Moms of Wichita Photo Series: Part 3

Moms of Wichita

Find all the posts in this series here.

In light of Mother’s Day and in an effort to support Wichita Moms Blog’s mission to connect moms, we have partnered with Sally Cavanaugh Films and Photos to feature real moms through Moms of Wichita, a photo series showcasing the beauty, the story, and the reality of motherhood. 

Though we may differ in backgrounds, experiences, and parenting styles, we all share the common thread of motherhood and are truly in this together. The participants in this three-part series are loyal WMB readers and have agreed to share their stories. We hope you are able to connect with and relate to one or more of these inspiring women!


Heather Y.Moms of Wichita

Stay at Home Mom to one highly-functioning autistic, funny, loving little boy

My Unique Perspective on Motherhood: I am an older mom. I had my son at 39, and my son is high functioning autistic.

What It’s Like Raising a Family in Wichita: It is the best of city life and medium size suburban life. Each area seems like it is it is own town, with the actives of a city. So many places you can take the kids like Exploration Place, top notch zoo, Botanica and great parks. Cost of living is lower than living in the larger cities. People are friendly.

3 Words That Come to Mind When You Hear Wichita: It’s my home!

 


Hali M.

Business-owning single mom of two kiddos in El Dorado

Moms of Wichita

3 Words That Come to Mind When You Hear Wichita: Zoo, Delano District, Churn & Burn

My Unique Perspective on Motherhood: I am a working mom. In all aspects of life, I am a salon owner and hairstylist and work full time but I am constantly working on trying to be better for my kids. My goal is progress, not perfection because lets be real – I forgot I had parent teacher conferences at 8am this morning and unashamedly delivered 50 store bought chocolate chip cookies to my kid’s elementary school instead of the delicious homemade treats I planned on making last night. Instead of baking I fell asleep at 8pm reading “My Mommy Hung the Moon” for the 400th time. I want to raise them and have them look back and know that they were loved, the floors might have been sticky, and sometimes they eat way too many servings of chicken nuggets during the week, but if they look at their childhood and know they were loved, my mission is complete.

In 5 words, a typical day as a mom looks like: 1 – Coffee, 2 – Morning meltdown (sometimes its the toddler, sometimes its me), 3 – Rush, 4- Dinner (they’re always hungry!), 5 – Bedtime snuggles, BONUS WORD: Wine. Always wine.


Christi K.Moms of Wichita

Photographer and mom of 8 children

In 5 words, a typical day as a mom looks like: Crazy, chaotic, noisy, beautiful and abundant

What It’s Like Raising a Family in Wichita: Wichita has most of the amenities of a large city with a smaller town feel. I love the friendliness of the people and the convenience of fun, entertaining and educational activities without a lot of traffic and congestion that robs family time. I love that Wichita offers many artistic and cultural events as well as the open air and out door activities.

My Unique Perspective on Motherhood: As a mom to 8 my unique perspective would be on parenting a larger than average family and managing toddlers to teens and adults on a daily basis. I own and operate a photography studio and we homeschool as well. I’m an advocate for women and their rights in their birth choices.


Katharine E.

Owner of Elderslie Farm and mom of two littles and one dog, one chicken, one fish

Moms of Wichita

My Unique Perspective on Motherhood: Working mom, self taught (ok taught by MANY who have gone before) chef, farm wife, small business owner.

In 5 words, a typical day as a mom looks like: Jump, run, chop, cuddle, repeat

My biggest guilty pleasure: Not guilty 😉 BUTTER


Cat O.Moms of Wichita

Stay at Home Mama to three kiddos ages 9, 7, and 6

In 5 words, a typical day as a mom looks like: Transporting kids, home/farm chores

My Unique Perspective on Motherhood: We live on a hobby farm! The kids go to school in the city but afternoons and weekends they can help gather eggs, slop the chickens and pig, or fetch hay for the goats. We’ve even brought goats to school for show and tell before. It’s fun to raise kids who are encouraged to get dirty, learn first hand about the life cycles of animals and who enjoy helping to raise their own food.

What It’s Like Raising a Family in Wichita: It’s a city of opportunity! Great schools, great churches, abundant museums, parks, kids programs – you can live in the country or downtown; private, public or home school with support; take a class, attend a program, or volunteer. The shopping and dining are great and the people are kind.


Michelle D.Moms of Wichita

Mom of twins and full time student

My Unique Perspective on Motherhood: Family of four here! (Almost) three year old twins keep us on our toes! Their father, Evan, is enlisted in the US AF Air National Guard and I am a full time student finishing my Early Childhood Education degree at Southwestern College of Kansas.

What It’s Like Raising a Family in Wichita: Wichita is a fun atmosphere for families, especially those with younger children. There are tons of opportunities to explore, endless parenting support through various groups in the community, and fantastic schools. The pace is unique, not that of a major city and the scenery can be deceiving…Wichita is definitely a beautiful place to raise a family.

If I Could Go Back to When I Had My First Baby, I Would Tell Myself:  Follow your instincts and don’t let the advice of others guide your idea of what good parenting looks like. You are stronger than you know and you can definitely do this!


We hope you enjoyed that as much as we did! Thank you to Sally Cavanaugh Films and Photos for being the co-pilot of this project, and thank you to the Moms of Wichita who participated in this series!

Sally Cavanaugh

We would LOVE to hear from YOU. Share your story and follow along using:

#MomsofWichita

Angela Green
Angela is the founder of Wichita Mom, the premier parenting website and digital guide for families as they navigate life in Wichita, KS. She is a wife, business owner, avid reader, proud gymnastics & dance mom, Peloton lover, and is always planning her next trip.