I’m Mandi Nuttall and I’m one busy mama with my hands full, or so I’m told I am by every single person at the store that talks to me when they see my herd surrounding me.
We had 3 kids and already felt overwhelmed but yearned for one more little one to be a buddy to our youngest who was 4 ½ years younger than his big sister. Even though we had already suffered through 5 miscarriages during our marriage, we thought we would give it a try, and BAM! Somehow God thought we could handle twins! This threw our world upside down, inside out, and then up in the clouds.
So now we are a family of 7 who just moved to Gig Harbor, Washington and we are loving life. I cry several times a week either tears of exhaustion or from belly laughing, but I’m somehow making it through every day while I chant, “I can do hard things!” Raising these tiny humans and watching them grow and interact is utterly priceless and we are so grateful for our kids. We have a 10 year old boy, 8 year old girl, almost 4 year old boy, and then our boy/girl twins who are 16 months.
I’d say my biggest strength as a mother is documenting my kids. I was a photographer for 10 years which has helped push me to photograph, video and journal about my family. With all these kids, my memory is trashed so it is wonderful to pull out a book from 4 years ago and see beautiful pictures of my family and read about the milestones that year.
I love being with my family, but I am not afraid to get a sitter on those long days when my husband works late and go out on my own or with the girls. I’m also totally guilty of getting a sitter just to go to Costco or lunch alone! But my main outlet is playing beach volleyball all year round and sweat out my frustrations and hit the ball hard. That feels so good and I always come back home energized and ready to tackle the next toilet clogged from stuffed toys, or find the missing baby…again!
Now onto my project I’m currently working on. I’m currently writing a book so parents can have yearly lesson plans and easily teach their kids about their bodies, puberty, sex, and babies! I’m basically making a killer lesson manual for parents! Wait, you’re what?? Why this topic, and why now? I’m somehow squeezing in time to write this book because honestly I need it in my hands right now. This idea started years ago when I had this idea to combine my experiences as a High School Health teacher, my love for the human body, and my responsibility as a mother to transfer that respect for our bodies to my kids. I’ve been collecting thoughts and ideas for a long time and with my kids getting older and needing more education, Ive been planning out these discussions and resources anyway so I’m just going to push though and do it now!
I honestly feel that this book will be an invaluable resource to parents and that there isn’t something available out there like this book. In doing research, I have found that so many people did not get the instruction they wanted from their own parents, which then makes them nervous to do a good job with their own kids. For some reason, our culture has made talking about these things awkward and sometimes shameful but it is getting better! Most parents have transferred their embarrassment on the topics to their kids which is not needed! What if we all taught our kids about our amazing bodies like they are the most miraculous vehicles and pretty much magical as they are able to create life! If we approached these topics completely comfortable and prepared we could teach our kids more about respecting, loving, and caring for our bodies instead of just getting forcing through the wierd conversations.
I am trying to get rid of the awkward part of the conversations by planning a lesson for parents to follow to make sure they hit all the points, let the conversation flow easily, have all pictures and diagrams right there, and get over any barriers holding them back. This book will also have a lesson for every age of your child creating a stable learning environment every year that they will come to expect even in their teenage years. I’m beyond thrilled to send this book out into the world!
This process has not been easy with babies crawling around me feet as I write, and going under the computer desk and un-plugging the computer just as I had finished a brilliant section. I’m not going to lie, it has been hard finding the time to close the office door and ignore the fingers under the door, the endless knocks and “Mom” calls. But I really limit time I work on the book during the day and do most of it after they are all snuggled in their beds after the hour and a half fight to actually get them to stay in bed! So maybe I sleep a little less, watch less of my favorite shows, but there will be time for that later. Right now, I’m off to change the world…or just make it a tad bit easier.
Check out her You Tube Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MQuHf69B7M
Here’s the fun part. I want to incorporate feedback, stories and advice from tons of parents too! I’m doing an online interview/survey from all types of adults from singles, couples, and parents with 1 kid all the way to those with loads of kids and your advice could be published! The questionnaire will only take you a few minutes and your responses will help make this book an invaluable resource, and hopefully with the support from many, many parents, I’ll be able to get this book published as fast as possible and in your hands!
So click here: https://goo.gl/8KSWhk and fill out your answers, and then please share this link! You can SHARE, TEXT or IM it to your mom, brothers and sisters, grandma, and friends across the country, or further! I’d love as many diverse answers from all walks of life as possible. You can also choose to be published anonymously, partially or fully credited.
Thank you for your help! This book is going to be fantastic!
And…We can do hard things!
Mandi! This book is going to be fantastic! Thank you for sharing your family and project with us. We would love to continue to promote it.