1. If doula’s are a need or a want… I think I know where I’m landing, but I’d love to hear y’alls experiences first (plz!!!)

2. My actual birth plan (or lack there of)

3. The bucket list we’ve made for the last 20 weeks of “just us”

And of course, my Friday Five recommendations. All of this is waiting for you on the other side!! See you in there 🤍

Subscribe now

Read more

And then the first trimester hit, and while I prepared for the worst… my pregnancy glow was SO real. Truly best skin I’ve ever had in my life!!! So I obviously checked out, and thought the rest of my pregnancy skincare journey would be this easy.

And then the second trimester hit. And week after week, my skin started to look duller, gunkier, congested, bumpy and feel heavier. After 4 weeks… I had to do something about it.

So I just went full-tilt and researched and tried everything to re-dial in my skincare routine. And thanks to YouTube estheticians and a few brutally honest creators out there, I found genuinely good pregnancy-safe options I’d never heard of and ultimately fell in love with. Now, 5 weeks into this routine, my pregnancy skin is finally feeling de-gunked, glowy, and fresh again!!!

So steal my recipe!!!! Here’s exactly what I’m doing every morning. Come back next week for my night routine!!

In case you’re curious…

about why pregnancy changes your skin and why your old skincare routine stopped working like me…. Well, pregnancy hormones affect everything including oil production, skin cell turnover, and pigmentation. And the ingredients you’d normally reach for to fix all of that like BHAs, AHAs, retinol, vitamin A derivatives… all a big NO during pregnancy. Which means you have to get creative and find alternatives that actually work without the actives. Hence… my research :)

my AM routine

One thing about me… I am hyper sensitive to how things feel on my skin. For example, sunscreens… I’m using mineral sunscreen while pregnant (at first, begrudgingly) and I hated every option I tried because of how TERRIBLE it felt on my skin. Heavy, chalky, and like a thick residue was sitting on my face and body. Until I found my hero product (read about it below!!). So you have my experience to vouch for the fact that all these products deliver on what they say they will, and feel good on your skin too.

Now let’s get into it!!! I do a water rinse only in the morning, specifically no cleanser. My skin is sensitive and too much cleansing strips my skin barrier of the good stuff. So we wash our faces at night over in Casa Wildeson. So my morning routine relies solely on the products that change the game…

Like I mentioned, overtime, pregnancy has this fun effect of making your skin look dull, flat and tired. Not necessarily congested or breaking out, but you start to lack the glow. These pads are the ONE STEP that sweeps away whatever is sitting on the surface making complexion look like that, without being too aggressive on skin that’s more sensitive than usual.

I use them every other morning, alternating with my evening exfoliation on the off nights, so I’m always turning over without ever overdoing it (come back next week for this one’s counterpart).

Think of this step as clearing the canvas so everything underneath can actually show through. The deeper corrective work that is targeting melanin production, stimulating collagen, preventing new dark spots from forming at the source… that comes later, so keep reading!!!!

This is my new hero product. It’s a hydrating toner that deeply hydrates dry skin, repairs the skin barrier, and calms redness. Bless.

When this nectar of the God’s entered my life, it transformed my skin from feeling tight, red, and just… bleh to healthy and bouncy. It pours out like thin milk, which I love, and it doesn’t leave that sticky or heavy feeling that some toners do.

This is the pregnancy-safe vitamin C alternative, powered by something called viniferine, which targets dark spots and uneven pigmentation. And let me tell you… I needed something that could help the melasma that started developing on my skin… thanks Texas sunshine.

In case you haven’t learned about it yet, pregnancy hormones can cause melasma, or the “mask of pregnancy”, which basically causes your skin to develop flat, dark, or gray-brown patches and is often triggered by normal pregnancy hormone levels and sun exposure. It’s harmless and often fades after birth… but that doesn’t mean you have to just accept it during pregnancy. Usually, I’d reach for a vitamin-C based product to address this… but sadly, that’s on the pregnancy NO-go list, RIP. Hence why finding Viniferine was like finding Atlantis. Legendary.

The one-ingredient wonder child, and my desert island skincare pick every year. Pure squalane locks in moisture and feels light on your skin.

Squalane is a product your body naturally produces (or a version of it called squalene), so your skin recognizes it as part of your own sebum. AKA, it absorbs completely, never feels greasy, never clogs pores, and works for literally every skin type. She’s that girl.

I’ve been using this moisturizer for years and it has survived every single skincare era I’ve been through, including this one. There’s only nine ingredients in the entire formula. Leave it to the French to make a product that can pack such a big punch, with so few products.

It’s lightweight enough that it doesn’t feel like you’re wearing a moisturizer — no greasiness, no heaviness, no that-feeling-where-your-SPF-is-pilling-on-top-of-your-moisturizer chaos. It just absorbs, locks in moisture, and gets out of the way so everything else can do its job. It goes on perfectly under SPF in the morning, or as the last step at night.

Chemical filters like oxybenzone are a BIG NO during pregnancy. Which means most of the sunscreens I'd been using before, and loved deeply, were immediately off the table (sad). So I had to find a mineral option that I could actually tolerate wearing. If you've tried mineral sunscreens before, you know the struggle. Most products are chalky, leave a white-cast, and feel so heavy that you can basically feel your pores suffocating under it. The exact reason I had dabbled and pivoted away from mineral sunscreens in the past!!! Well this mineral sunscreen is BUILT DIFFERENT!! And it converted me to mineral sunscreens for life (well, just this one, specifically).

TLDR; it’s protecting, hydrating, treating, AND not making you look like a ghost. I love that it’s so lightweight, there’s no greasiness, it absorbs immediately, and sits perfectly under everything else without pilling. I’m a weirdo and look forward to putting it on every morning… which is something I never thought I’d say about a sunscreen. OH! AND PSA — SPF always goes last in the morning!!!

You can shop these products in my Pregnancy Skincare collection, linked 👇

Shop Here!

…and come back next Wednesday for my PM skincare routine <3

1. If Coop and I are going to take a babymoon…

2. Paternity & maternity leave plans

3. My beef with pregnancy pillows…

And of course, my Friday Five recommendations. All of this is waiting for you on the other side!! See you in there 🤍

Subscribe now

Read more

For more like this, make sure you hit subscribe!!

Subscribe now

Last week I told you about how Coop and I went to Enlightened Baby to try strollers in person and walked out having changed everything on our registry. What I didn’t tell you, is that we ALSO changed our carseat pick after this experience (and after I did some research).

We went in thinking we’d walk out with (aka add to our registry) the UppaBaby Vista V3 stroller and UppaBaby Mesa V3 car seat. So when we pivoted our stroller pick, that meant the entire car seat world opened up. And I went full research mode!!!! And since Coop made the framework for evaluating the stroller, I took on the project for evaluating the carseat:

1. Safety and why we trust European standards more…

   What I did not expect when I started shopping for a car seat was how much variance there is in how safety standards are actually applied and…. I genuinely thought a car seat was a car seat. They all pass the federal test. They’re all “safe.” Right? NOPE. Every car seat sold in the US has passed the standard, which means they are all afe enough, which means the standard is a floor, not a ceiling!!! But more importantly…

   1. Apparently the US only made side-impact testing a federal requirement in 2025 (lovely), where as Europe has required it for years.

   2. Europe uses crash test dummies with 32 sensors versus 4 in older US testing (again, lovely). This gives European car seat brands far more precise data about what’s actually happening to your baby’s body in a collision, and improve designs.

   3. The number one case of car seat danger is installation misuse, and nearly 60-79% of car seats in the US are installed incorrectly (!!!!!!). Europe has taken that head on (budum-chhhh) and part of their safety standards are specifically designed to make it easier to install. This, obviously, has dramatically reduced the rate of improper installation for European brand users.

   
   TLDR; brands that build to European standards are safer. So that became our first filter… does the seat meet European safety requirements, or just US minimums?

2. Weight and carry-ability

   In case you didn’t catch it last week, I was humbled by this whole IRL experience because I simply could not pick up 98% of the strollers and car seats. I, alas, have noodle arms. Which means, all-in-one strollers were filtered out, despite their longer “usable life”. We’ll buy an all-in-one when he outgrows the infant seat, and maybe by that time, baby #2 will be here and ready to inhert the infant seat.

   Infant car seats are much lighter, but we still wanted to test them all out. Because if I can’t physically carry it comfortably now, I most certainly will struggle carrying it when little guys starts putting on the lbs. So we picked up and put down every seat we considered. And if it felt too heavy empty, it was crossed off the list.

3. Usability and back protection

   It’s important to us that we are able to get up and go with little guy. Which means, we want a car seat that’s easy to work with (no Rubix cube model). Specifically, we wanted to find a car seat that would:

   1. let us go from the carrier to the stroller in one easy movement

   2. and would let us take little guy, or little guy + his carseat out of the car without throwing out our backs.

      Some insider tea… Cooper tweaks his back muscles almost every month (started happening when he turned 30, I swear!!!) and I’ve had a few gnarly spinal events that have left my back relatively weak. Most car seats require you to lean deep into the back seat, twist, and lift at an awkward angle. And for some people (aka us), that’s not going be sustainable.

   
   Which is exactly why we fell in love with the swivel car seat models. The base stays installed in the car while the seat rotates 180 degrees toward the door so you can buckle baby in while standing upright, then swivel them back into position. No twist + lift!!! Some may call this a luxury, but I think it’s just an accommodation for any of us with aged backs. Feel free to use that line on your partner ;)

We considered 5 car seats… and here’s how we landed on our #1 PICK:

1. UppaBaby Mesa V3 ($350): the irony of this one is not lost on me since the Mesa was our original pick. It’s lightweight, coming in just at 10 lbs. But once I went deep on independent crash testing, it was a pass for me…

   1. It earned one of the lowest crash test scores in BabyGearLab’s independent testing due to poor g-force sensor readings, below average for the group in more rigorous testing. Which is NOT what you’d expect from a seat at this price point.

2. Doona ($550): This one is clever and parents love it for a reason. It’s a car seat that converts into a stroller with the click of a button. So it passes the usability filter. HOWEVER…

   1. It’s heavy AF (for my noodle arms). 17.2 lbs BEFORE you even add the baby. Which make sense, it truly is a car seat and a stroller all in one. If you have muscles, this will absolutely still work for you!! If you have noodle arms like me… try it before you buy it.

   2. The safety research just wasn’t solid enough for me :( Doona’s come with higher-than-average g-forces in a collision, higher Head Injury Criterion scores than competing models, and have had multiple safety recalls (including one for potential carrier detachment during a crash… YIKES.) ALSO… only buy a Doona from authorized retailers. Authorities found fake Doona’s at a safety check in Harris County Texas in 2025, and those counterfeits had serious structural and flammability issues (NO THANK YOU!)

That said, Doona’s been hard at work to address these concerns. If they get fixed, we’d consider it! Especially if I gain any arm muscle mass…

3. Nuna Revv ($850): this is actually one of the highest crash-rated seats in independent testing and BabyGearLab calls it one of the best they’ve ever tested. These car seats have Steel Strength Technology, Aeroflex side impact protection, EPP energy absorbing foam, flame resistant without added fire retardant chemicals, GREENGUARD Gold certified. Nuna’s safety credentials are legit. Plus, it rotates 360° (sold)!! Off those two factors alone, this one was genuinely tempting... but here’s where it fell apart for us:

   1. The REVV is a convertible seat, meaning it stays in the car :( It doesn’t have a removable carrier so it can’t just snap onto our Silver Cross Breez.

Shop it here

4. Clek Liing ($500): this one is the US Consumer Reports’ top pick for 2026 and was awarded the highest crash protection rating. Comes with every safety bell and whistle you dream of from rigid lower anchors to an anti-rebound bar and load leg. Plus, it clocks in at ~9 lbs… we love how light weight the infant car seat catalogue is. HOWEVER…

   1. It doesn’t come in a swivel version. And once swivel became non-negotiable for us, the Clek came off the list despite being objectively fantastic. Sad :(

Shop it here

5. Cybex Aton G2 Swivel ($550): this one is THE Consumer Reports’ expert pick. It’s built to European standards (we love this) and offers an anti-rebound base with load leg that reduces crash forces by up to 30% and comes with their SensorSafe technology. Plus it’s 9 lbs… light weight AF. AND it comes with the 180° swivel base AND 11-position adjustable headrest with no-rethread harness AND a UPF50+ canopy. Fits from birth to 35 lbs aka ~18 months.

   1. TO NOTE… we specifically did NOT like the lean-back version personally. Our stroller (Silver Cross Breez + Bassinet) already comes with a lay-flat option, and since car seats can’t actually be reclined in a moving car anyway, it felt like paying more for a feature we’d never use.

   
   TLDR; the Cybex passed every single filter: safety, weight, usability.

Shop it here

What’s the next baby registry “aisle” you want my deep dive on? I’ll bring these to your inbox every Wednesday!!!

Leave a comment

xoxo, Alex

1. How I’m trying to make soon-to-be mom friends in Austin… and how that adventure has turned into something that y’all will get invited too!!!

2. All the weird things nobody warns you about pregnancy (nosebleeds, bleeding gums, sciatica, and other things I just can’t put in a subject line)

3. The latest update on my pregnancy!!

And of course, my Friday Five recommendations. All of this is waiting for you on the other side!! See you in there 🤍

Subscribe now

Read more

Cooper took me to Enlightened Baby on Friday to try out strollers and car seats in person, just to “double check” we made the right choice on our registry (reminder… UppaBab…

Read more

1. How my upcoming baby shower is having some last minute changes, and I desperately need your advice!!!! 😅

2. How I turned my entire registry upside down this week, and why now I feel confident about it (recs included!!)

3. My thoughts on turning 32 this weekend, my last birthday without him!!!

And of course, my Friday Five recommendations. All of this is waiting for you on the other side!! See you in there 🤍

Subscribe now

Read more

When I built my wedding registry, it was overwhelming in a time-consuming way, but not a scary way. I knew what I liked and I knew what I didn’t. I had opinions about towels and sheet thread counts and whether we needed a gravy boat (we didn’t, we got one anyway, it’s still in it’s original box). Tha…

Read more

1. Cooper and I are having the baby-prep chats and we need your help figuring out the sleep schedule (+ the number one sleep hack we’re adding to our registry)

2. An update on my autoimmune stuff

3. My Friday Five (what I’m reading, watching, obsessed with, purchased recently and craving)

4. The best hummus recipe (I somehow botched)

All of this is waiting for you on the other side... see you in there 💛

Subscribe now

Read more

Read more

So let’s get into it, and how I’m managing my stress during this time + my weekly Friday Five 💙

Read more

Read more

1. What we found out during our first anatomy scan

2. How different the second trimester ALREADY is from the first trimester

3. My Kyle Cooke and Summer House conspiracy theory

All of this (plus my unfiltered weekly life update and the Friday Five) is waiting for you on the other side. See you in there. 🤍

Read more

She was going to run a clean, focused chronic illness podcast. Every episode would be about autoimmune disease, or CRPS, or endometriosis, or the absolute circus of navigating the American healthcare system with a complicated body. Every guest and solo episode neatly aligned to a chronic illness topic. It was going to be disciplined and deeply tied to the “niche”.

And then I got pregnant.

And before that, I got hospitalized. And before that, I missed a bus in London four times in a row while wearing rain boots on the heaviest walking day of the trip. And somewhere in between all of that, I started writing about protein rice crispy treat recipes, and the weird food dye loophole in American nutrition labeling, and what it actually feels like when your body finally starts cooperating after 25 years of not. Literally NONE of that was in the content plan!!!

But… it’s all the most-loved stuff I’ve written, and it’s what I love writing about.

So here’s what I want to say to you: to the people who have been here since the chronic illness days, the people who found me through a pregnancy short, the people who subscribed because of the hospital stay episode and then stuck around for the recipe post, confused but seemingly okay with it…

This Substack is becoming something a little bigger than a podcast companion newsletter. And I think that’s a good thing.

Read more

These are the ones that I’ve love the most and the longest, and why they’ve earned a permanent spot in my life. Trust me… once you start using them, you can’t unfeel the difference.

📦 Links and discount codes below!!!

Subscribe now

Read more

INGREDIENTS

• 6 tablespoons vegan butter (or real butter; e.g. Miyoko’s or Earth Balance), plus more for the pan

• 1.5-2 cups WOW Butter soy butter

• 1 bag of marshmallows (I loveee Dandies vegan ones!)

• 6 cups Rice Puff Cereal (I loveee the ones by The Real Cereals Co.)

• 1 bag of chocolate chips (I loveee Enjoy Life dairy-free chocolate chips)

• Flaky sea …

Read more

And you know me… I’m always curious. So tell me: what’s one thing you’ve been scared to try… that you might attempt now?

Leave a comment

Read more