Wellness Mama®
Simple Answers for Healthier Families
Tips and resources to help moms create healthy lifestyles for their families through natural pregnancy and birth, positive parenting and natural living.
As Mother’s Day approaches, I’ve gotten several requests from the husbands of a few readers for gift ideas for Mom. Sometimes regular chocolate doesn’t cut it anymore! I’ve compiled a list of some things I’d want to get myself or gift my own mom. Feel free to add your favorites in the comments! Some of …
I know I might sound unromantic, but something in me rebels against commercialized holidays (like Valentine’s Day). You won’t find me buying heart-shaped boxes of candy or flowers that will die in a couple of days. But I do have a few other ideas that have been a hit in the past or that catch …
For many of us, Christmas time means a little more time with family or even a break from school. We do an adventure points system over school breaks, but I wanted to brainstorm some more Christmas ideas. Here are some fun Christmas activities for kids that encourage creativity, imagination, and movement during this holiday season. …
In the midst of holiday gift-giving, I can’t help but think how often well-intentioned gifts eventually lead to more stress. Both for the giver and the receiver. So much so that over time our family decided to give experience gifts instead of material ones as often as we can. After a few years of trial …
What is it about a Christmas stocking? Old or young, waking up on Christmas morning to a stocking lumpy with little surprises has its own special joy. These healthy stocking stuffer ideas have something for everyone on your list! It’s always fun pulling the hidden items out to reveal the gifts inside. Even if it’s …
Natural birth has gotten a lot more popular in recent years. And hypnobirthing is something that women (even celebrities and Duchesses) have used during labor. No, it’s not the same thing as the hypnosis you see on TV. But it can help you have a better birth experience. As a mom of 6, natural birth …
Valentine’s is a day for showing others how much we love them, and that often involves Valentine’s Day cards and crafts. This is a great time to pull out the crafts station for art projects and let the kids have fun. Here are some ideas for Valentine’s Day crafts for your little ones to make …
In case you’re wondering if you’ve got the right blog, never fear… no, I don’t think there is such a thing as healthy candy! By “healthy” I just mean “better than the alternatives,” meaning made from real food ingredients and without artificial dyes, preservatives, and all the other junk found in typical candy. I still …
Imagine a world where kids happily keep themselves busy and learning while doing activities that they love and learning math at the same time. A place where kids compete in a friendly way by doing athletic activities, creative games, and reading books. Sounds too good to be true, right? I’ve always heard that necessity is the …
There’s something magical about the idea of a fairy garden. It can be just as much fun to plan as a butterfly garden and there are so many possibilities. Here’s how to make a fairy garden in almost any location, with a wide variety of materials. What Is a Fairy Garden? No, we’re not growing …
I’m realizing that the old saying seems to be true… time does go faster as you get older. My kids are growing so fast, and my mom-brain has started to realize that time before my oldest ones leave home is growing much shorter. For this reason, I’ve really been trying to start some family traditions and spend …
Getting kids to eat healthier, especially when it comes to eating vegetables and fruit, can be an overwhelming task. Luckily there are ways to gets kids on board with vegetables and fruits without having to coerce or bully them into it. I consider my kids to be above average in the eating-enough-vegetables department and the …
In our family, we have a motto that “we were made to do hard things,” (learned from my friends the Wonderling Family) and it’s always fun to think of new challenges and adventures to do together. This motto has been our encouragement through personal and family challenges from long hikes to cliff jumping and pole …
Many families are turning to homeschooling either out of necessity or a desire to create a more custom-fit education that works for their kids. This can be exciting or terrifying, depending on your reasons for beginning and how much the other areas of your life line up with this kind of approach. One way you can …
When you think back to your childhood, which memories stick out? Is it a favorite toy or birthday gift? Probably not. More than likely, your favorite memories involve some type of quality family time, such as reading together, cooking with your mom, or building forts in yard. Art can create togetherness in the same way. …
Once I stumbled across some comments on an older blog post about letting kids help in the kitchen. Commenters insisted that they would never let their kids use knives, or would limit them to only butter knives or dull cutting utensils until at least age twelve. Different strokes for different folks and all that, but my kids …
If you have kids (or ever were one) you know that boredom can be a huge struggle. But it can also be a chance to get creative and find new things to do! When boredom hits in our house or when I have to occupy the kids while I work, I rely on some of …
Oh motherhood! When we enter the amazing journey of carrying, birthing and raising a child, we learn many terms that previously we’d be unable to define… like perineal tear, sitz bath, and for many of us, unfortunately, also diastasis recti. Also called DRA (diastasis recti abdominis), this condition is the culprit behind many a “mom …
I can’t even count how many times I’ve heard the phrase, “I don’t know how you do it all with six kids!” And the secret is…. I don’t. At least not all of it. And certainly not all the time. That’s been one of the many lessons that motherhood has taught me and it led …
Though my family has chosen to homeschool for various reasons, we’re not immune to the influx of illness as school begins. We aren’t outside as much as the weather gets colder, and our trips veer away from outdoor adventures toward library trips, homeschool co-ops, and other places where germs love to hang out. Looking around …
I’ve had a running list in my phone of tips I found that saved me time or money (or made my life much easier). My hope was to work them into posts so I could share them, but the list was getting longer and I was having trouble fitting a bunch of random helpful tips …
I remember when one of the kids broke her leg while playing outside. Thankfully, kids bounce back quickly and she was back on her feet in about four weeks. During that time we made lots of gelatin-rich foods and gave her some extra nutrients to help her recover quickly. This was our first experience with a broken …
I’ve always been a huge advocate of getting my kids to play, especially outside during the summer. I feel like they are more well behaved, more tired at the end of the day, and overall happier when they get in lots of playing. But playtime has many other benefits too, and they’re backed by science! …
If you breastfeed, you probably know that a blocked or clogged milk duct is a painful and frustrating challenge that many nursing mothers encounter. Clogged milk ducts seem to come out of nowhere and can present a real challenge! In order to prevent the clogged duct from turning into mastitis or another infection, it’s important …
