motherhood – Highs and Lows

PEPS: Expectation Vs. Reality

Before participating in a PEPS Group, many people believe PEPS is just another parenting class. In reality, PEPS is so much more than that. It’s a space to build community, have real, raw conversations, and connect with other parents going through the same phase of life. Archana Agrawal shares her experience in a PEPS Newborn Group and how her expectations changed after joining a group.

Feeling a loss of identity after bringing home baby? Here’s one way to find it.

Becoming a parent can trigger a major shift in identity. As your schedule and priorities change, often your core values realign as well. Brie Backus, a Leadership & Fulfillment Coach, Integrative Nutrition Health Coach, and PEPS supporter and sponsor, works with her clients to take stock of their values and find ways to lean into those values in daily life as a parent. Read her tips for identifying your values on our blog.

Mother Soulstice: Nurturing Your Mother Self

by Conni Navarre, Founder of Mother Soulstice The transformation into motherhood is a time of tremendous joy and love that can be coupled with the distress of one’s own personal need to heal both physically and emotionally post birth. Many women don’t receive adequate education and support during this time, which can leave them feeling isolated in their recovery. In…

What I Wish I Could Say at a Playdate

by Jessica Towns It’s Toddler Playtime at the community center. The gym is jammed with plastic slides, kid kitchens, and Flintstone-style cars. The primal howls of yet-uncivilized children rattle the bleachers. My mom-friends and I stand in a semicircle, semi-watching our two year-olds, and I’m dying to tell them. I want to tell them that two hours ago, I sat…

Dear Brand New Mom: What I Forgot

Dear Brand New Mom, I recently cared for my 4 month old nephew for an extended time period. Although I’ve had my own children, I was still a little nervous; would I remember what to do? Every baby is so different, would the tricks that worked on my kids work on him? How would the day go? It’s been over…

Getting your family ready for one more

By Shawna Gamache Don’t worry too much! Getting a sibling really is the best thing to happen to most kids – and as this essay is from my own experience, the suggestions here are mostly directed at families with a toddler when their second child is born. Involve your older child in planning, pregnancy and birth Maybe he can help…

Motherhood changes everything – including cancer

My journey to becoming a parent has always been intertwined with my fight to survive Acute Lymphoblastic Lymphoma – an aggressive blood cancer I was first diagnosed with in May 2011 when I was 25 years old. Back then, I was not planning to have children immediately but I dreamed of becoming a mom one day. I knew chemotherapy could…

Feelings of surprise – you’re not alone

We thought we would be able to approach motherhood in many of the same ways we have approached other new experiences in our lives – that is, with some preparation, some research, and with the reliance on ourselves as rational, competent and capable people.

ALL ABOUT THAT BABE: The Case for Seeing Your Body as Your Baby Does

“Each individual woman’s body demands to be accepted on its own terms.” – Gloria Steinem I used to not get it. Like, really not get it. Even though I SHOULD have gotten it, because there was “that time when I was twelve…” But I’ll get to that in a minute. I grew up in a thin body, from a thin…