Instagram story viewer> @themotheryear> Posts

themotheryear

@themotheryear

232

followers

12

following

Bestselling book of daily reflections for that first year of motherhood 🕊️born from the raw voicenotes of my own first year
For the Seasons of Her

POSTS STORIES REELS TAGGED

And that’s a wrap 💫 the final stop of @themotheryear book tour. Chicago, you gave us the perfect closing chapter.

What began as a book event series turned into circles of women around the country coming together to feel seen, heard, and reminded that we’re never alone in this journey.

To every woman who came - thank you for bringing your stories, your openness, and your hearts into that room. We laughed + cried and there was space for it all.

Endless gratitude to my co-facilitators @jacqgould of @yourinnerbabe + @sbiegs who held us all with such tenderness and depth and truth-telling.

A big thank you to @monicaandandy for hosting us, @slblooms_ for the beautiful blooms, and to our maternal wellness sponsors @kozekozemama @needed @oatmama @_bondlife @beekeepers_naturals - for supporting every mama who walked through that door.

And of course, so much love to @ericarachelgalia of @themotherverse.co for weaving this tour together with such intention 😘

Through this event, we raised money to support @chicago_chamberofmothers and @diaperdollars - two incredible organizations helping mothers in our communities.

What a way to end 💛 my heart is so full 🥹

#themotheryear #booktour #matrescence #matrescencematters #mindfulmotherhood #mompreneur #momlife #motherhoodunplugged taken in Monica & Andy by @themotheryear

236

26

a year ago

This stop hit different. Michigan is where my roots run deep - the place where I learned to be a daughter, before I ever became a mother.

To stand in that room with my own mom, my grandma, my mother-in-law, and my sisters… it felt like coming full circle.

One of my oldest friends from high school was there. So was a dear friend from law school. My college girlfriends. My best friends from Austin and beyond, who now walk beside me in this season of life.

And then there were the women I’d never met - new mothers showing up with open hearts. Strangers who became sisters in the span of a circle.

That’s what I always dreamed this book could do.
Not just be read, but felt.
Not just shared, but lived in.
A thread that pulls us closer to ourselves, and to each other.

At one point I just stood there, tears quietly welling, wondering: How did I get here?

And the only answer I could come up with was this:

Because I needed this too.
Because we all do.

Swipe to the last slide to see @sarah_ayako with her surprise entrance after a 8 hour flight delay - she still made it! 🥹

#themotheryear #booktour #matrescence #motherhood #motherhoodslens #themotheryears taken in Fourth Tri Sanctuary by @themotheryear

269

14

a year ago

I almost said no because there was no way I could do a book tour as a mom of two while working my full-time law job......right?

I only saw the way it had been done and knew that couldn't work for me. Isn’t it wild how we do that? Close a door because it doesn’t match the picture in our head.

But motherhood has taught me to question the status quo - does it have to be done that way? Move that fast? What would feel do-able right now?

Motherhood has taught me to ask for what I need and to unapologetically create it.

So instead of walking away, I made something new - a book tour "mom style" - something that looked and felt like me. Six cities, one per month. More circling than signing. More of a portal than a product.

And meeting over 150 mothers at these past four events has meant everything - sharing the book, seeing it people's hands, the messages afterward of how they are implementing it in their lives... there aren't words for how this feels 🥹

Down to the final few - Detroit (July) + Chicago (August) before the final "coming home tour" in Austin in September.

Thank you for being on this ride with me - near or far 🕊️ I feel your love and I'm so grateful for it.

And the greatest maternal wellness tour partners I could ask for 💛

@babyletto @poppylist @kozekozemama @myshapods @cookma.co @nunonalife @lovesteadyco @healthybaby.co @ryleeandcru

Photo magic ✨ @earthmamaphoto by @themotheryear

318

45

a year ago

A book tour that's about so much more than a book. Not a product, but a portal 🕊️into the sacred, disorienting, breathtaking transformation that is motherhood.

And days like this in LA, standing in a room full of mothers, full of stories, full of life -
I remember why I wrote it.
Why I kept showing up.
Why I said yes to this before I even knew what it could become.

Last week wasn’t just another stop.
It was a remembering.
Of why this work matters.
Of who we are - when we gather, when we speak truth, when we allow ourselves to be seen 🤍

Loved this juicy conversation on the profound shape-shifting that happens in matrescence with @lbreggy and @ericarachelgalia 🤍

Grateful for the most incredible partners who believe in supporting mothers in all seasons @poppylist
@babyletto
@myshapods
@kozekozemama
@lovesteadyco
@being___fertility
@healthybaby.co
@cookma.co
@ryleeandcru

#themotheryear #matrescence taken in Babyletto by @themotheryear

227

18

a year ago

24 hrs in Miami for the @themotheryear book tour ☀️✈️ I still can’t believe this is real - flying across the country to sit with incredible mothers and speak the language of matrescence out loud.

A year ago, this was a dream I wasn’t sure would take flight. And now… here we are 💫

So much love for @poppylist and @myshapods @thestandardmiami for bringing us together.

Next up: LA, Chicago, and Detroit.

Want to join us? Link in bio for my substack to be the first to know when tickets open ✨

#themotheryeartour #matrescence #motherhoodunplugged #themotheryears #themotheryear #postpartum #momlife taken in The Standard Spa, Miami Beach by @themotheryear

232

11

a year ago

I packed my bag and tiptoed out of my son's room at 5 am to catch an early flight to NYC for the first stop of the book tour, heart full and hands a little shaky, more from excitement than nerves.

Somewhere mid-flight, I looked out the window and thought: how did we get here? From voice notes whispered in the dark… to a book in women’s hands… to a room of mothers gathering to breathe and connect.

We laughed. We cried. We meditated. We spoke to our own seasons.

I saw women soften. I saw the quiet power of being witnessed. I saw what happens when stories bring us back to ourselves.

And I just kept thinking: this what I hoped this book would become - not a product, but a portal.

Deep gratitude to the most incredible baby registry @poppylist for making sure each mama got a book (if you haven't checked them out, it's a must) and the beautiful mom community of @myshapods 🤍 you both made this tour come to life and your support means everything not just for me, but for the women you brought together this week.

#themotheryear #booktour #firsttimeauthor #postpartumjourney #motherhoodcommunity taken in New York City by @themotheryear

277

27

a year ago

A true labor of love. The Mother Year was written from raw reflections on the daily voice-notes from my own first year of motherhood. There was so much I would say to that version of myself, the one who felt lost + found in the same breath.

I wrote this book to be a place of exhale. A simple structure: one page per day with an uplifting prayer. A micro self-care practice 2x per week. A divinity dip for the mother that feels (like me) that time is scarce but knows deep down that she needs to be held.

It's an honor to walk beside you, mama, in these tender times of your motherhood journey. In your becoming. On your journey of matrescence.

with love, compassion + so much empathy

~ Chelsey taken in Austin, Texas by @themotheryear

20

1

2 years ago

The Mother Year, a poem 🕊️ taken in Austin, Texas by @themotheryear

9

3

2 years ago

MONTHS 10-12 🌻

This is a season of integration, meaning to “blend into a functioning or unified whole.” Do you feel like the parts of yourself are being woven back together, perhaps in an even more healed and unified way than before becoming a mother?

In our Summer season, we fan the flame from the embers you’ve tended to all these months. And it is this fire within that will keep you warm in the many seasons of motherhood ahead, for Summer is simultaneously the last season in your Mother Year as well as the beginning of the next chapter ahead following your baby’s first birthday. You see, we are constantly growing and beginning again.

Like a flower that is planted, then blooms, withers, and returns to the soil, we, too, remain in a cyclical pattern. In motherhood, how you do the work is the work. There is no end “goal” to reach; rather, it’s moment to moment—it’s the ebb and flow of doing the best we can with the information in front of us. You see - we are constantly growing and beginning anew, rewriting our story over and over again.

And we will bloom many times along the way.

#matrescence #motheryear #motheryears #mindfulmotherhood #motherhood #firstborn #firstyear #firstbook #booklaunching taken in Austin, Texas by @themotheryear

5

1

2 years ago

MONTHS 7-9 🌱

In the Spring season, we are planting and watering the seeds of our reborn lives as mothers. Let this season be one of experimentation. Try things on and test things out but continue to anchor back to your budding motherly intuition and listen to your heart space to see what is right for you now. 🤎

In the Mother Year, we are particularly raw, vulnerable, and in some ways, susceptible. While we cannot always control the outcome in a situation, we can control the inputs into our mind, body, and soul. The seeds of your life will come in all shapes and sizes.

Celebrate the small wins as those can often escalate into outsized imprints in your life. Motherhood is an experience without a set mold or defined path. There is no universal guide, and that’s what makes it so deeply personal. Each woman is different, as is each child, so your mothering will inevitably look different as well. This individuality is something to embrace, as it brings richness and authenticity to your story.

The Spring season is time to reimagine your life and the parts that make it up. 🦋

#matrescence #motheryear #motheryears #mindfulmotherhood #motherhood #firstborn #firstyear #firstbook #booklaunching by @themotheryear

3

1

2 years ago

MONTHS 4-6 ☕️

In the Winter season, many mothers find themselves facing a sense of division. The first few months often offer a grace period, an unspoken understanding where partners, family, and friends give us space to immerse ourselves fully in the early stages of motherhood. But in this season, the pressure to re-engage with society, return to previous roles, and reconnect with the life we once knew can feel like a heavy weight. The person we were before motherhood no longer exists in the same form. How can we possibly step back into the shoes of who we once were? They no longer fit. 🩰

Winter invites us to rediscover ourselves, and in doing so, to grieve the parts of our former life that no longer align with who we've become.

#matrescence #motheryear #motheryears #mindfulmotherhood #motherhood #firstborn #firstyear #firstbook #booklaunching taken in Austin, Texas by @themotheryear

6

0

2 years ago

MONTHS 1-3 🍂

In this season, you’re falling deeply in love with your baby, and as you move toward this love, you unconsciously move away from something else.

That “something else” is the external world, the social web you once spun, and the culture that whispers the falsehood in your ear that your worth stems from what you produce, rather than who you are.

This initial season, dear mama, requires an unraveling. And while “unraveling” might seem to imply coming apart, its true gift lies in opening what’s tightly held, in allowing the tangled places to ease, in welcoming what’s ready to emerge. In this gentle undoing, the mystery of motherhood stretches before you—not to be solved, but to be lived.

#matrescence #motheryear #motheryears #mindfulmotherhood #motherhood #firstborn #firstyear #firstbook #booklaunching taken in Austin, Texas by @themotheryear

5

1

2 years ago