Author Kathryn Romine / Published: Apr-20-2021

When we made the decision to move our lives from California to Arizona we knew we needed to find a house that really felt like a home we could raise our family in. When we saw the kitchen, living room, dining room situation in our current house we knew it was the one. It is the hub of our house, the place we spend most of our time and area that brings us the most joy. Filling it with love, laughter, and memories is our first priority, but a close second is filling it with things that bring us joy AND make us healthier and happier.

A clean burning, chic and room enhancing fragrance has been the most incredible addition to this space. My husband loves walking into a house that smells clean and fresh and I LOVE finding ways to make our home clean and less-toxic.

Knowing this area is where I would be nourishing my daughter with nutrition and teaching her why spending time as a family is so important I did not want to fill it with harmful chemical fragrances. When you become a mother you start thinking about so many things you would have never considered before. You want to do the best for them every day and in every way. Making these small changes to our home has made such a big impact on our day to day life and the comfort and familiarity of a light but impactful scent warms the space up so much. It also doesn’t hurt that the glass votive’s are beautiful, minimal and SO chic. These babies will definitely be getting repurposed when they have served their time! A couple extra tips to make your living space joy filled and less toxic: -Invest In a high quality air purifier -open those windows, it’s spring time, let that fresh are in to wash out all the yuck locked in from keeping those windows closed tight all winter -limit your use of bluetooth technology in the main living area (you will feel a difference I promise)-make some non-toxic cleaning swaps-DANCE PARTIES!!! Open up those windows, crank some music and get silly! Make those memories and feel the energy of your home flow through!!

When my daughter was born I felt an intensely intimate shift in my being. They say when a baby is born we forget sometimes that so is a mother! It was challenging for me to create a bond with her during pregnancy as I was extremely sick with a pregnancy disease called “Hyperemesis Gravidarum”. Being in and out of the hospital 15+ times in my first 20 weeks put me in pure survival mode. It took every ounce of energy I had to get through each day.. So when she finally came and she was the wonderful and healthy daughter of my dreams, it all hit me at once. I was so overwhelmed with this deep intrinsic and instinctual joy that was only to be matched by an incredibly crippling anxiety of a deep need to protect her at every moment of every day. See, I was never the little girl playing house, dreaming of being a mom. I waited until I was a bit older to become a mother because I knew myself and my timetable. I never pictured what pregnancy and motherhood would look like, but I can tell you if I had pictured it, I never in my widest could have seen what transpired.

Hyperemesis Gravidarum is a rare and life threatening pregnancy sickness that affects just 1-3% of women. When I first started vomiting I was only 5 weeks pregnant, that little plus sign had just barely shown up on a pregnancy test………..how could I be so sick?! And yet I was, very very very sick. Vomiting upwards of 25 times a day, unable to eat or drink a thing. At 6 weeks pregnant I had my first ER trip, and at 14 weeks pregnant I was admitted to the hospital for a 3 week stay filled with IV’s, potential liver failure, a PICC line placed, TPN started and a carousel of doctor’s trying to figure out how to save my baby’s life by way of saving mine. It was this stay that changed everything, we finally had turn of events and I am forever indebted to my OB who found a way to control my vomiting and allow me to keep fluids and food down for the first time in apps. 3 months. My daughter and I are forever her biggest fans, and thankful does not begin to cover the feelings I have for her. With some yet minimal bumps and hiccups along the second 20 weeks I made it to term and delivered an astonishingly healthy daughter. She is the light of my life, the joy I never knew I could feel and the purpose I never knew I needed.

I learned a lot of things in those early weeks of pregnancy sickness:
I learned I WAS as strong as I thought I was.
I learned that strength actually has nothing to do with how big you roar and everything to do with the how you survive, quietly, during times of unimaginable difficulty.
I learned that women are actual superheroes. I learned that motherhood is not a noun but in every sense a verb, and it was my unique and turmoil filled journey to motherhood that helped me understand how we as mothers are all connected. I now understood that becoming a mother is a journey and each of our paths looks so incredibly different yet in the same breathe, we are so magically intertwined with one another by way of our deep understanding of what being a mother means: It means true selflessness, showing up every day in all of our imperfections and doing the best we can for the children we have been trusted with. It means navigating the consistent dichotomy of motherhood. Yearning for a breather but wishing it away as soon as it’s given with fear of missing even a single moment of their existence. It means wondering every day, every hour, every minute if we are doing enough, providing enough and if the choices we make are “right”. It means saying no to things that no longer serve you and finding the confidence to stand in your truth and trust your instincts. It means being as soft as you are strong, and fun as you are serious. It means sleepless nights researching and reading. It means I see in you, mama what I see in myself: Unconditional love and absolute strength.

We all know Mother’s should be celebrated every single day for the Herculean task that is raising children but let today represent more than that. Let this Mother’s day represent the community, camaraderie and consistent support women bring to the table when they show up selflessly every day to the most important job of their lives: motherhood.

May we always see the strength and beauty in others; in ourselves!

Cheers Mama, go light your candle and enjoy your day!