In this heartfelt and deeply practical episode, Lizzie welcomes her dear friend Ev Leyva—a mother of four, former elementary school teacher, and homeschooling parent who has carved out an unconventional path rooted in intuition, attunement, and honoring each child's unique design.

With four kids ages 7, 6, 4, and 5 months, Ev shares what it looks like to homeschool with Human Design, co-sleep without apology, trust maternal intuition over external authority, and teach her children that diversity is accepted and beautiful.

This conversation is medicine for mothers who feel pressured to conform, doubt their instincts, or wonder if they're doing it "right."

In This Episode We Explore:

1. How teaching in Thailand opened Ev's eyes to the endless ways children can learn
2. Why homeschooling became the right choice for her family
3. Using Human Design to understand each child's temperament, learning style, and energy
4. Reclaiming maternal intuition after being taught it was "false" in the Mormon church
5. Co-sleeping and why her kids never experienced the "four-month sleep regression"
6. Why respecting your child's temperament prevents power struggles and builds mutual respect
7. Breaking free from external authority and coming back home to yourself as a mother

Favorite Ev Quotes

"Mothers don't need strategies or books. They just need themselves and to trust it."

"Generational changes are going to be made not through perfection and not through control, but by mothers who decide that there's a different way and then they act on it."

About Our Guest

Ev Leyva is a mother of four, former elementary school teacher, and passionate advocate for child-led learning, secure attachment, and intuitive parenting. After teaching at an international school in Thailand, Ev discovered the freedom to parent and educate outside conventional systems. She now homeschools her children using Human Design, honors each child's unique temperament, and practices co-sleeping, home birth, and baby-led weaning. Having left the Mormon church to reclaim her intuition and inner authority, Ev is committed to raising children who trust themselves and know that being different is not only okay—it's beautiful.

Links & Resources

→ Connect with Ev on Instagram: @heavenlyevanlee

→ Sacred Treehouse programs: https://sacredtreehouse.org

If this episode resonated with you, please share it with a mother who needs permission to trust herself, honor her child's uniqueness, and know that there's no single "right" way to raise a family. Leave a review to help us reach more parents seeking a deeper, more connected way to raise children.

Parenting isn't about perfection—it's about presence, attunement, and the courage to listen within.

In this intimate episode, Dr. Patty joins a fertility specialist Dr. Joelle Taylor to explore the emotional, relational, and nervous-system realities of infertility, miscarriage, and pregnancy.

This conversation goes beyond medical protocols to honor the grief, fear, hope, and attachment wounds that so often live beneath the fertility journey. Dr. Taylor shares both her clinical expertise and personal experience of infertility and pregnancy loss, offering a compassionate lens on what it truly means to try to bring life into the world after heartbreak.

1. Why infertility is not just a medical experience, but a deeply relational and emotional one
2. The unspoken ways partners grieve differently — and how that impacts relationships
3. Why many parents struggle to attach or relax even when things are “going well”
4. How trauma and chronic stress affect fertility and pregnancy
5. The importance of being seen, witnessed, and emotionally held during fertility treatment

“You’re not just investing financially in fertility treatment — you’re investing your heart, your identity, and your future.”

Dr. Joelle Taylor is a fertility specialist with decades of experience working with individuals and couples navigating infertility, pregnancy loss, and complex reproductive journeys. Known for her intuitive and deeply human approach, Dr. Taylor integrates emotional awareness, trauma sensitivity, and relational care into medical fertility treatment. Her work honors not only the body, but the heart and nervous system of every patient she serves.

Connect with us on Instagram @FertilityFairyGodmother @SacredTreehouse

Work with Dr. Taylor: https://www.ivfmd.com/fertility-specialist/joelle-taylor

If this episode resonated with you, please leave a review and share it with someone walking the fertility or loss journey. These stories deserve to be heard — and no one should have to carry this alone.

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Explore more at www.thebondedpodcast.com

In this deeply moving episode, Dr. Patty and Lizzie sit down with Jessica Malmberg, LMFT, a licensed marriage and family therapist who brings both professional expertise and lived experience to supporting families through miscarriage, stillbirth, infant loss, and fertility struggles.

This conversation is medicine for anyone navigating perinatal loss, supporting someone who is, or healing from childhood grief that was never fully witnessed. We explore how grief lives in the body, how it shapes our parenting, why rituals matter, and how nature, community, and attachment all play vital roles in metabolizing loss.

In This Episode We Explore:

1. Why perinatal loss is uniquely painful: the invisibility of grief when others never met your baby
2. How to support children through sibling loss
3. The power of play therapy and sand tray work for kids processing death
4. Why anniversaries are so potent — and how to plan rituals around them
5. How attachment styles shape the way we grieve
6. The difference between isolating and intentional solitude in grief work
7. The myth that "being fine" is the goal — and why metabolizing grief requires both constriction and expansion

Favorite Episode Ideas

"Grief needs to be digested, like compost! It mixes with everything. We're starving from those nutrients. Composting grief can actually feed us."

"Our DNA is made for a village. That's how we're supposed to heal."

About Our Guest

Jessica Malmberg, LMFT, is a trauma-informed psychotherapist with over 25 years in the healing arts and extensive training in grief work with Francis Weller. She specializes in supporting women and families through miscarriage, stillbirth, infant loss, and fertility challenges. An infant loss survivor herself, Jessica integrates brain spotting, co-created grief rituals, and depth-oriented approaches to help clients restore grounding, meaning, and presence. She offers therapy, grief retreats, and professional trainings in Northern California and online.

Links & Resources

→ Jessica's website: https://jessicamalmberg.com

→ Follow Jessica on Instagram: @jessicamalmbergtherapy

→ Francis Weller's work on communal grief rituals

→ Sacred Treehouse programs: https://sacredtreehouse.org

If this episode spoke to you, please leave a review and share it with someone who might need to hear that their grief is valid, their baby mattered, and healing is possible — not by rushing through, but by allowing the depth.