Birth affirmations, faith in my birth story, praying a positive birth into fruition, law of attraction, ect.

Birth plans are very common among expecting moms. Most of us have a desire for how we want our birth to go but I know as well as anyone that sometimes those plans don’t work out. I’ve been let down and cried many tears over not having the birth experience that I wanted. I want to disclaimer my post right now by saying that OF COURSE my top priority is healthy baby, healthy mom. Obviously we all just want our bundles of joy here safely. Period. I had incredible births, all perfect in their own way even if they weren’t my definition of perfect or what I had ‘planned’. That doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t have an idea of how we want to do things though. I’m a huge believer in positive birth affirmations. More so with each baby that I’ve had. Even if plans go astray, a positive mind set is most of the battle. For this pregnancy I have done a lot of praying, willing, and faith keeping in the outcome. I’ve watched things fall into place one tiny step at a time. From my placenta previa resolving itself to many midwives falling through just so the one that I wanted the most could end up working out in the end. Long story short, I picked her. Loved her. Clicked with her. Had no doubts about her. Then she realized that she was booked full for my birth month and we had somehow missed it. I was so crushed. No other midwives compared after we met her. I felt defeated and like maybe I wasn’t meant to birth at home. Through this entire journey I have consistently prayed that if I wasn’t supposed to have a safe and successful home birth, please don’t let anything work out. Don’t let us even make it to the first prenatal appointment with a midwife. Take this desire away from me and make it clear that this isn’t your plan for me. I eventually took a step back and stopped looking for midwives all together. I was to the point where I began to believe that He was telling me what I didn’t want to hear when I got the call: “Hey girl, I had a few ladies risk out of my care this week that are all due in December and now I can take you on as a patient if you’re still interested!”. I cried. Big time. From that point on all doubt was just gone and I put everything into having relentless faith that this was what my future held. I haven’t wavered from that. I deeply believe in my birth plan and my ability to carry this baby to term. With that said, here are my personal birth plans/desires & affirmations for this baby: <At the end I’ll include basic labor affirmations too for those of you looking for positive labor quotes that fit all types of labor so if you’re just here for those hop down to the *** .> 

What I want/imagine for this delivery is very specific and again, I am FULLY aware that things don’t always work out but until that happens, I will hold tight to my belief that I WILL GET MY DREAM BIRTH! 

Pre labor plans/prep:

As a big family that seems to always have someone hungry at any given time, I keep my home stocked up on snacks, drinks, fruits, ect. that will help with general hospitality for my birth team but I’d love to have enough heads up in labor that I can put on a slow cooker meal. I’m going to freeze several of them for after the birth but for actual labor I want to do a big fresh crock pot meal to eat on. Soup, stew, chicken and dumplings, something like that. My husband is a bomb cook so if things get crazy, I may just let him toss it on himself. Super low maintenance and very convenient. I also would love to have a sandwich tray and a fruit/cheese tray for everyone to snack on not just during labor but for a day or so afterwards. That will all just depend on how much time i have in early labor, of course. There’s a chance that if I can’t do those things, my mom can. If not though, it’s not going to be something that stresses me out. Staying stocked up on groceries will be good enough. I also always keep throw blankets and pillows easily available. We are ‘blankey’ junkies. We love them so we have a ton of them. We are naturally big into entertaining so I feel like we have that going for us in the hospitality department. I’m not overly focused on those things because they are just a given which is nice. Cleaning supplies, heavy duty trash bags, clean towels, disposable plates/bowels/silverware, Ect are something else that I’ll be mindful of keeping well stocked. 

Birth setting/atmosphere:

I pour faith into having a low lit night time water birth in front of the Christmas tree so that when my younger children wake up their baby brother is here. My oldest daughters really want to watch the birth and as long as it’s a smooth delivery and they still feel this strongly about being there for it, I will most likely wake them up. In general though, laboring while the younger two sleep is ideal. Plus my home after dark during Christmas time is the happiest vibe ever to me. Truly. It’s everything and so peaceful. I want to have the home full of comfortable scents diffusing and just radiate an over all healing heaven ha. I obviously have activities to help preoccupy the kids if it’s a day birth though. Their play room is full of toys and craft supplies. I’m going to buy stuff to bake Christmas cookies and goodies. Stuff like that. 

I pray for a intimate labor process in my cozy space but I also have always been that girl who wanted my loved ones there pretty much right away. We all joke that me giving birth is like a party. I enjoy alone time the night following the birth but during the day when the excitement is brand new i LOVE having company to share the joy with. A dreamy Christmas tree lit birth followed by a day of close family coming to visit is what I pray and hope for. Specific, I know. But there’s no harm in having those goals. 

I imagine my husband helping my daughters deliver the baby. I imagine my birth team (two midwives, a midwife student, a photographer, and a doula), my husband, our older girls, my mom, and my mother in law there for the birth. 

I imagine a peaceful labor with no issues or scares. I don’t even pray for a fast or painless labor. I can handle long periods of natural labor. I had prodromal labor with all 4 of my babies. I just pray for a medically uneventful labor with no hiccups. No concerns. 

I pray very hard that I have enough time to get my birth team all here. Most of them live an hour and a half away (Tulsa) so this is something that I really worry about. For me, I can contract regularly for weeks and dilate up to a 5 but not be in active labor. It’s very hard to tell before transition when I’m in real deal labor and once transition hits, I’ve always had a baby within 45 minutes. Literally. All four times. I transition super fast but pre labor super long. A gradual dilation and labor this time would be incredible just so everyone can get here. Not only that but I’m also due in December so weather could delay arrival too. 

I pray that the baby and I have a great nursing experience right away. That he latches with ease and that my toddler doesn’t have any dramatic jealousy issues. I want a calm tandem nursing relationship. 

I pray that Granger is in flawless health and thrives immediately. 

I pray that I don’t have any heavy bleeding this time and avoid hemorrhage scares. I want a smooth, healing night at home without fear. 

Actual birth plans: 

They are not typical for a hospital birth because with a home birth there’s no epidurals, no instant vaccinations, no instant bath, delayed cord clamping is typical, natural expulsion of the placenta is also typical, ect. All of those natural based plans that you have to clarify for a hospital birth — are the standard plans for a home birth which is why home birth was originally so appealing to me. No pressure to do things in a way that doesn’t fit your lifestyle. No pressure to induce. No pressure for unnecessary intervention. 

I plan to do a herbal bath while the cord is still attached to the placenta. We are preserving my placenta to have it encapsulated but I’ve seen some women place theirs in a bowel that floats in the birth tub full of healing herbs while it’s still attached to the baby and I love that idea to help jump start the healing process. The sentiment of it is also very appealing to me. Cherishing those last moments before that 9 month long life line is severed. I’d like to cut the cord myself this time. 

I plan to clean myself up and get baby dressed at our own leisure while the rest of my company/birth team tends to other things such as the birth clean up and my children. Brian wants to have skin to skin with Granger while I get out of my wet clothes and shower. The midwives plan is to have the living room/birthing area all cleaned up by the time that I’m cleaned up too that way we can just relax and focus on bonding as a new family of seven which I love. It’s very helpful that they consider all of those things. 

I have this beautiful, specific birth in my heart and it’s been that way for a very long time. I deeply believe that God will give me my dream birth and I will remain faithful about that. After all, 5th times a charm — right? Ha! 

Note: We do have specific back up plans too. From baby sitters lined up to hospital bags being packed (My next blog will be a ‘What’s in my diaper bag’ post but I’ll also do a ‘what’s in my hospital bag’ one soon), we know that birth is unpredictable and though my faith is strong — I’m not unaware of the possibilities. Anything can happen. I could risk out today and have the baby now or I could risk out last minute in our home during labor and need rushed to the hospital. He could be born in the middle of the day and not at night. He could come before the midwives get here. It could be a super painful labor and I could want my kids to go to my grandma’s house. I could be too miserable for guests after he’s born. We definitely have in mind that it’ll be winter time so weather and sickness is an issue. For that reason, guest allowance will be strict and limited to our parents and grand parents. We could have the perfect home birth but he could have issues breathing or I could hemorrhage and need to rush to the hospital post delivery. So many things could come up. We know that. 

***My top favorite birth affirmations:

Pain with a purpose!

It’s not just pain, it’s progress! 

It’s not pain, it’s power! 

Every contraction gets me one step closer to meeting my baby! 

This will not last forever!

The only way out, is through!

My baby is coming!

Where the mind goes, the body follows!

Laugh, sing, dance, glow — let the oxytocin flow!

My baby and I are working together! 

I trust my instincts! 

I am relaxed and calm! 

My baby will be born at the perfect time! 

I am blessed to carry this baby! 

Breathing in I feel strong, breathing out I let go!

You are stronger than you think! 

Lastly my favorite one, I am prepared to calmly meet whatever path this birth takes. 

Easy Halloween Treats to do with Young Children

A few nights ago the kids were begging me to do a Halloween craft with them while we watched Halloweentown but let’s be honest, when you’re pregnant with 4 young children you don’t always feel up to doing anything extra. Luckily I had just bought a bunch of groceries to make different Halloween/fall treats that I recently had seen on Facebook and one of those treats ideas were super simple. The kids did all of the work (aside from melting the chocolate) and everything was perfect in the lane household so today I’m sharing those quick yet adorable treats with you. you only need is 3 ingredients: 

-Milano cookies

-White chocolate 

-Candy eyes 

1) Melt the chocolate in the microwave or a double boiler

2) Have your kids dip the cookies into the chocolate and let it harden

3) Once the chocolate has set up/hardened let the kiddos dip a spoon in to the left over melted chocolate and ‘fling’ the chocolate gently over the cookies. We laid out a few sheets of foil on to the counter to put our cookies on so there was little to no mess. 

4) Stick the candy eyes onto the wet chocolate. 

Boom, cute and tasty mummy cookies. Happy kids. Very little clean up. Easy peasy! 

Deciding to birth at home, questions to ask potential midwives, who our birth team is, ect

Home birth is definitely not the norm or for everyone. In fact, there is some judgement and even hostility towards it at times. I want to start off by saying that I in no way think that picking one birth setting over another makes a person better or worse. Before I go into the point of this post (scroll down until you see ••• to skip right to it), I want to explain my journey to making this choice. I have always been intrigued by home birth. Even before I was a mother, it fascinated me and I wanted to do it but just thought that ‘I couldn’t’. We live in a rural area. People around here don’t birth at home much. We don’t have a hospital in our town if there was an emergency. Plus my husband was scared to death of the idea. Excuses. Lots of them. As I had more children it felt more realistic though. I gently (or maybe not so gently but same thing ha) nudged my husband regularly towards the idea. Finally by Baby #4 I got him more on board with the idea of not having a hospital birth and we compromised by planning a birth center birth. With my older 3 children there were big red flags and issues with my prenatal care and their deliveries. From a nurse rolling her eyes at me for coming in because i had extreme swelling, couldn’t feel my hands or feet, and was constantly light head due to a consistent blood pressure reading of roughly 193/118 (I was in fact preeclamptic, btw) to the staff trying to force me to go home when I was in labor with my 3rd child because they said that i wasn’t really in labor. They wouldn’t admit me. They wouldn’t give my husband a pillow or blanket after 11 hours of him sleeping in a cheap plastic triage chair. They were rude and wouldn’t really tend to me or any of my requests. After 13 hours of horrible back pain, I delivered my son in a triage room before my doctor could even make it. I had several other issues along the way with all 3 pregnancies but the final straw with that specific hospital was my son’s birth. It was also what pushed me over the edge with realizing that my long term desire and passion for home birth was valid and it was there for a reason. With our 4th child after a long battle of me pushing a home birth, my husband was all for me using a midwife at a birth center. He had watched the struggles of hospital births and how hard they made things for me. Unfortunately though the birth center risked me out on the spot when my baby tried to come at 29 weeks. We fought preterm labor with her multiple times before 35 weeks. In my research over the years to find a midwife in our area I realized that there was a bigger picture here for me. A reason that I’ve been fascinated with it for over a decade. Even a reason that birth and motherhood in general was my childhood obsession. It wasn’t just about being a mom and having a big family. It was a calling to care for other mother’s throughout their pregnancies and support them/their holistic ways through their births and beyond. Thus leading me to become a student midwife and fighting hard for my own passion to birth at home. I prayed so hard for God to change my husband’s heart on the matter. I knew that ultimately he’d support whatever I decided to do but that wasn’t good enough for me. I needed him on board with it for himself too. I didn’t want it to just be something that he did for me but wasn’t comfortable with it. God did change his heart! After years and years of working on him and praying hard, it did happen and my faith that it would all work out has fallen into place. Not without hardship though. Things didn’t work out or feel ‘right’ with certain midwives. I would instantly get a vibe and know that she wasn’t the one by 60 seconds into the consultation. Brian would get antsy and tell me that he didn’t like her credentials. She’d end up being booked or insanely expensive for our area. We wouldn’t like her attitude towards my desire to have my children near by during the birth. She wouldn’t be quick to get back with me. Other midwives would shutter when they’d hear her name. One had even had her license revoked in Arkansas for negligence and lied to me about it. I only found out because I took it upon myself to research each midwife on my own. Things like that. Hurtle after hurtle of certain things not working out only to work out perfectly in the end once we found ‘the one’ or two in my case but I’ll get deeper into that in my next post about birth affirmations. Here is my advice to families seeking the care of a midwife:

•••Firstly let’s talk about what a midwife is and what types of them that there are. 

A licensed midwife (LM) is a midwife licensed and regulated by a certain state. Not all states require licensure or are regulated by the state health department. It is up to you to find out the law’s and regulations for your state. In some states such as Georgia and California the only legal home birth midwives are nurse midwives which is what we will get to next. 

A certified nurse midwife (CNM) is licensed by the Medical Board of their state, the same board that licenses physicians. They are independent healthcare practitioners who specialize in out-of-hospital births. CNMs are licensed by the Board of Nursing and generally work in hospitals or birth centers, although some have home birth practices as well. 

A certified professional midwife (CPM) is a midwife that holds an international credential in out-of-hospital birth. Typically they did a blend of clinicals and apprenticeships to become certified. They had specific guidelines to meet and had to pass a test at the end of their training. 

There are also bachelor’s degrees for midwives such as a Bachelor’s in Science of Midwifery (BSM). 

Again, please remember that every state is different. You need to find out for yourself the laws for your state. Are midwives regulated in that state? Are they required to uphold a license? Are home birth midwives legal there? Are certified professional midwives through NARM recognized? In some states such as Georgia and California home birth midwives are not ‘legal’ unless they are certified nurse midwives. 

Next let’s talk things to know and questions to ask:

Once you’ve decided if home birth is right for you, you’ll begin your search for the perfect birth keeper for your family. Usually this is an extensive process. After all, you are trusting you and your child’s lives with this person. 

-What are your credentials? How many years have you been a midwife? How many births have you attended? Are you licensed and/or certified? Have you ever had a complaint filed against you or had your license revoked? 

-Why do you support out of hospital birth and why was becoming a midwife important to you?

-What are your fees and what all does that include? Also what are any added costs that we can expect to pay? Often birth kits and birth tub rentals are not included into the original fee. You want to ask about an travel fees too. I’m not near many midwives so I am paying a travel fee for being over 60 Miles away from them. 

-Do you work with insurance companies? A lot of home birth midwives are not covered by insurance but a lot of insurance companies do cover the labs and ultrasounds. 

-What happens if you have two births going on at once? What’s the plan of action? 

-If you miss the birth or I risk out what happens in regards to the fee? Every midwife is different but the majority of them require you to pay in full by 36 weeks. If you risk out before that it is prorated to the prenatal visits that you had. After that, most do not refund you anything. 

-Who accompanies you to the birth? In my case two midwives will be at my birth (Sarah Foster and Annabelle Demoss out of Tulsa, Ok/The Tulsa Birth Center) as well as a student midwife so three total on their personal birth team. I also booked doula who happens to be a friend. Her name is Chrissie Demarais so if you’re looking for a doula in this area, you can find her on Facebook. She is a great advocate for women and I’m excited to have her on my birth team. She will be there for all things labor support related and to record the birth for me. She’s encapsulating my placenta as well. Some midwives have doulas on their birth team or are doulas themselves and some even have photographers on their team. I hired my photographer separately. Her name is Cheyenne johnson and she’s out of Vinita, Ok. You can find her on Facebook and Instagram. Her work is to die for.

-What kind of equipment, medications, supplies, ect do you bring to the birth and are you certified in neonatal resuscitation? 

-What issues risk me out of your care? Typical risk outs are early delivery, transverse fetal position, fetal heart rate fluctuations (sign of distress), hemorrhage, preeclampsia, ect. But definitely clarify those risks with your midwife. 

-How do you handle emergencies? Mild and severe. 

-What are the protocols for transfer during labor should something go wrong? You’ll want to have the hospital and insurance stuff in line as a back up for this reason. I’m lucky enough to have an established relationship with an OB near us. My husband’s big stipulation for home birth was that I continued to see my OB all the way up until the birth so that he has extra reassurance that baby and I are safe/low risk. 

-How long do you stay after the birth and what are your post partum/newborn procedures? How do you insure that we are stable and how long do you require us to be stable before you leave? 

-If I test positive for Group B Strep and opt to do the antibiotics during labor, how does that work? Do you administer them? Do you have a nurse that comes to do that? Is that included into my fees? As the mother it is our job to find out the states policies on this. Most midwives aren’t licensed to give IV medications. You will need a plan of action for this. 

-Do you clean up the birth tub after the birth? I was surprised to learn that this wasn’t a given. Some midwives do not clean up after the birth. It is up to the family to do so. 

-Can my children be present at the birth if that’s what i feel like doing in that moment? 

-Can my spouse or child catch the baby? Can I deliver the baby myself? 

-Can I do a herbal bath in the birth pool shortly post delivery? 

-Can I deliver my placenta on my own time, naturally? Meaning it’s not forced/pushed out by me before i body expels it on it’s own. 

Lastly I asked these questions just for hospitality’s sake:

-What kind of coffee, drinks, and snacks do you guys like? 

-What can I do extra to accommodate your team in the event of a long labor? 

I know that I’ll keep stock in snacks, drinks, bread, lunch meats, fruits, Ect because as a large family, I always do that anyways but my ‘plan’ is to put on a big crock pot meal such a stew, soup, chicken and dumplings, or roast if I have enough heads up (which has always been the case in the past). 

I also keep plenty of clean throw blankets and extra pillows easily accessible full time so that’s a convenient birth team accommodation that we have. Not only is my birth team large (5 people excluding my husband) but my children, mother in law, and mom will most likely be present as well. 

I hope that this post was helpful and if you are in the Arkansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Kansas area and seeking a midwife please reach out to me. I’m happy to share my notes with you and maybe help narrow down your search. I can almost simply give you names and contact info for all of the midwives that I know of in our area. 

Pregnancy Update: Week 26

Today I’m 26 weeks pregnant and it blows my mind how quickly this pregnancy is going by. I have never been this eager to meet one of my children this early, as weird as that may sound. It’s not that I’m ‘done being pregnant’. I love being pregnant. But for some reason I AM SO READY FOR HIM TO BE HERE! I try to remind myself that this is <probably> my last pregnancy and how badly I wanted to be pregnant during the Fall-Christmas time so I need to slow down on the whole wishing him here thing and simply enjoy it. I also have several things left to do to prepare for bringing him into the world and for the holidays. I recently started Christmas shopping. His room is done aside from finishing his bedding which I can’t do until his fabric gets here. I have done all of the item purging for our house hold and home decluttering that I wanted to do before Christmas. I am going to put my Christmas decor up the first week of October (Judge me, that’s fine but right now I’m not giant pregnant yet and I’m feeling somewhat decent so why not get it done while I’m in a better ‘condition’ than I will be in another month from now?). I have all of the clothes, blankets, bibs, nursing covers, baby wraps, and bedding areas for him that I need. But I don’t have a car seat, swing, or Moses basket yet and of course, I still have most of my holiday shopping to do. Not to mention gift wrapping. I need to get that done before my belly is too big to wrap over ha. It’s just a lot going on in the same month that he will be born so I want it all done by that month. I’ll get there though and it’ll be okay. 

As far as pregnancy news and symptoms goes:

-Weight gain? Check. Like, roughly 15 lbs kind of ‘check’. We are growing at rapid speed. 

-Gestational diabetes test? Check. I passed. 

-Cravings? Check. Ice, spicy foods (specifically chips and salsa), and sweet whole pickles. Basic prego, i know. I know. 

-Braxton Hicks? Check. But honestly I don’t have them much at all anymore. My uterus is calm and cozy for once. 

-Glowy skin? Not check. My skin is so textured and awful right now. It’s never been this rough but I did find a skin care line that I’m living for and has helped a ton so stay tuned for that review next week. 

-Placenta Previa? Gone. Gone. Gone. The partial previa resolved itself by 20 weeks which leads me to my final update... 

This past week we rehired a midwife to deliver Granger at our home. It has been a roller coaster, in true Callee Lane pregnancy fashion, but things are going so amazing. I’m healthy. Baby is healthy. We have zero medical issues. We are low risk. It’s been that way for awhile so Brian and I decided that it was worth taking the plunge and planning a home birth again. At the end of the day, I can’t give that dream up. I’m going to fight for it and I was so thankful to of found a midwife that met my book long list of requirements AND wasn’t booked full in December. If you don’t know, I’m a midwife student. I’m in the PEP to become a CPM (for the 4 state area) and LLM (for Arkansas). So I was even more picky this time when deciding on who I was going to trust my son and I’s life with. My husband also had his own requirements that had to be met. It was a long, long process that actually began before this pregnancy even started. We consulted with 28 midwives in the states of AR and OK.  I was even considering using one in Edmond which is 3 hours from us. I can’t express enough how picky we were. You learn a lot when you spend years researching midwives and when you are a midwife student yourself but I’m completely smitten with our choice and very excited about our labor and delivery journey. I deeply believe that this will be everything plus more than I imagined. I feel it so strongly. It’s going to be all of my ‘pregnancy and birth dreams’ coming true. 

(officially into that ‘hubby’s clothes feels the best’ stage 🤷🏻‍♀️)

If you’re in our area and looking for help picking a midwife, feel free to reach out to me. I have a notebook full of details on each midwife including some of their reputations with other midwives. I will do a post next all about picking the perfect midwife. What questions to ask, what research to do, what to know, what’s important, ect. There’s a lot that goes into making such a serious choice. More than even I knew until I became a student. 

My laundry schedule as a household of soon to be seven

Laundry is hands down the biggest and most overwhelming task in our house hold. We accumulate so much laundry at what seems like record speed. In fact, we are adding on to our current laundry room to make space for a closet area and another washer/dryer set. Yes, we will have 2 washers and 2 dryers ha. We truly need it as a family of soon to be 7. We also need more storage and closet space so it’s a big ‘win win’. I will be totally transparent and say that i suck at laundry keeping. I would absolutely hire it done if we could afford a full time laundry keeper. I loath it. Dread it. Put it off. The whole she-bang. However, over the years I’ve found a system that really does make things easier for me so today I’m sharing that with you guys. 

Sorting pre wash:

I sort laundry by colors to some degree but mostly I sort it by textures. For example, my jeans and heavy fabrics are in one category but my kids clothes/light weight fabrics are in another. My towels have their own basket. My husband and I’s dress shirts have their own basket. My husband’s filthy farm/feed store clothes are washed in a load of their own. My whites are obviously in a separate category as well. Bedding, again — separate load. I have a laundry sorter that’s on wheels in the back corner of my laundry room. I bought it at Target and will link it here <—— It works wonderfully for every day sorting and it also keeps our massive piles of dirty clothes in a somewhat tidy situation. It’s efficient and aesthetically appealing. I 10/10 recommend some type of mobile sorting system. 

Sorting post wash/dry:

We have a basket system with each of our names on our basket. Basically right out of the dryer I put our clothes into one basket then I slide them over to sort them straight into their designated baskets under our laundry room counter. That’s right, I don’t fold everyone’s clothes. My kids are responsible for their own baskets. They fold and hang their own clothes. They have certain drawers for certain things and we hang specific items as well so their clothes are kept in those spaces. This is something that they tend to get sloppy with so I check it regularly to make sure that we are doing things the correct way. I hang just about all of Brian and I’s clothing with the exception of PJ’s, under garments, and Brian’s plain white tee shirts. I also take care of our toddlers laundry and our soon to be newborn’s items but I do have our toddler ‘help’ me take care of her things. We have just began the whole chores thing with her. She loves to help. 

Laundry schedule:

For everyday loads I try to do atleast one load a day and I tend to focus on things that we need for the following day or things that we wear the most. One load a day wouldn’t keep us caught up, to be honest but it helps manage laundry volume a little. 

On Friday’s I dedicate the whole day to just doing laundry. Back to back loads of it. Our baskets are over flowing but I’ve found that devoting one solid day to non stop laundry helps me more than trying to do multiple loads a day on top of keeping everything else clean/taken care of. 

On Saturday’s my kids do their laundry. Meaning that I take their full baskets to their door ways and go on my way. They are responsible for properly putting their things away. 

There are some weeks when the laundry is more than ‘normal’ so some weeks we have to have two all day laundry days or the kids have to put up there stuff after school. It all just depends on how full the baskets get. People ask if their clothes get wrinkly doing it this way and the answer is ‘no’. We rarely have wrinkle issues. Fabric softener helps with that. Also making sure that your water isn’t too hard helps as well. It also preserves clothing quality longer. 

Cleaning products: I’m kind of a products junkie. I like to try new things. For a long time we used the pods because I felt like portion control was the most economically efficient. Then I started making my own laundry soap which I still do but I’ve also been dabbling in Grove Collaborative’s different brands of laundry concentrate. You can check their products out here and save a ton of money on your order by using my link as well as get a free gifts. I’m a huge fan of online beauty and cleaning product subscriptions and this company is one of my favorites. 

For stains: I alwayssssss do a spray and wash soak and only wash things on COLD WATER. Hot water locks in stains. It’s also harsh on your clothing fibers so I just avoid hot water. 

I hope that these tips helped you and may the odds be ever in your laundry slaving favor. 

The cleaning schedule that works for our family

Cleaning! The dreaded ‘c’ word. It is never ending... especially when you have a big family with a lot of extra activities going on so you’re always busy. I have found over the years that having a schedule is truly the key to an easier life so today we are going to talk about the cleaning schedule that works for me. From specific cleaning days for specific tasks to everyday pick up’s/duties, I’m going to cover it all.  

Weekly deep cleaning schedule:

Monday- on Monday’s I have found that I’m usually not home because I run errands for the week on this day. Grocery shopping, mail runs, Magicallee Made deliveries, bill paying, boy scouts, gymnastics, ect — I almost always am gone all day on Mondays. So I dedicate Mondays to that and just do my ‘everyday clean ups’ which we will get to later in this post. 

Tuesday- I wash everyone’s bedding as well as the shower curtains and deep clean the bathrooms between loads. 

Wednesday- Mopping, base board cleaning, and cabinet/facial scrubbing. Once a month I like to polish my floors too which I do on a Wednesday. 

Thursday- Deep cleaning and vacuuming the kids rooms. They are each responsible for certain chores in regards to their rooms and clothes but let’s face it, they are kids and I’m OCD about how things are done. Their ‘clean’ isn’t my ‘clean’ so on Thursday’s I clean their picked up rooms my way. 

Friday- My least favorite cleaning day, hands down. The one that I struggle the most with. Laundry! I spend A L L D A Y just doing laundry on Friday’s. This is by far the biggest task in our home so I’m going to do a blog post next week solely dedicated to my laundry routine and what I’ve found works the best for us. 

Saturday- Deep cleaning and vacuuming my room. Saturday is the kids laundry day but again, I’ll get into that deeper in my laundry routine post. 

Sunday- On Sunday’s I don’t do anything but spend time with my family. It’s the one day of the week that we all dedicate to just being together. 

Daily cleaning duties:

Every day I have the same basic chores. I sweep, vacuum the living room rug, run the rainbow air purifier on high for one hour to clean the air, do the dishes, do a load of laundry if there’s something specific that we need washed for the next day, clean the counter tops, typical toy and clothes pick up, ect. 

The kids cleaning chores: 

Daily- make their beds, pick up their rooms/bathroom, tidy their closets, and help feed the animals. 

Saturday- Laundry 

Once a month I have them deep clean the loft area/play room. It’s almost always a wreck and honestly, it’s not too priority to spend time on so I make them clean it all once and all month long they know that whatever messes they make, they WILL be cleaning up. I rarely touch the play room. It’s not my job to clean it up. It’s theirs. Vacuuming and all — it’s on them. And they aren’t allowed down until it’s done right. 

No matter what wall of life you come from, cleaning is inevitable so I hope that you’re able to find something that works for you and I hope that this post helps. 

My Fall fashion haul

It’s September and though it may still be muggy and hot in Oklahoma, I’m still embracing all things Fall. After all, within a few weeks the average temperature in our area will be in the 70s. Whoop whoop! Your girl is readyyyy which called for a shopping spree. If you’ve been around you know that I had 4 late spring-late summer babies. I’ve always dreamt of having a winter baby but timing just never added up. Fifth times a charm, right? Apart of that dream was wearing cute fall maternity outfits. I have literally had a Pinterest board dedicated to fall/winter maternity fashion for like 8 years. I had to make myself not shop for fall fashion sooner this year. With that being said, here are some of my purchases from yesterday. Every item was UNDER $50 with the exception of the Sperry Duck Boots but even those were on sale. Holla! 

Amazon is where I got the olive green and ivory over sized sweaters as well as the boot cuff set of four. They were each under $35. 

Pink blush maternity is where I got the blush floor length kimono, the distressed black skinny jeans, the solid blush sweater, the taupe leopard print sweater, and the blush/white striped sweater. If you sign up for their email, they are almost always running coupons and good deals. 

DSW is where I got the Sperry duct boots. They are on sale right now for $70. The original price is $120! 

Zappos is where I ended up ordering the white converses from because they were on sale for under $30. I actually have 2 other pairs of white converses (along with black ones, hot pink ones, and red ones) but I’m due for an upgrade. They are my most worn shoes, by far. 

Motherhood maternity is where I ordered both denim skinny jeans and the cover all’s. They were all 3 on sale for 25% off. Wearing cover all’s was probably the biggest thing that i pictured for myself clothing wise when I’d imagine being big pregnant in the fall. I have been pathetically excited to wear them with my bump. I plan to style them with a black and white striped long sleeve shirt and white converses. Casual type of thing. 

Blanq is where I ordered the support leggings and I did get them for 40% off. I own a few pairs of these and the support is awesome. The material is very thick and not see through. The only disclaimer that I have is to wash them ON COLD AND INSIDE OUT to prevent fuzzies/plying. 

The checked plaid button up is from Maurice’s but after I had already paid for it I noticed that my local Walmart has one similar for less money. I have several light weight button ups. I love to wear them with leggings/skinny jeans and tie them around my waist. With sneakers it looks perfect and with a baby bump? I just can’t ha. 

Kohl’s is where I got the jean jacket and honestly, I looked everywhere for exactly what I was wanting. I almost went with an old navy jacket but was worried that it was too unisex for my style. I also almost got a Levi’s one but again, I wanted something 3/4 sleeve and kind of cropped for a feminine look. I plan to wear it over long maxi dresses. I have so. many. Long. Dresses. Seriously, soooo many. But most are sleeve less so I figured that a jean jacket is perfect for the fall time paired with ankle boots. 

My fall fashion hauls are far from over. I’m so so so pumped about the season and being pregnant during it. It’s a legit dream come true for me. I hope that this post helped you guys with some current discounts going on. Happy shopping! 

Pregnancy Shame — Mom confessions

I have mentioned this in previous posts and on my social medias but I have been nesting like crazy. I’ve purged and organized all of our closets. I’ve deep cleaned everything. I’ve dug out the baby gear (Well Brian did but same difference, right?) so that I can finish setting up the baby’s bed area in our room. I’ve purchased most of our big items and a ton of clothes, blankets, and cloth diapers. I’ve painted the nursery and as soon as the custom made items arrive, it’ll be finished. I’ve organized my kitchen and laundry room cabinets. I’ve made a list of freezer meals that I can prepare closer to his due date. I’ve even began Christmas shopping. But all of that energy was more mental than physical. I knew that I HAD to get some things done before I get farther along so I’ve convinced myself that I’m ‘feeling energetic’. 

From day one of this pregnancy things have been significantly different than my other pregnancies. I had every ‘bad’ symptom possible and I never felt good. Not even in brief moments. I was miserable and barely surviving day to day life. That got a little better at around 15-16 weeks but then other things stepped up. The back aches. The stiff hips. The acid reflux. The peeing a million times a day. The all around sore body that makes movement actually hurt at times. I can’t sit too long or lay too long without everything locking up when I do try to change positions. The insomnia because I can’t get comfortable. The weight gain. I had lost 10 lbs in the first few months but now I’m already up 17 lbs from my lowest weight during this pregnancy which is 7 lbs more than my pre pregnancy weight. I’m only 24 weeks pregnant and my max weight gain goal was 20 lbs total for the WHOLE pregnancy. These things are just apart of the issues that I’ve had. I had partial placenta previa which led to a lot of heavy bleeding at random. It was terrifying to say the least. I had a pre term labor scare at 20 weeks because my uterus is constantly irritated and the placenta previa wasn’t helping. It was just adding more pressure to my cervix which put me at an even bigger risk of pre term delivery/my cervix dilating. I’ve been on a weekly injection called Makena to try and help prevent preterm labor. I also had a cervical stitch done. The Makena hasn’t seemed to help but the stitch has. I haven’t dilated any despite the constant contractions so ‘yay’ for that. Most of these problems are things that I didn’t have issues with in other pregnancies and if I did experience them, it wasn’t until the last month or so. To be feeling so, well pregnant, so early is a first for me. It’s honestly just all around been a hard pregnancy which I’m certain will continue to get worse as I grow. I joke that maybe it’s my age (almost 30) or maybe it’s that this is my 5th child and my body is boycotting me ha. I really don’t know but I do know that I wanted this baby so badly. Anyone who knows me personally can attest to the fact that it’s all that I talked about and wanted. I had some losses after my youngest child was born. Loss is always hard but for me the loss just intensified the desire to grow our family again. I wanted it so badly and I am deeply grateful to be pregnant right now. For real!!! I can not express how smitten I am with my children, including the baby boy inside of me. I feel complete in a way that makes me get emotional. It’s bliss. 

I say all of that to you to get to the actual point of this post: just because you ‘whine’ about your overly hard pregnancy does not mean that you are ANY LESS THANKFUL. It does not void your joy. It does not downplay your struggles to get pregnant and/or to stay pregnant. It changes nothing in regards to how lucky you know that you are or how blessed that you feel. It is okay to not be a perfectly happy pregnant woman through the pain and hard times. Do not let people pregnant shame you for mentioning that you’re miserable. The whole ‘just be thankful that you can have kids’ or ‘oh this is nothing, you aren’t even that far along’ makes me want to vomit. As if we are any less thankful for our children. As if we don’t know better than anyone how much longer we have to go. As if the pain that we feel is irrelevant. NOT TO EVEN TOUCH ON HOW INSECURE PREGNANCY CAN MAKE US (I’ll be blogging about that later this week). You are validated, mama. You are literally growing a human being inside of you. Those words are often not actually given adequate thought. People need to think about what that means — to grow a child from basically nothing in 40ish weeks. Then there’s the prep that your body is going through to birth that human. The spreading and contracting. The ripping apart and expanding before you deliver. No wonder we are sore. What we are doing is astonishing. Seriously! You are a rock star whether you had a easy pregnancy or not. You are aloud to live wrapped around that tiny unborn baby’s finger and to cherish him/her more than anything but to still be uncomfortable. Don’t let anyone guilt you over complaining about the discomforts of growing a human. It’s the hardest work that a person’s body can do.