Hi there. If we haven’t met properly, I’m Jess. I’m not a mom with all the answers, but I’m not a mom with no answers either. I’ve been a mom for nearly 15 years, which is long enough to know some things by experience. And I’m a mom to 8 kids, which is enough kids…
Category: Grow as Mom
Peopled-Out, by Facebook
As a mom, there is a limited amount of time I have for people outside of our four walls, but Facebook is sneaky. It makes me FEEL like I can commit fully to people both inside, and outside, of our walls. The problem is, after devouring hours of social media each week, I feel “peopled…
Here’s What No One Tells You About Having Another Baby
When it comes to having another baby, people will talk about the potential for additional financial costs, marital strain, or having to go through labor again. But very few people talk about this. This was something I noticed about having another baby, 5 weeks after having our 8th baby– Here are our current set of “bookends” (oldest– Ethan–…
How I’m Fighting 3 Fears, Right Now
I’ve always thought of myself as pretty brave. Whether that’s true or not I don’t know but I looked to the externals and deemed it so: moving around the world, multiple times, as a growing family keeping having babies even though it HURTS (!!!) every time, and makes life harder quitting my dream job and moving to…
When Mama Feels Overwhelmed
Lots of things can be overwhelming to us as moms. Things like Messes, attitudes, sickness, a busy schedule, and/or sudden changes in our routines can push us past the norms of stress we’re used to, into a zone where we can feel like we might teeter over the edge into insanity. On this particular day, I…
Managing Postpartum With a Big Family
The misperception is common, and I probably would have thought wrongly about it, too. Back when I was single, or a mom of 1-2 kids, if I’d had to describe what postpartum weeks would look like for a mom with her 8th baby, my eyes might have bugged-out, and I would have had the…
How We Set Family Goals for the New Year
Each January, no matter which salesman is pitching the perfect system to plan out my whole life, I’m too much of a realist. I can’t buy the hype that, with a little vision-boarding, this will be my “best year ever.” That said, I recognize the basic truth that goals matter. What we focus on matters. Expectations matter. I just…
Why You Should Be Listening to These Podcasts
Why should you listen to podcasts? Because it’s a wonderful way to be encouraged and learn, while you’re doing something else. You can work out, cook dinner, nurse the baby, fold laundry, take a bath, sweep your floor, or tidy your living room… but engage your mind and heart at the same time! So, are you…
Titus 2 Relationships for Military Wives, Missionaries, & Frequent-Movers
This question recently came in: I was thinking about what you spoke about [in this podcast episode, called “Lean In & Learn from Other Women”] and the thing that stuck out most to me was how you learn most by living life with others. While I completely agree, I am stuck wondering HOW to make…
Postpartum Sanity: How I Prioritize Sleep (While Breastfeeding)
Here’s a detailed look at how, in the first two weeks of breastfeeding, I begin gently prioritizing sleep… so that our whole family (parents, older siblings, and baby included) achieves sanity, sleep, and contentment ASAP. This is the way we’ve done it with all 8 of our babies. Video outline: 1:00- What method we follow…