A viral spray-tan mishap, Thursday night dinners with her sister, and regular strength workouts—Eden Schuette’s Instagram bio reads “normal ass girl,” and she lives up to it. She’s refreshingly genuine, self-deprecating in the best way, and funny without trying. Now, just ten weeks into life with her new baby, she’s bringing that same honesty and humor to motherhood.

We caught up with her to hear how she’s feeling as a first-time mom, the story behind her camp-themed baby shower, and what’s been surprising, sweet, and challenging about life with baby August. Enjoy. 

Name: Eden Schuette
Children: August, 10 weeks old 
Location: Milwaukee, WI
Occupation: Director of Communications for the Rachael’s Good Eats brands

You’re a first-time mom—Congratulations! How are you feeling?

Thank you! Overall, I’m feeling great. Now at ten weeks postpartum I feel like I really have a grasp on a routine for both my baby and myself. We’re starting to get longer stretches of sleep and more consistent naps during the day, and wow, does that make me feel like a complete human again!! So far my daughter, August, has been pretty easy-going and she makes life so so sweet. Motherhood is so intense right off the bat and I’m sure it only continues that way, but as cheesy as it sounds, I just can’t believe I ever lived without my girl.

You had one of the cutest and most fun baby showers maybe ever? Tell the people about it!

My parents have a very woodsy property right on the river in my hometown. Their home is my favorite place in the world, and where my husband and I got married two years ago. We had a camp themed couple shower there a few weeks before our wedding, so it only felt right to take our friends and family “back to camp” for our baby shower. My younger sister and I were always obsessed with the movie The Parent Trap, and we wanted it to have that feel.

My sister, Anna, and my mom did most of the planning and they are just incredible and have such an acute sense of what makes a party fun. Everybody was greeted with a “bag lunch” and a cocktail served in a baby bottle as they arrived at the shower. At camp check in we had our first game—guess when the baby would be born, the gender, weight, length, and name.

From there we went into a group relay race that was so so fun and hilarious to watch. Anna and I dreamed up all the different stops for the relay race one night and we couldn’t stop laughing as we were making it up so we knew it would be fun. After that we served dinner, had a fire and had a few more games distributed on the tables for people to participate in as the night went on.

I LOVE having a couples shower—it’s so fun to celebrate with all the people in our lives who love us!

You ended up having an unplanned C-section—thoughts and feelings about it?

Having an unplanned C-section after nearly 24 hours of labor was not the birth that I had dreamed of or planned for. At first, my birth felt like a failure. I was hoping for an unmedicated birth and I had prepared my mind and body for that throughout my pregnancy. In the weeks following, as I recovered from that major surgery, I spent a lot of time contemplating all the “what ifs” and tried to figure out where it all went wrong.

And now with a bit more perspective, I’m just so so incredibly grateful for my birth. I feel like my unplanned C-section was my first lesson in motherhood—you can plan like hell, and have every little detail mapped out, and all the willpower in the world to execute it, but ultimately the strongest thing you can do is surrender.

I continue to be humbled by all the things that don’t go to plan with a newborn. It’s challenging, yet also a wonderful reminder that all I can do is try my absolute best and trust that it will all unfold the way it should.

Something unexpected about motherhood so far?

This might be TMI (lol) but during the first few weeks of breastfeeding I was squirting milk across the room at certain points. I have a really fast let down and at times it overwhelmed my daughter, she would unlatch, and I would be left with a squirt gun situation. I had NO idea that was possible and it was so crazy to experience and quite inconvenient if we were in public.

What’s something about motherhood that’s been better than you imagined?

This might sound crazy, but the overnight feedings are some of the sweetest moments. Everybody talks about the crazy sleepless nights with a newborn, and while that’s true, it was not as bad as I thought it was going to be. There’s something about everything being quiet and calm and rocking my baby back to sleep in the middle of the night, knowing how many other mothers are probably awake doing the exact same thing. Don’t get me wrong, sometimes the lack of sleep is overwhelming. But those sweet little smiles in the middle of the night and feeling my baby's breath on my neck as she drifts off to sleep will be the happy place I go to in my mind for many many years.

What about harder?

Right now, it’s been really hard to find a new balance in my life as I return to work. Where do moms find the time to work, be with their baby, breastfeed, exercise, do laundry, and cook? I can do MAYBE two of those things on any given day. I’m finding it hard to integrate my new life as a mom with the routines I had in my pre-pregnancy life, and always battling the clock (I need more hours in a day!)—it’s a journey and I am adjusting as I go!

What’s your feeding journey been like?

The first day that my milk came in, I didn’t think breastfeeding was going to work for us. It took us time to get the hang of it, and was not the intuitive and natural connection that I assumed it would be right off the bat. I also have an extremely fast letdown, and a slight over supply that made it challenging for my daughter and I during the first few weeks. I was determined to stick with it and I’m so glad I did, now it’s much easier and so sweet!

Three items you’ve been loving during the fourth trimester:

1. Baby carriers! I cannot get anything done without baby wearing.
2. The Baby Bjorn bouncer seat. I love to put August in it while I cook, eat, fold, laundry, etc. She loves it!
3. Magnetic Me sleepers. I unfortunately broke three of my fingers at seven weeks postpartum, and the magnetic sleepers made everything so much easier for me!

What Solly products do you already have and what are you currently eyeing?

I have The Wrap and The Swaddle! OBSESSED with both, used both from day 1!! I’ve been tempted to order crib sheets and I’m loving the new fall prints for wraps!

Rapid-fire q’s!

Drink of choice: spindrift lemon
Favorite sans-baby activity: Reformer Pilates
Motherhood topic you could talk about forever: labor and delivery! I love hearing other mothers experiences.
Post-bedtime with baby snack: Trader Joe’s dark chocolate peanut butter cups, or Purely Elizabeth granola with almond milk