Hi everybody! My name is Lauren Engler, and I am the face and heart behind Via Graces! I am a pediatric sleep consultant in Northern Virginia, am passionate about getting all kiddos and families sleeping well (and I dream of also becoming a doula one day!).
As you may guess, I love all things pregnancy, labor, baby, and mama! And I love sharing what I know, gleaning wisdom from others who know more, and brainstorming with others when none of us knows!
Because parenting is hard and it’s messy, and we certainly weren’t made to do it alone.
I am mama to two sweet girls, Olivia (3) and Avery (1). I’m married to a wonderful (Canadian) hubby, Jason, who supports all of my dreams and endeavors, and we are just smitten with our little growing family!
We also really love sleep and love that our girls consistently sleep 11-12 hours a night (and they room share!), but we also know how hard baby and toddler sleep can be and how sleep deprivation wears on your body, mind, and relationships!
Some of you may be wondering, why “Via Graces”? Well, coming up with a business name was really hard for me. Anything permanent freaks me out (I’ve grown in my comfort with permanent markers, thanks to my college roommate), so landing on a business name was stressful!
I would lie in bed every night racking my brain and end up blank, and was trying to think of a name that wouldn’t limit my business so I have the opportunity to grow down the road.
So like anyone would do, I googled how to come up with a business name and I actually rolled my eyes when it said use your child’s name. But then “Via Grace” came to mind (for our first babe, Olivia Grace) and it just stuck, because parenting is hard and we need so much grace.
And as I’m coaching families through improving their child’s sleep, that can only be done through/with (or “via”) grace! (Plus Olivia is the one whose sleep baffled me and drove me into learning more, so it’s doubley fitting!)
Then it morphed into Graces, plural, simply because the singular was already a random website and Instagram name, but I was long stuck on the name so there was no turning back. And let’s be real, we all need LOTS of grace…graces upon graces upon graces.
A few fun facts about me:
- I have never been and never intend on being a coffee drinker! I don’t love the smell and definitely don’t enjoy the flavor, so you can find me gulping down water morning, day, and night, with the occasional tea simply for fun.
- Jason and I can switch sides of the bed without a problem! We have “set sides” when we’re home, but when we moved into our second apartment, we switched sides so I wasn’t directly under the air vent. When we go to hotels, I sleep on whichever side has the end table or whichever side is closest to Olivia. And we both have “our sides” at our parents’ homes, which are different at both houses! Can you tell I’m proud of this? We’ll see how long we remain this flexible.
- I have never tried a pickle and have no intention to.
- I have been to six out of the seven continents, and think it would just be the coolest to get to Antarctica one day. There are definitely other places on the bucket list before Antarctica, but a girl can dream!
Thank you so much for reading, and I look forward to getting to know YOU more as you stay connected to my blog, comment on my posts, and/or when I work with your family!
With Grace,
Lauren
(Updated on 10/31/2020 to include Avery!)
