I am SO beyond excited to share with you the start of a new series called Mama Behind the Squares. This is an idea that has been on my heart for quite some time and I’m so happy to finally share it with you! Hooray!

It’s no secret that I LOVE Instagram, but isn’t it so easy as mamas to get lost in that picture perfect world and forget that the mamas behind the accounts are real life people that have struggles, challenges and the real messy parts of life too. One day when I was mindlessly scrolling (yup, totally guilty of this) an idea sparked to connect with the mamas I love following on those tiny little squares of Instagram a bit deeper and create a space for them to share words of encouragement in their current season. Isn’t there something so refreshing and powerful when we as mamas can connect with someone else who understands the ups and downs of mama life and are able to say, “YES, Me too! I’m experiencing that too.” My heart is that this series would be a tool that encourages, inspires and creates community among fellow mamas in the trenches. Let’s dive in and get to know our very first mama behind the squares, Katie Crocombe from Flourish + Co!

Where are you located? Atlanta, GA

How many kids do you have and what are their ages? 2 girls- Bella just turned 9 and Ava is almost 7… and, rumor has it we’d love another☺️

Sweet or Salty? Sweet!!! I have to have dessert almost every night and I am totally the person who checks out the dessert menu before the “real menu” to determine how big a dinner I want to eat… if the desserts look great, then a smaller dinner (or splitting w/ Matt) is the obvious choice.

Are you a night owl or early bird? A little bit of both. Pre-children I was most definitely a night owl… post-children, I’ve grown to love my early mornings when the house is still quiet and I have time to myself… typically I am up around 5:30-6am with about an hour of quiet before everyone is up and moving… and we go to bed normally around 11pm.

What is your fondest memory as a child? Hmmm…  I would say traveling. I thoroughly enjoyed exploring different places as a child. I can still vividly remember mom and dad renting a minivan (my mom was not a minivan mom—much to my dismay—of course now, I totally get it!!), and my brother and I scheming as to who would lay across the middle bench and who would have the back bench… We always rocked the game where you go through the alphabet looking at billboards and license plates (what is that game actually called??) Mom and Dad made a point to put money towards vacations and I am so thankful for that to this day… and, it’s something Matt and I really value as well.

What is your favorite way to spend at-home family night? We like to order pizza and now that the girls are older we’ve said that making individual ones on the Big Green Egg would be fun to start doing as a family (to date we’ve kept that activity for when the girls are with their dad to mitigate the amount of clean-up)… we love sitting around the table conversing and laughing… We typically have some music on in the background and throw in a little dancing… then we’ll move to the family room and have some dessert and snuggles during a show or movie. The girls are loving The Voice now and given their ages, we’ve had fun watching movies like Mrs. Doubtfire, The Sandlot, Father of the Bride I and II – which are all so fun to watch with them!

What family tradition or routine is important to you? Eating around the table together is a big one for us. Matt and I both are so thankful that that was a priority in our homes growing up so we do that as much as possible in our family. In addition, we place a lot of importance on reading before bed and lately have been reading through the New Testament with the girls.

If you could give one piece of encouragement to a fellow mama in the trenches what would it be? “Your greatest contribution to the kingdom of God may not be something you do, but someone you raise” [Andy Stanley]

Love, love, love this one—and in uncovering our purpose, vision, mission and values in coaching, I love to see how God so beautifully chose us to be our child’s mom- He makes no mistakes. Our unique purposes are so purposeful in motherhood- that we might raise little ones who learn to love Him.

What is your favorite way to fill your mama tank? Atlanta has some great girls’ nights through ministries and churches. Our church, Passion City, has a girls’ event called the Grove once a month. I love going to that with a group of girl friends. I also thoroughly enjoy reading, pedicures and date nights. I am a recovering “dismisser of self-care” but now step into it quite fully, as I know it makes me so much more useful to my people. And, I love encouraging my clients to do the same!

What is one thing you have you learned this year that has helped you in your current season of motherhood? To be brave in saying “no”… I am the one who said yes to everything in my previous entrepreneurial journey which most definitely impacted my mothering, my own healthiness and my marriage with the girls’ dad.

In having this fairly new entrepreneurial journey with Flourish + Co, there are plenty of opportunities to work. Learning to say yes to the best and no to the good is a process but I am definitely making significant progress in this area. And, I am so very thankful as my no’s to work mean yes’s to my family, to my girls. They allow me to present with them. Are there things that I know I’m missing out on?! Absolutely! Do I struggle with getting it all done?! For sure! But I am constantly shifting as needed and remembering that I do NOT want a life centered around my business, I want a business centered around my life. And, right now, my life includes 2 little girls who still think I hung the moon (most days) and I want to savor these moments, by being fully present in them!

Where can we follow along with you?
Blog | Instagram | Pinterest | Facebook

I SO hope you enjoyed getting to know Katie a bit more! Isn’t she such a gem?! I hope her words of encouragement were refreshing for your mama heart and maybe even gave you an idea or two for connecting with your own kiddos.

Pin it for Later!