It’s crazy to think that this time last month, we hadn’t met our second daughter yet, and now, she’s here! It has been the sweetest month, marked by several moments – reading to all three kids on the bed, taking our first car ride as a family of five – when I’ve had the sweetest (that word again! It’s the only one that fits!) feelings of completion, wholeness, and happiness. Just a few weeks in, five feels just right, and I am so grateful.
On my calendar this month: — All things kindergarten! We are looking forward to a neighborhood breakfast for rising kindergartners, a popsicles with the principal event, and of course, the first day of school! — Our newborn photos with Graham! Still need to choose those outfits :)
What I’m loving right now: — My friend Kayte Fry makes genius-level charcuterie boards, and we were lucky enough to have a breakfast-themed one delivered by her crew! (Above!) Locals can order through her Instagram here. — After borrowing a Nap Dress for our family photos, I finally pulled the trigger on ordering my own a few weeks ago. It was not inexpensive, but once I de-precioused it in my mind and decided it’s just a part of my wardrobe that’s meant to be worn, it has been glorious. I have worn it 2-3 times a week since Annie was born, and yes, I have indeed napped in it. I highly recommend it for pregnancy and post-partum, and I assume just normal life, too :) — I thought this review of research showing what parenting practices were common in families where young adults remained in the faith was fascinating. All the more reason to blast Mission House!
You can see all the things I’ve loved in my goal posts over the years right here!
What I read in July: — American Royals | I forgot that this novel is YA, but once I adjusted my expectations, it was enjoyable! I thought the characters were memorable and the concept creative. Talk about a cliffhanger, though! Basically none of the storylines wrapped up by the end of the book, leading me to add the sequel to my hold requests… — The Self-Driven Child | Holy cow I LOVE THIS BOOK! I am on a streak of fantastic non-fiction and this one is no exception. I’ve been taking notes for a book review post because it’s just that good! More to come…
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 July goals: Buy the last few things to get ready for baby girl’s arrival Finish out our Big List for baby girl Choose newborn photo outfits for baby girl and older kids Lay out 2012 in family album Prep for kindergarten Edit June in June, Volume 6 Enjoy our first few weeks with our new family member!!(Most definitely.)
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 — Prep for our Florida vacation – first road trip as a family of five!! — Take a morning walk with Annie every day the weather allows — Do a Peloton exercise every day. Stretching, yoga, weights, barre, meditation – it doesn’t matter! Just a good challenge to get back into the habit :) At the six-weeks-from-delivery mark I should be able to incorporate easy rides, too.
In July, afternoon naps won out over goal progress most days, and I can’t say that the same won’t happen in August :) Committing to just a few things, and a few daily habits, to make this a great month all around! (Naps very much included!)
As a reminder, many of these are drawn from my 2021 goals!
From the beginning, this has seemed like an off year for goals: I had a hard time naming them in January after a strong 2020, and felt a bit hobbled in sharing plans and progress before y’all knew we were expecting our third child. (And having a baby in July certainly bisects the year in an interesting way!) While I haven’t made as much progress as I might have envisioned at the beginning of 2021, I’m grateful for the opportunity to reflect on what has been accomplished – all good things! Besides, I think I heard somewhere that little by little adds up, amiright? :) Let’s take a look!
Goal no. 1: Make room for God’s presence by reading the Bible. Progress I’ve made: This goal is simple: a commitment to “Word before words,” or habit stacking reading my Bible each night before I pick up my current fiction or non-fiction read. Simple, but effective! Whether I read a few verses or multiple chapters, I have read the Bible before anything else probably 95% of evenings this year. So far, I’ve completed Mark, Acts, James, and Luke. I also read Jen Wilkin’s Women of the Word! What I hope to accomplish in the next six months: More of the same! I’d actually like to slow down and choose one shorter book (maybe James!) to read several times and apply some of Jen’s suggestions as a first go at her method.
Goal no. 2: Set joy before us. Progress I’ve made: There are so (SO) many things vying for our attention these days, and I named this goal to thoughtfully direct my eyes, heart, and effort to what is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy. It has! Though we have enjoyed new joyful things this year, this goal has also been a helpful encouragement to simply maintain some of our old standbys in the face of pregnancy tiredness and John’s injury. June and I have baked together most weeks, we traveled to Jekyll Island and Charlottesville, we celebrated Valentine’s Day with 14 days of mailbox fun, June and I had pedicures and afternoon tea, we’ve been strawberry picking and blueberry picking many times over, and I hosted a garden dinner party, among other things. What I hope to accomplish in the next six months: I would love to host my ill-fated potluck party, canceled in 2020. We’re also looking forward to traveling to Florida with all of John’s family in September, attending the Nutcracker, making our favorite summer desserts, backyard camping, hiking once John’s back on his feet, and hosting our annual pumpkins and soup party.
Goal no. 3: Do those things we’ve always wanted to do for our home. Progress I’ve made: Because we feel settled in this home for the next few years, I wanted to make a concerted effort to complete the upgrades and changes we’ve largely decided on, but haven’t pulled the trigger. Going room by room, we’ve made some progress: we’ve replaced the light fixture in our foyer, added more lighting to our family room, painted our master bedroom and switched out the curtains (and added a mirror!), and switched out the roman shade in the Magnolia Room. What I hope to accomplish in the next six months: In this time frame, I imagine baby girl will have moved into the Magnolia Room, so I’d like to have that room complete: crib in place, artwork chosen and hung, dresser replaced. I’d also like to have completed my plan for the master bedroom, which at this point includes refreshing our decorative pillows, purchasing the bed frame we’ve chosen, hanging a grid of gold frames, and purchasing a new desk chair for John. I’d also like to paint June’s room. The two other larger projects that I’m not sure will be completed but am considering are having our kitchen cabinets painted (!) and replacing the stone surround of our fireplace. This all might be wildly ambitious – we shall see!
Goal no. 4: Refresh our home. Progress I’ve made: This goal goes hand in hand with the one above, but focuses more on small, boring projects to make our space sparkle like the day we bought it. It’s not the most exciting goal, but it has been satisfying! So far, we’ve reorganized our cleaning supplies and cleaned out under our sink, cleaned off the tops of our laundry machines (a perennial dumping ground), magic erasered all the things, cleaned out our master bathroom drawers, hired out carpet cleaning, and cleaned out our pantry and a few other closets. What I hope to accomplish in the next six months: I have more cabinets and closets in my sights! Plus our main book shelf is overflowing – as is the top of our dresser – and our refrigerator could use a thorough cleaning out.
Goal no. 5: Build our family culture as we transition to an elementary-school family. Progress I’ve made: This is my catch-all goal to remind myself to focus on small ways to love my family well, intentionally nurture the character and family traits that are important to us, and make our home the most joyful, loving place to be. In the first half of the year, I’ve focused on prepping for kindergarten and for baby sister and we’ve watched June blossom into a full-fledged reader who has a soft spot for Jennie Allen’s series. We bought a new car with cash to accommodate our growing family and decided to take John’s six full consecutive weeks of parental leave. (We were debating splitting it up, but in the end, when considering what matters most to us, it was a simple decision – we will never get this time back!) We’ve also done many smaller, fun things, like post a summer calendar, take trips to the library, and grocery shop together. What I hope to accomplish in the next six months: We’ll make the official transition into an elementary-school family! We’ll also be learning new rhythms as a family of five.
Goal no. 6: Prioritize memory keeping. Progress I’ve made: I set this goal to prioritize finishing last year’s Advent calendar, completing our second and third family albums, and keeping up the rhythms of things like yearly videos and photo organization. So far, I’ve culled and sorted our 2020 photos, laid out half of our 2010-2014 photo album, took maternity family photos with Ally, and filmed June in June Volume 6. What I hope to accomplish in the next six months: Newborn photos with Graham are on the books, and Sheptember filming is slated for September. I am determined to finish the 2010-2014 album and am hoping little-by-little progress on the Advent calendar will be the perfect hands-on, pick-it-up-and-put-it-back-down activity for maternity leave! I would LOVE to have it finished by December.
Goal no. 7: Encourage each other to grow strong through cycling, strength workouts, and stretching. Progress I’ve made: What I didn’t say at the beginning of the year but can say now was that I knew this would be an unusual year for fitness, with a baby due right in the middle! Little did we know we’d have another wrench thrown into our plans with John’s injury. Progress has been inconsistent so far this year, but I’m looking forward to getting back up to speed together as I recover from birth and he from his surgery! What I hope to accomplish in the next six months: In addition to getting back into stretching and strength training rhythms, I would love to beat at least one of my PRs on the Peloton.
Goal no. 8: Make a book of the first 10 years of EFM. Progress I’ve made: I have long thought of this place as a repository of stories, memories, and wisdom for my children, and I’d like to create a physical book for them of the best posts from the first ten years of my writing here. There has been absolutely zero progress on this goal so far, ha! What I hope to accomplish in the next six months: I’d love to complete the book, but that may be a bit ambitious given a new baby and also trying to finish the Advent calendar and family photo album. If I’ve chosen a means of design and printing and got the project underway by the end of the year, I’d be happy to roll this goal into 2022.
Thanks for always cheering me on, friends! I’d love to hear how your progress on your 2021 goals has gone so far, if you’d like to share. Big or small, it’s worth celebrating!!
We’ve reached the tipping point month of our 2021! Having had another baby in July, I know firsthand the feeling of having your year bisected: there is before we’re a family of five, and there is after we’re a family of five. The weeks leading up to this point have not been the easiest (and they actually seem to be increasing in chaos as we draw closer to my due date…), but I am grateful for the little moments of peace we have had: eating dinner at twilight with friends, an uninterrupted hour of Lego play, a last date night, evening blueberry runs, porch dinners with plates balanced on our knees, reading in bed later than I should.
With everything going on, I haven’t dwelt too much on our newest family member’s arrival (beyond attending to practical concerns!). Therefore, as weird as it might sound, I am anticipating with joy checking into the hospital and having my focus 100% on one precious baby girl when her birthday rolls around. We will take all the prayers for a healthy baby and healthy delivery in the meantime! Here’s what else we have planned this month…
On my calendar this month: — Welcoming our new baby girl to the family! — Celebrating John’s and Shep’s birthdays — Celebrating the Fourth with our town’s parade and clearly some sort of patriotic dessert
What I’m loving right now: — I am at the point in this pregnancy where I have been wearing the same four outfits on repeat and am craving variety. A few things on my radar: this floaty floral dress, this jumpsuit with pockets, this pretty green dress (I know NOTHING about this company so order at your own risk, ha!), this pleated seafoam midi skirt, this punchy dotted dress, and this striped shirtdress (which would actually be good for nursing!). — We have tried out several phone tripods over the years, but never found one that’s both functional to use and convenient to tote around. Enter: the pocket tripod! It’s the size of a credit card (I keep it in my wallet so it’s always close at hand) and folds out into the neatest little tripod. Would make a perfect gift for your favorite photographer or gadget lover! — My love for everything Jenny Rosenstrach is well-documented. She and a friend (the also-illustrious Jodi Levine) recently started the sweetest Instagram account, This is Like Magic. It shares “endless ways to make someone’s day” and is exactly the kind of thing I want in my feed.
Bonus pick: you all!!!! Several of you have gifted us things off our registry for baby girl (what?!?!) and one of you offered to gift me an extra baby book you had lying around that was the exact one I was planning to order. And the rest of you leave the nicest, most thoughtful comments day in and day out. I am so grateful for each of you who chooses to be here, especially in a season like this one! Thank you, thank you, thank you!
What I read in June: — Being Mortal | I have a handful of books that I evangelize about to anyone and everyone, and this one is now absolutely included. I may end up writing a whole post about it at some point, but in the meantime, just know it is SO thought-provoking and so very worth your time to read. — The Lions of Fifth Avenue | Eh, not my favorite. It was fine, but not of the caliber I’d recommend to a friend. Evvie Drake, which I read last month, was a much better pick in a similar genre! — A Column of Fire | This is the third in the Kingsbridge series that begins with Pillars of the Earth. All three books have been exceptional – so rich, so layered of a world to sink in to! – but this was probably my least favorite of the three. Still, I loved it and would recommend the series to anyone who enjoys historical novels with multilayered plots and characters!
My reading list for 2021, if you’d like to follow along! I’m a little out of order but have read 10 out of 24 so far.
Revisiting my June goals: Print and frame a few of our maternity family photos(Done! June requested a duo for her room, we added one to baby sister’s dresser, and updated our main gallery wall.) Buy and wrap gifts for kids “from baby sister,” and shop with June for stuffie for baby sister(Done!) Execute and enjoy the garden party!(Done!! So happy we pulled this off!) Give info for our Meal Train to be set up(Done! Loved writing a post about meal trains, too!) Plan for newborn photos(Mostly done! We booked Graham, chose a date, I booked a hair cut for early in the day, and I know what I’m wearing.) Update older kiddo baby books (No progress here…) Plan ahead for John’s birthday and Shep’s birthday(Done! Gifts have been purchased and John’s ice cream cake ordered :)) Send our 2010-2014 family album to print (Not much progress here. Rolling it over!) Film June in June, Volume 6!(June is over, so filming is also over. I am definitely concerned about the quality and quantity of footage we got with all that’s going on in our lives right now, but if this year’s video is short and sweet, it is what it is.)
July goals: — Buy the last few things to get ready for baby girl’s arrival — Finish out our Big List for baby girl: wash and organize her clothing, dust off the stroller, set up the diaper changing station, set up the bassinet, pack a hospital bag… — Choose newborn photo outfits for baby girl and older kids (June was wearing leggings with holes in them for Shep’s photos, so I’d like to plan a little more ahead, ha!) — Lay out 2012 in family album (breaking the big goal down!) — Prep for kindergarten — Edit June in June, Volume 6 — Enjoy our first few weeks with our new family member!!
As a reminder, many of these are drawn from my 2021 goals!
Thank you so much, as always, for being here, friends! I adore you!
You’re pretty well up to date on what’s going on at our house these days – let’s dive into where we’re headed in June!
On my calendar this month: — Father’s Day — Blueberry picking at our favorite local farm, hopefully many times. Not sure how we will manage this with John’s mobility, but we’re determined! — Swim lessons for June at our neighborhood pool — My parents’ 40th wedding anniversary! They’ll be with us on the big day, so, along with my sisters, I want to do something to make it special.
What I’m loving right now: — This article about pandemic memories in The Atlantic is my jam, focusing as it does on the narratives we form for ourselves and how they transform the ways we move forward from hard times. “We use our memory in part to create a continuous sense of self, she told me, ‘a ‘narrative identity’ through all of life’s ups and downs: I am a person whose life has meaning and purpose. I’m more than the subject of brute forces. There’s a Story of Me.‘” — This patriotic seersucker dress is so darling I bought three of them – one sized for June to wear this year, one sized for June to wear next year, and one for baby sister to wear next year. Obsessed. Also, June wore this blue eyelet dress for her preschool graduation last week and it is also darling! — I shared this printable summer calendar from Simply on Purpose on IG yesterday. Summer days are much less predictable than they are in the school year, and with all that’s going on in our family right now, I thought it would be fun and helpful for June to see what’s going on each day, and anticipate things that are coming up! We taped it up in our hallway and so far it’s been a hit.
What I read in May: — Atomic Habits | I am 95% finished, and it’s earning its 42k (!!!) reviews. As a professional goal setter and teacher myself, it’s neat to see how his ideas dovetail with Cultivate’s, but are explained in slightly different ways. Definitely worth the read! — Evvie Drake Starts Over | Very sweet! It immediately won my heart for being set in a small midcoast Maine town, but I think any of you would find it a perfect summer beach read.
Revisiting my May goals: Order custom roman shades for the Magnolia Room(Fabric has been delivered to the seamstress – I can’t wait to see how they turn out!) Clean out the Magnolia Room dresser and closet (About halfway done! Sold some things on Marketplace, too.) Order and hang curtains for our master bedroom (I chose the ones I want, but haven’t yet placed the order! Need to confirm measurements.) Plan (and maybe hold?) the garden party(Planning is well underway – fingers crossed for good weather next week!) Make my Big List for baby girl(Done!) Research EFM book options (No progress here.) Make EFM content plan through Q3(Done!) Camp in our backyard (Didn’t get to this in May, but June is very excited to do this, so I think we’ll aim to do it in June!) Prep for trips to Charlottesville and Connecticut (Charlottesville was wonderful! So glad we got it in when we did.) Try again with the meal prep/chopping nights (I did one! Then things got derailed :))
June goals: — Print and frame a few of our maternity family photos — Buy and wrap gifts for kids “from baby sister,” and shop with June for stuffie for baby sister — Execute and enjoy the garden party! — Give info for our Meal Train to be set up — Plan for newborn photos — Update older kiddo baby books — Plan ahead for John’s birthday and Shep’s birthday — Send our 2010-2014 family album to print (this is taking WAY longer than the 2005-2009 one!) — Film June in June, Volume 6! Will be challenging with John’s hands occupied, but it will certainly capture a memorable season in our family’s life…
As a reminder, many of these are drawn from my 2021 goals!
You can see the next books in my stack at the top of this post – I’d love to hear what’s next on your list, what’s on your bedside table or in your library queue, or what you’re looking forward to reading this summer!
