Holy Massachusetts! I can't believe you are here! Welcome to a little something I have been building and dreaming in my head and heart for years. A community of families and women sharing, listening, laughing, crying, loving, and holding on to dear life. Let Nourished Families be the place where you may find answers or ideas to things you've been looking for. You find that perfect way to keep the kids busy. How to swaddle. Improve milk supply or replace a breast pump phalange. Find that new baby wearing gear you've been wanting. Where sometimes you can forget about those kids and find the perfect bite. Feel better about yourself because you've got your shit WAY more together than me today and most days. Let this be the place where we are all honest about the fact that adulting is hard. The tasks never end. There is always something…but in all that mess we call life, there is also TONS of laughter, love, snuggles, and joy. Here we go, Nourished Families Family. Let's get to know each other. I can't wait!

My name is Elizabeth Lehmann.

I almost don't know where to begin. I am 4'11". I am an oversharer. I think I am funny. I have been told I can be a lot. I love my tribe. I am loyal. Passionate. Forgetful. Curious. Usually lost and late. What I am the most is, I am the mother of two incredible little humans. Amelia, who is 10. Sullivan, who is 7. They are gorgeous, funny, smart, soulful, creative, empathic, tiring, stubborn, and needy. They bicker. They snuggle. They rarely clean up after themselves without me freaking out. They make me laugh hard. They make me cry hard. They are incredible. I was until basically right now a stay at home mom to them since Amelia was about 1.5 years old. Before that, I was a behavioral therapist for children with Autism for 10+ years. Their dad and I were able to swing my being home with them. For that, I will be forever grateful. While you are here, you should probably know that we are in the process of divorce, which began about ten months ago. Be prepared. There will be blogs about divorce. It is not easy. But then again, neither is marriage sometimes. Divorce CAN be that thing that makes you a better parent. Better to one another and to yourself. But enough about all that for now...

When Sullivan was in half-day kindergarten, I decided that I wanted to find something I could do that would still allow me to be the kind of mom I wanted. I also wanted something outside the home. I had a postpartum doula with both of my kids. It was a game-changer. That woman will always be known to me be known as Super Doula Theresa. Need I say more? She came into my home. When she left, I swear little cartoon bluebirds were flying around me. I wanted to be this magic to other Mamas. I called Super Doula Theresa to ask her what she thought of the idea. To my surprise, she was all for it. And so began this adventure.

Maybe you read my "About Me" page. Perhaps you didn't. But becoming a mom was not an easy road for me. Honestly, that fact is still so shocking to me. I was able to get pregnant. Staying pregnant…not so much. I was pregnant FIVE times in FOUR years, with only TWO children to hold in my arms today.

That's right. I had our first child Sonny Andrew at 28 weeks. A stillbirth. I still and always will hold Sonny in my heart. His loss was due to missed preeclampsia resulting in my going into DIC. (Feel free to comment or reach out to me for more information on what all of that is.) My daughter Amelia was born a year and a half later. She was three months early because she stopped producing amniotic fluid. There were many other complications throughout her pregnancy; gestational diabetes, blood pressure stuff, labor at twenty-eight weeks, MAJOR, all damn day sickness. Honestly, I think there was more, but I have just blocked it out. She's here and healthy. Hallelujah! Then I had two miscarriages. That was difficult, but thankfully, they were early in the first trimester. Sullivan was my last shot. I really wanted Millie, as we like to call her, to have a sibling. And while his pregnancy was the easiest of the five, it was still fraught with nausea, MANY doctor visits, limited mobility. Not the full restricted bed rest that I was on with Millie's pregnancy. Thank the lord because she was two. (We know that the first baby is all about the first and the second baby is ALL ABOUT THE FIRST.) Mr. Sullivan was born a mere month and a half early. Planned. That was an excellent thing because what the doctors and I didn't know was my uterus was only one contraction away from rupturing. Sully was, as I like to call C-sections, airlifted out. All of my babies were airlifted. Then my insides were rebuilt. My tubes were tied. My gestationally old ass was told, "You are done EVER having any more babies now!" No problem here! Thank you to Dr. Renee Anderson at Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia. That amazing woman put pregnant Humpty Dumpty back together again. She also got my glorious beings here on earth that give me the honor of being called Mom. Grateful is not a big enough word.

You have to know I was so cocky about being pregnant. Not about getting pregnant. I had held the hand, dried the tears, and rejoiced with my very best friend Dorie (and many others) over infertility. Once pregnant, I used to say 16-year-olds and crackheads poop these things out. HORRIBLY INAPPROPRIATE ON SOOOO MANY LEVELS! I know. As women, we just don't talk about how flipping hard all this crap is! It is FREAKING hard. Getting pregnant. Staying pregnant. Being a mom. Being a partner. Being a daughter. Being a sister. Being a friend. Being in the workforce. Being a stay-at-home Mom. As women, we think we are supposed to not only do it all. We have to do it while looking good. Delivering healthy meals. Doing crafts. Having a perfectly decorated home. Oh, and make it to every kid event and be the snack mom. WTF!!!! That crap is impossible!

That's where my wanting to start Nourished Families comes in. I am the doula that is going to tell you every day that you kept your baby or babies alive, safe, and loved one more day...Guess what? That makes you an awesome Mom. And I even mean it! I will be the lactation consultant who will try right by your side to keep that baby on the breast. But if I see that it is torturing you, I will remind you that happy families make happy babies. That you and only you and your partner get to decide what makes the walls of your home happy. That I am here to support those happy walls. I am soon to be the maternal nutritionist (certification starts in September, I can NOT wait!) to gently remind you that what you put into your body matters. It is ok to take the time to be conscious of that for being kind to yourself. I am (also soon to be) the Whole30 coach that cheers so loudly when there is a hiccup in your journey, and you get back on course.

We are not perfect beings. Life is not perfect. There are days when you catch me with my makeup on, and both my kids are clean. Then there are days when makeup is not in the cards, my bra isn't even on, and I am not clean. Kids? Oh yeah...they are on screens. Just like me! I want Nourished Families to be the place where we let out freak flags fly with gusto! This is just the beginning. You will see so many mistakes. So many bloopers. So many redos. I hope you will share all of yours with me. If that is not your place of comfort. No worries. No judgment. Just promise you will laugh with me and not at me. This is going to be one EPIC journey. Again, thank you with all my heart for joining me.