (or I guess this is non-fiction, although not in the way I usually think about it) I started reading the  Outlandish Companion . For so long, Harry Potter was a winter comfort read for me. The last few years, it's been Outlander. Give me all the UK knits and gray skies and good writing, I guess.

In non-fiction, alas, I did not finish any books and instead started two new ones: Mother Culture by Karen Andreola and Parents and Children by Charlotte Mason. *SIGH* Perhaps a 2023 goal should be to finish the non-fiction books I start, but I guess that's not enough of a priority for me right now.

I also loved reading this article:  What if I Fail? 

What I'm listening to

This past month, while I was driving or doing mindless tasks like cooking and cleaning, I mostly listened to the Audible version of  Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing  by Matthew Perry. (Yeah, the guy from Friends). I oddly love addiction memoir, and I love Friends, but I'm on the fence about this book. If you read it, REPLY to this email! I need to debrief with someone who gets it.

On the podcast

I recently started a podcast called  Milk + Motherhood  and it's been so fun. You can always find more info on Instagram (@happy.mama.healthy.baby), where I've made it really easy to see episode recaps on my feed. Season 1 has been focused on postpartum identity, recovery, and nutrition. Here's a review of what you'll find on Apple or Spotify from November and December:

01.  This is My Body, Broken for You  - A short into to the podcast plus a reading of one the best essays I read as a new mom.

02.  The Birth of a Mother  - An interview with postpartum herbalist Amanda Radan. We talk about herbs and nutrition and adjusting to motherhood, but mostly she drops some beautiful wisdom about the transformation from maiden to mother and it was so encouraging to me.

03.  Birth Matters (but it's not the end of the story)  - Katelyn Fusco from Happy Homebirth Podcast (@happyhomebirthpodcast) and I chat about how physiologic birth sets us up for the best chance for the hormonal cascade that promotes breastmilk production. HOWEVER we spend most of the episode talking about how you can still facilitate oxytocin and bonding and breastfeeding if labor and delivery don't go the way you planned for any number of reasons, and how to recover physically and emotionally if that's the case.

04.  Why Breastfeeding is Worth Preparing For  - Fellow IBCLC Cortney Steffensmeier (@growwiththe.flow) and I share a lot about what early breastfeeding looked like us, how that changed the entire trajectory of our lives, and how we don't want other mothers walking into it feeling as unequipped as we did. (PS: there's a hidden course discount in the Instagram post for this episode).

05.  When You Don't Feel Like Yourself Postpartum  - Perinatal counselor Stephanie Risinger (@hopefulandwhole) gives us a great overview of what is and isn't normal in terms of postpartum emotions. This episode is so valuable, and particularly worth sending to your support person and family members before baby arrives.

06.  Minerals + Mother's Milk  - I have received so many questions about this subject, so I took them to the mineral queen herself, Amanda Montalvo (aka @hormonehealingrd). She answers so many questions about HTMAs, Lactation Lab testing, postpartum mineral intake, but *most importantly* we talk about checking in with your body and knowing when it is or isn't beneficial to test or make big changes.

07.  Nutrition for Postpartum Recovery  - Loren Sofia (@innate_fertility) and I talk about ancestral postpartum foods, how to prepare foods for the best nutritional availability, how to *practically* incorporate some of these ideas, and how to prioritize grocery shopping on a budget.

Follow me on Instagram or subscribe to the podcast on Apple of Spotify to make sure you don't miss the next few episodes from some fantastic guests like Cait Daubman (@womanlymade), Kori Meloy (@korimeloy), SALLY FALLON (!!!!) and more!

What I'm cooking

Whenever I'm in a rut, I go back to the  Cook Once, Eat All Week  cookbook for foolproof meal plans. Lately, I've been doubling every recipe so we eat leftovers for 2-3 days. It's easier and, surprisingly, a little cheaper than making 5-7 unique meals each week.

What I'm feeding my kids

This feels like a personal win after they struggled with food sensitivities for so long, but my oldest two kids drank and tolerated Kalona brand eggnog all of December, and now they're drinking Kalona chocolate milk. I'm so excited for them to have another source of protein and minerals throughout the day. Meanwhile, the baby passed baked milk and butter on the dairy ladder, so it's just been a really encouraging month all-around in terms of food sensitivities.

Parting thoughts

Thank you so much for subscribing to this little missive, following me on social media, supporting my podcast, and using my affiliate links when you purchase something like Perfect Supplements, Earthley, Lactation Lab testing, etc. I will never promote somthing I haven't personally spent money on, and by becoming an affiliate with a select few of these companies, it allows you to support the information I share on Instagram and my podcast without any additional cost to you. It truly means so much when I see someone purchase through my links-- you can find them all on my Instagram bio, or by clicking  here .

A Liturgy for a Mother on the Eve of Baby's First Birthday

How marvelous you are, Oh Lord,

who knit this soul into being,

woven from two cells into a body ready to be born.

As I went to bed this time last year,

I had carried the weight of this life for months,

but not yet looked into these eyes,

heard this cry, filled this stomach.

My own womb was full, 

but I didn't know my heart was empty

in a corner only this baby could fill.

Tonight, I go to bed with an empty womb,

but a full heart.

Not wondering if this is the night,

or tomorrow is the day,

or how this baby will unfold from inside my body

into my arms.

Tonight, I go to bed knowing

that this marks the last few hours of unknowing.

Tomorrow I will remember the moment I met 

this image bearer face to face,

the child you always intended to share with us,

who reflects a facet of your glory in a way 

no one else ever will.

Thank you for the gift of life and the gift of this child.

Help us to carry it well, to point this soul back to you,

the Giver of good gifts.

Grant them

wisdom,

peace,

joy,

strength

that they might be an instrument of your glory.

Thank you for carrying us through that dark night 

to the break of morning.

A night in which my body was broken,

bled,

poured out for new life,

in a pale reflection of what you've done for us on the cross.

Let me draw courage from your sacrifice

when the sacrifices of motherhood feel like they might weigh me down

instead of strengthening me and drawing me closer to you.

Amen and Hallelujah.

Milk + Motherhood: December 2022

Happy December! The holidays, short days, cold weather, and germs are upon us! My baby turns 1 next weekend so I've been all over the place emotionally the past few weeks. I was walking this afternoon and listening to a podcast I for sure wanted to share in the next newsletter, only to realize it's already a new month! Oh boy. Maybe for Christmas we will get some sleep!

What I'm learning

I must be in some consolidation and integration phase I don't know the name of, because I've been FEELING lots and learning lots, but I don't feel like I can put it into words yet.

What I'm reading

In fiction, I've been reading the Mure series by Jenny Colgan. It's a great time of year for a series of novels that take place on a cold, windy island north of Scotland! The stories manage to be warm, cozy, and enjoyable though.

In non-fiction, alas, I did not finish any books. But I have read some great essays lately that are worth sharing:

​Maybe it Doesn't Have to End​

​Will I Just Know?​

​Don't Take the Intimacy Out of Breastfeeding <-- If you only read one, make it this one

What I'm listening to

DID YOU KNOW I HAVE A PODCAST?! It actually launched mid-Novemeber, and I have 4 episodes up, one in the pipeline, and a bunch more interveiws coming up. I'd love for you to listen and leave a review if you learned something! The Milk + Motherhood Podcast is on Apple and Spotify now. So I've been listening to my interviews over and over as I edit and it's been so fun.

I'm also listening to some other really great episodes on other podcasts:

​Birth as a Hero's Journey on Pregnancy, Birth, and Beyond (you're gonna hear me talk about this one more over the next few months after I re-listen a few times).

​Every Mom a Theologian on Don't Mom Alone. I particularly loved this episode because I found out that Phylicia is also an OG God-Centered Mom podcast listener from 8 years ago!

​Polyvagal Parenting with Mandy Flanders on the Body Wisdom podcast

​Intentional Parenting, Nervous System Regulation, and Kids' Emotional Health with Katie Crosby on the Freely Rooted podcast

What I'm cooking

I've been in a bit of a rut as the seasons change. I'm basically making old standbys 3 times a week and doubling the recipe so we have leftovers the next night. I don't know why I didn't actually do this sooner!

What I'm feeding my kids

'Tis the season for collagen hot chocolate. The recipe is in our course cookbook and it's so simple and so good!

Milk and Motherhood: November 2022

Happy November, everyone! I am not sure what happened to September and October, but here we are with crisp mornings, earlier sunsets, and the end of the gardening season, at least here in Nebraska. My last baby's first birthday is rapidly approaching, and I'm kind of in shock that time is passing so quickly!

What I'm learning

This month has been learning a lot of acceptance for what is. What if God's desire in this season is to change my heart and not my baby's sleep (or lack thereof)? I've been called back into prayer, which I've resisted for a long time. But instead of trying to "figure out" my life in prayer or get a specific answer to a specific problem, I'm trying to just ask God in his mercy to show me his nearness and his goodness in whatever circumstance I need help with. As Elisabeth Elliot says, "The secret is Christ in me, not me in a different set of circumstances."

What I'm reading

I'm still plowing through fiction at bedtime and when I'm frustratingly awake between nighttime feeds, but my nonfiction pile is full of a lot of books I need to finish, so there's that. My goal for the next newsletter is to report that I actually finished one of my nonfiction books!

What I'm listening to

Even my podcast listening has taken a hit this month. Seriously, where has time gone? I think the only episode I started and finished was the  Histmaine Intolerance 101  episode on the Are You Menstrual? podcast because I'm still struggling with baby food allergy issues. 

BUT WAIT! Looking that episode up reminded me I also listened to this phenomenal interview with Adina Rubin about strength training. I've been so tired of being tired and achy, and so conflicted as to whether or not to workout in this state. This episode on  Strength Training for Happy Hormones  convinced me it's worth starting to build up my strength again becuase being weak is just as stressful as being tired is, especially when you struggle with hypermobility like I do!

What I'm cooking

Just last night my husband helped me made this  Sheet Pan Teriyaki Meatball  dinner (he helps with dinner on the weekend and I love it). This wasn't nearly as quick and simple as I like sheet pan meals to be, but it was DELICIOUS and we will definitely eat it agian.

What I'm feeding my kids

Last year, we discovered  this apple pie filling  recipe that you cook and then freeze in batches so you can eat applie cobbler or pie all winter long! We just made our third batch this fall. I use arrowroot instead of cornstarch.

Parting thoughts

I've started including affiliate links at the bottom of my montly email. I have such mixed thoughts about appearaing sales-y, but the fact is that these are companies I have purchased from (and still do, with my own money) for years so *I* approached *them* for affiliate links so you can try my favorite things at a discount, too.

That being said, I wanted you to know that  Perfect Supplements  is starting their holiday sale at 7pm Monday night. It runs through November 3 and it includes 25% off of any of their Perfect brand products! We use their collagen, gelatin, immunity mushroom blend, Vitamin C powder, and desiccated beef liver regularly and I love their transparency and quality. Every product has their quality testing available per batch right on the page so you know there's no contamination, heavy metals, glyphosate, etc. If you use code HAPPYMAMA10, you get an *additional* 10% off Perfect brand products AND anything else in your cart (they also sell Smidge magnesium, Rosita cod liver oil, and more).