If any of these facets of my life resonate with you consider accepting my support through your pregnancy, birth, and beyond.
Humbling, earthly, experiences are invaluable.
I once traveled alone to Thailand with my 2 year old and 3 month old sons and backpacked all over the country with a friend, eating lots of "street food" along the highways! Yes, I am a little crazy. I feel inspired by the offbeat, paths less traveled.
Cheese and Charcuterie is a meal that can be eaten anytime of the day.
I absolutely love hosting people: family, friends, and complete strangers, in my home and my Italian heritage has ingrained in me that you can never have too much food!
The sweetest moments are the untainted moments.
I travel to experience things; like the boy driving you to excursions on an island, inviting you back to his home to meet his mother and siblings. Their level of giving when they've barely anything to give and the smiles on the little siblings faces as they run around in the dusty dirt chasing chickens with your sons is life altering.
Christmas light comes from more than the decorations.
One of my favorite parts of the year is when I get to adopt a family for Christmas. Providing beyond their Christmas wish list and helping them move into their new housing from homelessness. Furnishing that home with furniture and anything they need while learning their history and seeing their joy reignited under the holiday lights is truly the greatest gift I can receive every year.
Birth redemption is a thing. Photo Credit: Monet Nicole Births
My Precious 3: I had a dreamy water birth in a birth center with my first husband for my first son. A scary, mildly traumatic birth of my second son alone in a hospital as my first husband passed when we were 9 weeks pregnant. Then I had the most redemptive, supportive, birth of my daughter in my home with my amazing new husband and our two sons by my side. Nothing has made me more vulnerable than giving birth.
Choose life, even after extreme loss.
I know what it's like to sprint through an airport with an almost 2 year old, carseat, and luggage, while being 6 months pregnant to catch the next flight because you decide at the last minute to island hop so you can see your friends on Oahu!
To travel is to live.
In Bali, I made my husband wade across a river, and climb down a cliff side with our 15 month old strapped to him to see the coolest waterfall, and swim in an ocean side hot spring. Totally worth all his complaining!
Babies, it was an obsession that started at a very young age.
I do not think I have a picture of my childhood where I am not with one of my babies. I wrote myself a letter my junior year of highschool saying I was reluctantly going to college, but all I really wanted to do was have babies and be a stay at home mom. I was destined to be these little ones Momma.
As I sat on a reed island in Lake Titikaka, Peru I watched a momma nurse her baby while another toddler played and splashed in the water by the edge of the island. I didn’t know it then but the Uru people in Peru taught me about living off the Earth and about motherhood before I was even ready to view it or remotely comprehend it.
The most amazing, hardest, nursing story. Photo Credit: Lisa Rose Photography
When I told my mother I was planning to nurse my first born, she said something along the lines of "Eww gross, I didn't nurse any of you." Fast forward six plus years and my mother says "That's so cute" looking over my shoulder as I nurse my newborn daughter. I believe in this work I can make a difference and shift perspectives to be more inclusive.
My Precious 3 Photo Credit: Lisa Rose Photography