If you’ve ever tried to talk through behavior or feelings with a child who is clearly dysregulated, you already know this truth: You can’t reason with a nervous system that feels unsafe. Before kids can reflect, apologize, problem-solve, or even name a feeling, their bodies have to calm first. In our home, especially with theContinue reading “Helping Kids Regulate Their Bodies: Proprioceptive, Vestibular, and Rhythmic Input Explained”
Category Archives: Motherhood
Anchored in Love: Why I Started This Podcast
Anchored in Love is a new podcast rooted in real-life experiences with foster care, blended family life, healing, and boundaries. In this post, I share why I started the podcast and how it connects to the stories already shared here on the blog, now spoken out loud and available on Apple Podcasts.
For a Little While: Our Foster Care Journey – As Featured on the Mind, Body & Wallet® Podcast
Curious about what foster care actually looks like? I sat down with Mind, Body & Wallet® to share our story, from pandemic fostering to adopting our son AJ.
We talk treatment-level foster care, aging out, family transitions, and the power of showing up even when you don’t know how the story ends.
Blended and Beautiful: Navigating Motherhood in a Mixed Family
Blending a family is one of the hardest, and most rewarding, things I’ve ever done. It’s a mix of chaos, grace, and endless love. Every child in our home has a different story, yet together, we’ve built something beautifully ours. This post is about learning to let go of perfection, embrace connection, and see the real beauty in raising a blended family with love at its center.
Letting Go of the Perfect Mom Myth
For years, I thought being a good mom meant being a perfect one, calm, organized, and endlessly patient. But somewhere between the chaos, carpool lines, and bedtime stories, I realized perfection isn’t the goal. Connection is. In this post, I’m sharing how I learned to let go of unrealistic expectations and embrace the messy, beautiful reality of motherhood, especially in our blended family.
The Fear of Messing It All Up: Motherhood’s Silent Weight
Motherhood comes with a quiet kind of pressure, the fear that no matter how much we love, we’re still somehow getting it wrong. I’ve felt that weight more times than I can count, especially while balancing a blended family. But I’m learning that love matters more than perfection, presence matters more than performance, and our children don’t need flawless moms, they just need us.
Unsolicited Advice: When Family Means Well but Misses the Mark
As moms, we’re constantly surrounded by advice, from family, friends, and even strangers who “mean well.” But sometimes, those comments sting or leave us doubting ourselves. I’ve learned to take advice with gratitude, set gentle boundaries, and remember that what matters most is doing what works for our family. Especially in a blended home, peace comes from trusting your own path, not following everyone else’s.
The Motherhood Overload: Drowning in Advice, Opinions, and Expectations
Everyone has an opinion on motherhood, but nobody else lives in your shoes.
This week’s post dives into how I’m learning to balance advice, expectations, and my own peace of mind.
The Anker Homestead 