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Hi there! I’m Sarah, a former special education teacher turned stay at home mom living in NE Indiana with my husband, son, and two sweet dogs. I’m a minimal-ish mama striving for balance in the chaos that life can become. Welcome!

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Two years ago on Mother's Day, I cried in church. ▪ I was feeling the most complicated set of emotions and as the music played, tears just started flowing. Even though I was about 2 months pregnant with LJ, I felt completely overcome by the loss of my first baby several months before. A baby whose due date would have been May 25, just a few weeks away. A baby I only physically carried for 8 weeks but will always carry in my heart. I felt the loss of that little life so strongly in that moment and grieved right in the middle of the service. It's hard for me to just post a Mother's Day picture of my life now with a happy toddler and 24 week baby bump. I know this holiday is difficult for many people, and my heart especially goes out to those who long to be mothers and are struggling on the way to get there. The last thing I want to do is contribute to another woman's sense of grief. I know to strangers it might look like I had it easy - my children will be 21 months apart and you'd never know just by looking that our road to get here had any bumps. I know that's how it felt to me when I saw mothers with their little ones and I was still in the throes of deep grief over my loss - I thought they were so lucky to have had it easy. What I know now is that the road to motherhood for SO MANY is anything but easy. Difficulty conceiving, loss of pregnancies, complications with pregnancies, post-partum struggles . . . everyone's journey is different and rare is the journey without bumps. I know that compared to many women, I am the one who has had it easy. I am deeply grateful for the boy sleeping upstairs in his crib, the baby kicking mightily inside me, and the first little one I will meet on the other side of heaven one day. I'm so incredibly thankful to be their mama and for today to have felt like a celebration. That doesn't mean I've forgotten the time when this day felt not like celebration but instead a complicated reminder of what I had lost. If you are struggling today (or any day) on your journey to motherhood, my heart goes out to you. I know there's nothing I can do or say to take away your pain and grief, but I acknowledge you and am thinking of you. 💛

This boy and his silly faces 💙 These pictures perfectly exemplify his fun little personality and they all make me smile, yet my first instinct was to not post them. Why? Because in this strange world of social media, it is really hard to post a picture where you're not made up and looking your best. And on this day, mama had no make-up on and who knows how much dry shampoo in her unwashed hair. Not exactly a glamour shot, right? 😖 You know what though? That's a totally bogus way of thinking. Life is rarely glamorous. The notion that we should only share the "best" is a lie and honestly destructive. It not only makes us feel like some moments of our life are unworthy/not good enough for social media, but it gives the impression to others that we have it all together and our lives look *perfect* all the time. None of that is true at all! ✨ So here's my sweet sweet moments of silly camera fun with my son who is unknowingly experiencing the last few months of only child life. He loves mimicing mama in the camera and watching our facial expressions change. He is super active so I soak up moments like this where he sits on my lap to play a little. He is oddly obsessed with holding his tube of toothpaste, as seen in the first picture. And I'm so glad I have a little documentation of life at this stage. Dirty hair and all.

A little #ootd picture with this 24 week baby bump. 🤰🏼 When I first started this Instagram 5 years ago, I loved documenting teacher ootd looks. Now that I spend my days at home, it would be super easy to live in sweatpants, but I still try to get dressed most days. I don’t mean get dressed up, I mean just get dressed in anything other than the same old sweats. It is literally JUST as easy to throw on a basic striped shirt as it is to throw on a sweatshirt, and it may seem silly but it affects my overall confidence and happiness. When I feel like I look even just a little bit put together, I feel better about myself and a happier, more confident Sarah is honestly a happier, more confident wife and mom. ✨ All that being said, I have no desire to use a ton of thought and effort with my daily wardrobe. My days usually include pushing a stroller on a walk or running around my backyard or reading books on the floor and I often end up with yogurt on my pants or have a strawberry thrown at my shirt (thanks LJ) so I stick with basic, easy to clean clothes. I have a “mom uniform” to simplify life: easy top in a classic pattern (stripes, plaid, etc), one piece of simple or statement jewelry, skinny jeans, and flats. It doesn't have to be complicated. It maybe takes an extra two minutes to pull these items from my closet instead of reaching for sweats, but the minimal amount of extra effort makes a huge difference for me. Of course there are still days where I live in comfy old sweats but I always feel better when I make a teeny effort. More thoughts in today's blog post (link in profile).

Pure toddler sweetness. 💙 LJ likes to wander into his room by himself and I've started letting him go for a few minutes before checking on him to see what he does. Usually it's just pulling all his clothes out of his dresser drawers 😂 but yesterday I walked in on this little scene. 😍 He swiped the wubbanub we keep in the crib, took off one sock, and got cozy with his books. Not gonna lie, toddler parenthood has lots of tough moments but times like this make my heart melt. I just sat in the doorway for several minutes and soaked up the sweetness. 💕

My big baby resting on my little baby. 💙 It's starting to hit me that my days with just LJ are limited. Soon we'll have another person to share our days with and while I'm so excited, I'm going to miss one-in-one time with my boy. Trying to soak up these sweet moments as much as I can! 💕

Baby bumpin' after cycling class. 🚲 I'm always trying to keep things simple, and workouts are no exception. I used to create my own workouts and now I love letting other people do the thinking work for me and I just show up and sweat. I love my weekly cycling class and just following along with the instructor. The rest of the week, @expectingandempowered makes my at home workouts super easy - I just follow along with my week of pregnancy. I don't have to use any brain power, I just show up and 💪💪 😅 It rarely looks perfect, but it gets done and that's what counts. You and me baby, got 17 more weeks of pregnancy workouts.✨💪

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