Every Day Motherhood Series (#2): Parenting Hacks, Favorite Products, and The Best Advice Ever

This post is all about motherhood, parenting hacks, products moms swear by, and sharing overall wisdom and advice!

Every Day Motherhood is a series where I sit down with a fellow mom to have a candid conversation about motherhood in general, helpful parenting hacks, go-to dinner recipes, their favorite must-have products, and any advice or wisdom that has helped them.

You know, the kind of stuff you text your mom friends about!

On motherhood…

Being a mother, mothering, well there’s nothing else like it. From the moment you think about becoming a mom you are changed. 

Then there’s getting pregnant, actually being pregnant, birth, postpartum, and, well you know the rest (or maybe you’re in the process of discovering what “the rest” is).

The Oxford dictionary defines mothering as “the act of bringing up a child.” What sounds so simple on paper, we know, is the most complex, beautiful, hardest, transformative, and fun experience you can ever have in life. 

Filled with paradoxes, being a mother can be one of the most rewarding, awesome, truly special, and, at times, isolating jobs on the planet.

You want to do everything “right”, but you don’t really know what you’re doing at times (or most of the time). You’re definitely in the trial and error and trial and success business. There are seasons where you’re crushing it and seasons where you have never “failed’ more (I put that in quotes because you’re never failing – you’re learning!). And those seasons can happen on the same day.

Why every mom needs a mom friend

Having mom friends is one of the most invaluable things ever. Sometimes even just looking at another mom, you both just know.

But those mom friends…they’re the actual best.

It might be someone to sit down with to process your birth, help you with breastfeeding (because it’s definitely not coming naturally like everyone said it would), a current struggle, or just have to laugh at something so freaking funny the love of your life aka your child did.

Or maybe it’s someone to text during those middle of the night feedings, someone to ask what exactly the order of operation is when your baby poops in the bath, alllllll the must-have product recommendations, or even an older mom to have as evidence that, yes, we do make it through this and our babies turn out okay.

That’s why we have this Motherhood Series. Each installment will ask a mother questions about motherhood and mothering. Questions like the ones you text your mom friends about. And in case you don’t have a mom friend, you’ve got one now! 🙂

Meet Madeline!

Tell us about yourself!

I am a home birthing, home schooling, wanna be homesteading, midwife, CrossFit coach, and mother of 4 (so far). I live the life I always dreamed of but never thought I would have b/c I didn’t meet my husband until we were in our 30s.

Also, I love to cook, I love to eat, I love to read, I love to hang out with my friends and family and, I love CrossFit. We have a big summer garden, and just got chickens this spring and can’t wait for the fresh eggs in a few short weeks!

What’s something you can’t live without?

Books! I LOVE to read. I’ve been an avid reader for my whole life except for a brief hiatus when Instagram took over my life from around 2018-2023.

I read close to ZERO books during that time period and I blamed it on motherhood, but boy was I wrong. I deleted instagram for good, after dabbling with “breaks” for awhile, in late 2023 and with THE MOST children I’d ever had, I read 45 books in 2024 (-:

And i’m on track to do it again this year. 

Favorite wisdom or advice on motherhood?

Oh goodness, let me think…. How about that you don’t have to LOVE it all! You don’t have to cherish every moment! There are hard parts! And sure it goes fast, but more moments just keep on coming.

You’re not going to run out of parts you love about motherhood, so go ahead and let the parts you don’t love just pass you right by (after you live through them of course, like the superstar mom you are!!)!

What’s your current go-to dinner recipe or recipes?

I really love to cook. I love a lavish and involved recipe with lots of ingredients (flavor!) and lots of steps.

But of course that is not always easy to accomplish with 4 young children running around, so sometimes I need to have something quick and easy, I-can-do-it-in-my-head meals.

It’s summer as I write this so we’re eating BLTs at least once a week. And a couple other quick and easy and always delicious standards are sausage and peppers , “tuna on bread” and chicken nugget salad. 

There is a farmers market near me with THE BEST kielbasa, so I always have some on hand in the freezer to pull out when I need a quick and easy meal. Just sauté that up with some peppers and onions and serve with sauerkraut (homemade!) and an array of mustards. 

“Tuna on Bread” is what my mom used to call what are basically just open faced tuna melts when I was a kid. Mix up a tuna salad – mine is at least half sardines these days (trust me!), mayo, mustard, celery (especially the leafy parts!), and thin sliced apples (trust me again!) Glob it on to some thick sliced (maybe sourdough?) bread, top with sliced tomato if you have, but not necessary, and a slice of whatever cheese you prefer. We normally use Swiss but gruyere takes it up a notch. 

These are both whole meals in and of themselves, but I’m drowning in green garden veggies right now in July so I’ll always go ahead and saute or steam some of those up on the side.

The chicken nugget “double protein” salad is one of the best things I got from my instagram days. It came from @alifefromscratch (funny coincidence with the name!) But she suggested a basic garden salad and to top it with Costco or just bare chicken nuggets and hard boiled eggs for two kinds of protein. Quick, easy, always delicious, and you can use whatever you have on hand for the salad with a dressing of your choice!

If you could put on any outfit when you feel you best, what would it be?

I like a great fitting pair of jeans, a super cute and one of a kind top, with flat sandals, a picture perfect bright pedicure, dangly earrings, mascara, a little blush and lipstick. And hopefully I’m having a good hair day… The one thing motherhood has stolen from me is my great hair haha.

Pregnancy or postpartum products you couldn’t live without?

REST! Family support! And a postpartum doula!

I take my postpartum time very very seriously!

I have spent anywhere from 10-14 days in my bedroom after all 4 of my babies were born, and I remember all of those times as the very best of my life.

I’ve always paid someone to stay with me for those days/weeks after the birth to do things like feed me, do the laundry, change my bed pads, and my sheets a few times, hold the baby while I shower, prepare yoni steams for me, keep the house picked up and clean.

Then, as I’ve had more children, I’ll rely on friends and family to take the older kids for a couple hours in the mornings to keep them occupied and out of the house so my husband and I can rest and get to know the new baby.

And when the big kids are around my husband is in charge of them. My only job (and you’re only job!) during those first few weeks should be to establish nursing and fall in love with your new baby.

I normally don’t start my meal train until after the postpartum doula leaves at which point I am rested and recovered and ready to get back to real life, but then I’ll still have some meal support for a couple of weeks so I can EASE into the next phase of my mothering journey!

I have never suffered from PPA or PPD or any pelvic floor dysfunction and I really credit this IN THE BEDROOM rest with that.

Also shout out to my friend and doula, Jen Holland Wellness (local to Oregon!)

I also love Silverette nursing cups (-: 

Activities/toys/traditions your kids (and you!) love?

Freedom! My kids have a lot of free play time, both with other kids when friends come over or when we go to friends, or just by themselves or with each other. I’m always amazed and overjoyed with their creativity. Kids come up with the coolest things, plans, ideas, games when you let them run wild with their little minds.

As far as toys, I love things that allow them to be creative. We love lego’s, and lego duplos for the preschool set, Magnatiles, blocks, and animal figurines.

They’re on scooters and balance bikes from the time they can walk. We all love books, and our Yoto players! And hours can pass (prepare for a mess and plenty of waste!) when they have pads of paper, Chunkies paint markers, safety scissors and tape! 

We have Nacho Movie Night about once a month on Friday’s. I make my killer nachos, my husband makes his killer margaritas. My husband and I mostly use it as an excuse to watch favorites from our own childhoods, but lately we’ve been watching the movie versions of books we’ve been reading aloud with the kids. 

We also have Fried Egg Friday’s where we come up with different ways to eat Fried Eggs for breakfast. (-:

What has surprised you the most about motherhood?

How much I like it!

I come from a large family – I’m one of 7! From the time I knew I wanted a family I wanted a family that was like mine.

And I wanted a family of grownups. I babysat for my brothers and pretty much every kid in my neighborhood from the time I was about 10 years old, then went on to be a nanny for a decade after college. So I was VERY familiar with the struggles and the downsides of taking care of children.

So I knew I wanted them, and because I wanted them grown up, I was willing to go through the struggle of having them be young. But goodness! I was completely unprepared for the sheer and utter JOY they bring from DAY ONE! I love my kids SO much. I’m obsessed with them.

They took my life (which I thought was pretty damn great before!)  from black and white to technicolor. I once heard someone say before you have kids your life exists on a scale from 1-10 and after you have kids it’s like -10000 to +10000. It just opens up a whole new world that you can not understand until you’re in it. I wish it on EVERYONE. 

Any motherhood tips, tricks, or hacks that make your life easier?

I’ve got 3 pieces of motherhood hacks that come to mind… 

#1. Eat enough food! I think there are a lot of moms out there that survive on coffee and kids’ lunch leftovers, and don’t get me wrong, I’ve been there! But that is never the time when I feel like I’m thriving. I think people really underestimate CALORIES. Especially for pregnant and nursing moms. When your body is working overtime to either make a baby or feed a baby you have got to make sure you’re taking care of you.

Prioritize getting an actual breakfast, lunch and dinner and even small snacks in between. Eating enough food can make up for a variety of the difficulties of motherhood (specifically lack of energy from lack of sleep, weepiness and anxiety/stress). If you need help with this, ask for it. There is NO shame in asking for help when you need it. ESPECIALLY in motherhood.

#2. Workout! Again, not a priority moms always make for themselves because it does take effort (and energy! ha!) but it makes SUCH a huge difference in quality of life in so many ways. It’s counterintuitive but exercise actually makes you feel more energized when you’re not getting enough sleep. It also helps you to sleep better when you DO get to sleep! It also helps with anxiety and stress and is a great way to remind yourself and your kids that mom matters! Any kind of working out is good if you’ll do it consistently, but I think weightlifting and walking are top tier. 

#3 Get enough sleep! We all need it! None of us get enough of it! So we need to make sure we prioritize getting it when we can! I know we all want to get the most “me time” we can after our kids go to bed, but staying up ‘til 11 o’clock every night (probably scrolling!) isn’t benefiting anybody, not in the long run especially. There is plenty of life left for getting me time and getting sleep, but for now, you have to find ways to fit short bursts of “me time” into waking hours! 

If you could tell a new mom one thing, what would it be?

Find “me time” during your waking hours! 

When you have a baby, my advice is go for a walk with the stroller and listen to a favorite podcast, or sit outside and read a book and drink an iced coffee while they splash in the water table.

When you have older kids who no longer nap, make sure you keep up a “quiet time” period during the middle of the day. Use that as your “me time” to sit and read or watch a show while you fold laundry – the only acceptable “chore” to do during nap time or quiet time. Don’t you dare do chores during nap time and quiet time! Maybe that’s two things (-: Oh and get off instagram. That’s 3! 

Is there anything else you want to share?

Yes! We go to an Orthodox Christian church and having an Orthodox view on motherhood being for my salvation keeps me going through those hard parts. The challenging parts  are refining me and making me a better person not just for them but for the world. And not just for the world but for me! A favorite verse I repeat to myself during the struggles is Galatians 6:9 – “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”

Thank you so much Madeline!

What are your favorite motherhood hacks, products, and advice? I’d love to know!

Read next: Motherhood Series #1

Read next: A week of healthy dinner recipes

I’d love a free printable weekly meal planner!

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