Carlee Campos

baby BOY! Roman Whittaker April 2 • 3:45am 10 pounds, 9 ounces a perfect little son ☀️

The past week(ish)- Almost 37 weeks, mom and dad Valentine date at home, our very first child losing her very first tooth (?!!), our Valentine’s pizza night for the 5th? 6th? year in a row, bear cookies, etc. Blaire will be 5 on Sunday. I will have FIVE children soon. I somehow have become the tooth fairy and I can make pizza dough with my eyes closed and I feel like a real mom. I also feel too young for this but it’s all very fun and exciting.

The silliest thing to say to a woman in her third trimester.. lol 🫠 Also, what happens when I have the baby? Is it like starting from scratch again with breastfeeding? My first baby was SO painful to nurse the first few weeks and the others were so so easy. I’ve always thought maybe it was because I hadn’t ever stopped nursing in between. I’m not nervous, just a little curious if I’ll experience the pain + engorgement like I did the first time! What do you think?

It’s so much more simple than we make it out to be.. I’m no homeschooling expert, and my children are still small, but I know this: the more I try to force them to learn, the less they do. People ask us constantly how old our oldest daughter is and if she can read yet (she can’t). I’ve even had people blatantly interrogate her on her knowledge of letters and words and tell her she should be able to read by now. (I stepped in, of course.) But I’ve always known providing space and time works best for my children, and she’s recently expressed her interest in reading, so we bought a very simple, beginner reading curriculum and we do a short lesson every other night. She’s excelling, like I knew she would. Every lesson, I can see her brain putting the pieces together like a puzzle. She’s excited for every single lesson and leaves each one feeling more confident in her abilities. Because she’s ready now. And wasn’t a few months or years ago. Her younger sister is also ready, sooner in comparison, because she’s a natural wordsmith and always has been, so I’m teaching them both at once. They’re both so different- one is full of facts + logic + anything she can touch or see (she’s an incredible artist because she’s just SO visual) and the other is all whimsy + poetry + imagination. Our older daughter asks for a nonfiction book at bedtime, every time. Something with animal photos and facts to memorize. Our 4 year old wants the most romantic, fantastical fairytale when it’s her turn to choose. They are opposite in every way. So the thought of putting my children in a classroom with 30 other children, who are all so vastly different from each other, is wild to me. To learn the exact same thing at the exact same time. To be told exactly when to eat or play or use the restroom, that they must sit quietly at 5 years old. Never. So we just provide this - space and books and toys and time and mostly, a lot of patience and love and also lots of Wild Kratts for balance. Works great so far for us. ❤️

I consider myself a bit of an expert in spotting a good man. And you know that saying, don’t marry a man unless you’d be proud to have a son exactly like him? Real good advice. 🖤 And, for the record, a man who follows Jesus over everything will trump the rest of it every time. That’s the only nonnegotiable here. The rest is nice, but a man who is submitted to God is priority and he’ll provide everything else you need in time. Ask me how I know. 🤩 Painting is La Belle Dame Sans Merci by Marc Fishman

Break up with your sucky OB (or midwife. There are a LOT of midwives that this all applies to!) I had a hard time stopping at just these ones, because there really is just so much to criticize in the birth indu$try. I think I might have to become a meme queen and make this a series. What would you add? Gorgeous art is the Tambourine Girl by Gaetano de Martini. I love her.

Me and my man and our fourth baby girl (and a glimpse of one of our dogs), on his 33rd birthday. He’s the sunshiniest extrovert I know. Everyone loves him because why wouldn’t you? I’ve only ever been in love with him, and I think my nervous system has only ever truly relaxed with him next to me. It really helps that he smells good all the time and is the most genuinely good and honest man I know. I think my body just knows I’m safe here, next to him. He makes all my dreams come true. Even the small ones and the silly ones and the ones I spring on him at the last second. Even when I told him I was buying ducklings in the morning and ducks were not in the plan for several years. Even when I decided I wanted a property, but with trees and a unique house, and he found one, in an area with not very many trees or unique houses. He just conjures things that way. I’m pretty sure he could catch me the moon if I asked. Probably because he hung it himself. I love you, @meisterdete, but you make it really really easy to.