Brie Backus found community through her parent peer-support group with Parent for Early Parent Support (PEPS). That experience went on to shape her health and wellness support programs as an Integrative Nutrition Health Coach.
Category: Self-Care
How early parenthood prepared me for quarantine
I’ve never lived through a pandemic before. But like all parents, I know what it’s like to have my world shrink. My world used to be much tinier than this, those first weeks after I had each baby when I barely left my bedroom, and the months afterward when even a walk down the street sometimes seemed impossible.
The quarantine’s tight intimacy has been strangely familiar, so sweet and so suffocating at the same time. Thanks to those early baby years, I know what it’s like to have my world close in on me and my children, and how to re-craft my expectations around those new boundaries. Luckily, this time around, I have that past experience to guide me.
How Mindfulness Is Helping Me and Holding Me Through This Pandemic
Hear how one local parent, trained facilitator, and mindful parenting guru uses mindfulness practices to help her through these groundhog days of parenting, one breath at a time.
How a Mindfulness Practice Can Lead to Success in Setting Lasting Routines with your Kids
By Megan Sloan (Estimated reading time: 8 min) When I became a new parent, I had almost 20 years of yoga under my belt and about 5 years of a regular mindfulness practice of sitting almost every day. After sleepless nights and early wake-ups, I found my daily meditation practice of sitting quietly first thing in the morning needed to…
A Tranquil Isle in the Sea of Busyness
By Holly Koteen-Soule We all know that sleep is essential for rejuvenation, and if you find yourself paddling hard all day long, you may also want to find a quiet mooring place somewhere in the middle of the day. Naps give young children a chance to rest and recharge, but calm times during waking hours are also necessary for children…
Thriving as a Mom
Anjelica moved to Seattle two years ago and transitioned from being a stay-at-home parent to a full-time grad student while working. Read about what she’s learned from making the shift and what time-savers her family has implemented to help them enjoy each day.
The Power of Focusing on Your Own Wellness
When I was pregnant with my first daughter, family and friends who’d been there all had the same piece of advice: Sleep when the baby sleeps. It seemed so simple, and so obvious. Of course I would do that. When I was tired. Which wouldn’t be all the time. Then my daughter was born, and, like a lot of babies,…
Preparing for Baby: Emotional Changes and Challenges
by Kimberly Chan This post was originally published at https://www.oktobeimperfect.com/preparing-baby-emotional-changes-challenges/. Emotional changes and challenges should be expected with the arrival of a new baby. As I prepare to lead a PEPS Newborn group discussion on Emotional Changes and Challenges and prepare for the arrival of our second child, I want to share my approach with other new and expecting parents…
I love my baby, but I miss my old life
by Laurie Ganberg, LICSW “I love my baby but I feel trapped.” “Maybe having a baby was a mistake.” “Every part of my life has changed. I miss my old life.” I often hear these statements hesitantly shared by women experiencing ambivalence and regret after a new baby—along with, “I can’t talk about this in the new moms group.” But it is…
Five Things I Learned From Yoga About Being A New Parent
by Megan Sloan I was a prenatal and postnatal yoga teacher long before I was a mom, and a student of yoga for even longer. Through years of teaching yoga to pregnant students and then seeing their transformations into new parents postpartum, I witnessed the gamut of what becoming a parent looked like. And if there’s one thing I learned,…