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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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My biggest fan on the sidelines cheering “go mama go!” 💙 Before I was married, I’d head to the gym straight from work almost every day and get in a solid 60-90 minutes of a workout regimen I created for myself before heading home. These days, things look a just a l i t t l e different. 🙃 Ha! I’m now a stay-at-home mama with a part time work-from-home job. It feels like my brain is full of about 23049823 things at any one time and I’m maxed out each day before I even think about exercise. Gone are the days where I want to put any mental energy in to a workout regimen. Decision fatigue is a real thing and exercise can easily feel like one more set of decisions that I just don't have the energy for. I don’t have the capacity or desire to think about if I want to do biceps or triceps, elliptical or treadmill, cardio or weights. I literally just want to get a great workout in without putting any thought into it. My answer to this has been to find ways to exercise that eliminate decision fatigue. I take advantage of bootcamp and cycling classes at my local YMCA where I can just turn my brain on low power mode and follow the instructors without thinking. And since circumstances sometimes keep me from getting to the gym (LJ's napping or sick or the weather is nasty), I’ve also invested in an at-home workout program that makes all the decisions for me. I found @expectingandempowered through Instagram - they have programs specifically tailored to mamas, both in pregnancy and postpartum, AND they even have a specific guide for mamas like me who are "further out" 🙌 (meaning 10+ months postpartum). I love that their workouts are designed for busy mamas so I can do them with this quirky little set-up when LJ isn't napping 👆😂. Starting today I’m even participating in their #eandeaccountability challenge to stay motivated this winter. 💪 Today’s blog post details more of the ways I’ve simplified the decisions involved in exercise so I can get it in without having to think about it (pretty much the only way it would ever get done these days). Check it out at the link in my profile. ✨

The snuggle is real over here. I don't often get snuggles anymore. LJ is SO active these days! He spends his days bouncing around from activity to activity: throwing balls to me, bringing me books to "read" (and get about 2.3 pages in...💁), pulling everything out of his toy cabinet. Don't get me wrong, his personality is SO FUN and I truly love seeing him explore the world in new ways each day. 💙 But if I can be completely real for a minute, some days it gets exhausting. This 30 year old can't quite drum up the same enthusiasm for the 17th reading of Little Blue Fish as this 13 month old can. 😂 So on days when my super active toddler (still can't believe I'm using that word!) wants to snuggle on my lap and watch a show on PBS, that is just what we're gonna do. Absolutely #noshameinmymomgame whether I'm down on the floor reading, playing, and engaging, or lounging on the couch silently blessing the creators of Daniel Tiger. ✨

As predicted, this weekend signaled the end of our breastfeeding journey. LJ did SO WELL at my parents and we settled back into a routine at home with a fully weaned baby. ✨ Today I was playing with him and he threw his head back and giggled - and I saw SIX new teeth coming in! Six!! He's practically running everywhere, is done breastfeeding, and has six new teeth coming in. Excuse me while I reminisce about my little baby who is now a full-fledged toddler. 😍😭💙

The end of an era is upon me and my little runner and I'm about to get pretty personal about it.💙 After 13.5 months, I can feel our breastfeeding journey is drawing to a close. For a few months now, LJ has become more and more interested in food (and eats a ton!) and less and less interested in breastmilk. My supply has naturally adjusted and dwindled. We’ve gradually been dropping feeds and we're down to just one in the morning. My parents are watching him this weekend and I’m not going to pump or anything. I have a feeling this may signal the end of the road for breastfeeding. While it’s a little bittersweet, I know LJ and I are ready for this. It’s been quite the journey for us and if I’m being completely honest, my feelings towards breastfeeding have been complicated. I am so grateful that I was able to do it so long and don’t take that for granted. But while breastfeeding is awesome and beautiful, it’s also freaking hard and brought about a lot of complex feelings. Today I wrote a blog post to take a look back at some aspects of my experience: things I wasn't expecting, things I'm glad I did, things I hated, things I loved. If you're interested you can check it out at the link in my profile. ✨

The many faces of LJ. 😂 Sometimes he will go through this succession of emotions in the span of two minutes. I feel like I'm being initiated into the world of toddler emotions and it's DRAMATIC. But it's also pretty great. Tonight Justin and I were talking about how FUN it is to see his little personality really emerge lately. He was in rare form after dinner - giggling, chasing us, being super silly. We had a great little time as a family and it just made me excited for the toddler phase. I know there will be *moments* (ehem, swipe 👉) of chaos but there is going to be a lot of fun too and this mama can't wait. 💙 📷: @thecommoneer

Little bathroom helper. 😄 Since this picture was taken a few weeks ago, we've both babyproofed our bathroom cabinets (😂) and, thanks to the #DeclutterLikeAMother challenge, I've spent a little time decluttering them as well. The only one complaining might be LJ who now has less play "toys" when I'm getting ready in the bathroom. 🙃 My blog post today is a little recap of the first week of this decluttering challenge. If you're interested you can read about it at the link in my profile. ✨

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