Midwest Mimi

  • The Day I Stopped Explaining Myself

    After nearly dying from respiratory failure, I stopped explaining myself. Living with chronic illness taught me that understanding is not something you can force, and survival does not require justification. This is the story of choosing boundaries, rest, and presence over being understood.

  • Neurodivergent Conflict Styles, Part Two

    When one person needs to talk and the other needs to shut down, conflict can feel personal even when it isn’t. This piece explores how different nervous systems seek safety, how misunderstanding escalates conflict, and what changed when we learned to regulate first and communicate later.

  • Neurodivergent Conflict Styles, Part One

    I wasn’t arguing as a child. I was explaining. But explaining myself was often mistaken for defiance, and being misunderstood didn’t just hurt emotionally, it dysregulated my nervous system. This piece explores how neurodivergent conflict styles form early, and why the need to be understood can follow us into adulthood, shaping how we handle conflict…

  • 🌱 How Childhood Creativity Shaped the Woman I Am Today

    Growing up with a sewing room in the den and a woodshop in the barn shaped the way I see the world. My childhood was filled with handmade things, faith, curiosity, and endless creativity, long before I knew how much I would need it. Art was not something I added to my life. It was…

  • The Hidden Cost of Being Strong

    Behind the calm I show the world is a body fighting to regulate itself. This is the hidden cost of strength for those of us living with disability and sensory overwhelm.

  • 🌿 Building Something Together

    🌿 Building Something Together

    Midwest Mimi has grown into more than a blog. It’s a community built on real stories, real people, and the beauty of everyday life. Come connect across TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube as we keep building something honest, hopeful, and human. 💚

  • 8 Myths About Homeschooling (And What It’s Actually Like)

    Homeschooling is messy, flexible, and real. Not denim jumpers and isolation. Let’s bust the biggest myths and talk about what homeschooling actually looks like.

  • The World Looks Purple To Me

    A journey from innocence, to hustling for survival, to rebuilding life after chronic illness. Motherhood, queerness, and the purple lens that reveals what is worth fighting for.

  • How Almost Dying Taught Me Life’s Too Short to Be Unhappy

    After surviving respiratory failure, I woke up to more than a second chance at life—I woke up to clarity. I stopped waiting for perfect moments, learned to protect my peace, and began truly living again. This is the story of how almost dying taught me what it means to be alive.

  • Lessons from Wonderland: What Alice Still Teaches Me About Life, Parenting, and Growing Up

    Lessons from Wonderland: What Alice Still Teaches Me About Life, Parenting, and Growing Up

    During a fall evening photo shoot turned Wonderland adventure, I realized how much Alice still has to teach us. Through curiosity, slowing down, difference, imagination, and growth, I found reflections of motherhood, healing, and becoming — lessons tucked inside the golden light of an ordinary day.

  • Alzheimer’s Caregiver Grief: How Families Experience Love and Loss Before Goodbye

    I lost my mother to Alzheimer’s disease in the summer of 2020 after an eight-year journey into loss. Her death brought acute sadness but also relief, not just for our family, but for my mom, who hadn’t been fully herself in quite some time. Because of our family’s faith, we had the comfort of knowing…

  • When I Became Her Mother

    In that first moment of motherhood, something in me shifted. Every scar I carried started to look like a map I didn’t want her to follow. As she grew, I saw pieces of myself in her, and glimpses of who she might become, all at once. Motherhood slowly, sometimes painfully, made me relearn softness. She…

  • 10 Chronic Illness Hacks That Truly Make Life Easier

    Living with chronic illness means that everyday life takes more energy, planning, and creativity than most people realize. Over the last ten years, I’ve had to learn how to adapt and find little ways to make things easier, not just for me, but for my whole family. These aren’t “perfect life hacks” from the internet.…

  • When Kids Complain on Outdoor Adventures: How to Handle Whining Without Losing the Magic

    Five minutes into an outdoor adventure and someone’s already saying, “My legs hurt.” Sound familiar? If you’ve taken kids out into nature, chances are you’ve heard it too. Nothing takes the shine off a long-anticipated family outing like whining before you’ve even settled in. But here’s the thing: complaints are part of the journey, and…

  • Supporting Your Child’s Creativity Means Letting Them Dress Themselves

    When Raeleigh was little, I thought I was the one choosing her clothes. Picking out tops and bottoms that matched, adding bows, and making sure everything looked “put together.” But even then, she had opinions. She’d reach for patterns that clashed in my eyes but sparkled in hers. She wanted the necklace, the sunglasses, AND…