September 2021 goals

August was a great month, but not a great month for blogging or goals :) And that’s okay! I soaked up time with our big girl before she headed to kindergarten, adjusted to John going back to work, and began to feel out new rhythms now that it’s just Annie and me during the day.

This month was wildly fun and tender and sweet and emotional (kindergarten!!), and all of it seemed to require staying present on the ground under my feet in a way that the ever-connected world can make difficult. And so, for example, it turns out I didn’t log into my public Instagram account for about three weeks. Not on purpose! Three days stretched to a few more days to a few weeks as the idea of checking in even with my small and curated group of follows felt overwhelming. Dipping into the world of interpretations-of-current-events and experiences-that-are-not-my-own felt overwhelming. And, to be honest, simply not as desirable as what was right in front of me: a beautiful tiny girl, a funny little boy, and a sweet big girl (and a marvelous big guy!). That world jolts me out of my world, a world that is requiring most of my heart and focus right now.

(It also should be said that while on maternity leave, I’ve simply lost my usual window to check in: full-time newborn care leaves only pockets of time to do as I please during the day, and Instagram proved not to be my activity of choice!)

Just some thoughts I’m untangling at the start of the month :) While part of me is frustrated that I made less progress than I’d like on some things that are really important to me (ahem… June in June), I can have grace for myself knowing that I gave time to the things that are really, REALLY important to me. Our schedule will settle, videos will get filmed and edited, but, alas, babies don’t keep.

On to September!

On my calendar this month:
— The first day of fall! We’ll bake apple cider scones for our family and June’s teachers, a tradition we started five (!) years ago.
— Our ninth wedding anniversary!
— Our thrice-scheduled trip to Florida with John’s family!

What I’m loving right now:
— A friend has a random connection to get free Bogg Bags through work (!), and kindly gifted me one. I love that they stand up on their own, and think it will be perfect for the pool, beach, and road trips.
— I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: there is nothing like Madewell high-rise jeans for a post-partum gal. It feels like there are a million new styles of denim circulating right now, and most of them seem hard to pull off, but I dipped a toe into the water with these demi-boot jeans and LOVE them! My pair is on sale with only a few sizes left, but they have other washes in this style, too.
— A follow-up to John’s wardrobe post: now that he is back in the office a few days a week and wearing suits, he is loving these shoes and these shoes, which have the look of dress shoes but the comfort of sneakers! He highly recommends.

You can see all the things I’ve loved in my goal posts over the years right here!

What I read in August:
— The Vanishing Half | I thought this book was very good. The plot itself was fascinating, and some of the sentences were just stop-you-in-your-tracks beautiful.
— The Family Firm | Emily Oster’s book Expecting Better is my number one pregnancy recommendation, so I hustled to pre-order The Family Firm, and am about 75% through. It is very different from Expecting Better – it is less about data, and more about providing a framework for decision making as a parent. If you feel like you equivocate or have anxiety over making decisions for your kids or household, I think you’ll love this book! P.S. Preordering her book is a good example of my thoughts on being a patron – I love Emily’s newsletter and have relied on her advice for many years, and so preordering her book was a tangible way I could support her work and something I was so happy to do!

My reading list for 2021, if you’d like to follow along! I’m a little out of order but have read 13 out of 24 so far.

Revisiting my August goals:
Edit June in June, Volume 6
Lay out 2012 in family album
Choose scripture theme for the school year and plan and enjoy our back-to-school dinner (Little recap post coming soon!)
Prep for our Florida vacation – first road trip as a family of five!!
Take a morning walk with Annie every day the weather allows (This was such a success! A highlight of my month, even though it was hotter than hot most days. We walked together about 75% of days!)
Do a Peloton exercise every day (Also a success! I definitely did not do every day, and fell off a bit toward the end for a number of reasons, but this was a great intention to get back in the rhythm of exercise.)

September goals:
— Edit June in June, Volume 6
— Film Sheptember, Volume 3
— Lay out 2012 in family album
— Write 6-10 blog posts
— Finish our master bedroom refresh
— Do a Peloton exercise every day
— Write a thank you note every day until I’m finished with my backlog. (Eek! Still have some baby gift notes to write…)

As a reminder, many of these are drawn from my 2021 goals!

Friends, this month marks my 13th blogging anniversary! WOW and WHOA! I’m planning a few posts this month on blogging and writing – one will be an FAQ, and I’d love to answer any questions you might have! Please drop them in the comments, if you’d like. (I’ll put up an Instagram question box, too!)

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