Friends, this is our sweet John Shepherd! He arrived one week ago today, on Tuesday, July 31 at 12:06pm. He was a bit longer and skinnier than June, measuring 7 pounds, 3 ounces and 20 inches long. We will call him Shepherd or Shep :)

Our prayer throughout this pregnancy was for a healthy delivery, a healthy baby, and a healthy mama. We graciously received all three, and have been delighted by God’s goodness to us in all things since then. Shep is a dream, June has been the best big sister and most patient girl, and John — well, as always, he makes it all possible and everything more fun. I can’t wait to share more, especially about his name – hopefully later this week!

Thank you, as always, for all of your love, friends! We love you!

I’m writing this post a few days early, because, friends, we will almost certainly have a new baby in our family by the time you read this! Holy moly! I look forward to introducing you all soon, after we’ve had a chance to get acquainted ourselves :) In the meantime, here’s what we have planned for month one with our newest addition, and a few things I’m loving right now!

On my calendar this month:
— Welcoming our new baby!! And that’s about it :)

What I’m loving right now:
— This peach and blackberry crumble is PERFECT for the heat of summer – one of my favorite desserts! We like to make it in an 8×8 pan and top it with vanilla bean ice cream.
— I enjoyed this article in the NY Times about JOMO, and thought their suggestions were more practical than most. I’ll be interested to see if the tech companies follow through on their recent promises!
— I’m not a big fan of most current TV shows, but Netflix’s Puffin Rock is a HUGE exception. It is the sweetest, most gentle and beautiful little gem of a show about an Irish puffling and her friends. Thankfully, it is June’s favorite, too! Highly recommended!

What I read in July:
— Love and Logic Magic for Early Childhood: While this book was not bad, I’d definitely recommend the original L&L — it’s more comprehensive, written better, and easily applicable to earlier years
— On Becoming Babywise: Skimmed through this for a review!

Revisiting my goals for July:
Actually get the basics ready for a new baby: buy newborn diapers, pack a hospital bag, install car seat base, get out the Rock and Play, set up the changing pad…
Make progress on nursery: have room painted, replace light fixture, plan curtains with Aunt Nan, buy crib, finish framing art, choose pillow shams for bed…
Finish organizing baby boy clothing
Edit June in June, Volume 3! (Moving to August!)
Take an evening neighborhood walk any day we’re home and the weather is good (We did such a good job with this!)
Finish all outstanding areas on my 2018 Great House Declutter list
Plan newborn photos (Graham is taking them again and I am so grateful!!)

August goals:
— Edit June in June, Volume 3 (I finally chose the song, which is often the hardest part!)
— Newborn photo session with Graham
— Replace fan in nursery (we bought this one and need to install it!)
— Hang art in nursery
— Cull and edit all 2018 iPhone photos
— Family worship, especially in weeks we can’t get to church
— Daily walks, as the weather allows
— Decide on format for monthly baby photos
— Watch About Time again :)

If you have goals for the month (or something you’re loving right now!), I’d love to hear in the comments!

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My love for both my family’s summer cottages in Maine and the book The Tech-Wise Family are by now well-documented, but it wasn’t until our most recent visit that I figured out the connection between the two. While in my everyday life, it can feel like a fight to implement the author’s Ten Tech-Wise Commandments*, in Maine, they are a natural way of life. That’s why our time there feels like such a breath of fresh air, and it’s just one of the many reasons why I’m so grateful for this beautiful place! Here are a few photos from our time up North this year, if you’d like to see!

We made our first visit to the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens, and they were AMAZING! We hardly scratched the surface of what they have available for kiddos after several hours. Highly recommended!!

Another highlight was a beach day on the Island with my grandma (June’s great grandma!). Such a treat to spend time with her!!

Ahhhh… the best view in the world. Until next year, friends!

*In case you’re wondering what the commandments are, here you are the ones most relevant for our time in Maine:
1. We develop wisdom and courage together as a family.
2. We want to create more than we consume, so we fill the center of our home with things that reward skill and active engagement.
3. We are designed for a rhythm of work and rest, so one hour a day, one day a week, and one week a year, we turn off our devices and worship, feast, play, and rest together.
4. We wake up before our devices do, and they “go to bed” before we do.
5. We aim for “no screens before double digits” at school and at home.
6. We use screens for a purpose, and we use them together, rather than using them aimlessly and alone.
9. We learn to sing together, rather than letting recorded and amplified music take over our lives and our worship.
10. We show up in person for the big events of life. We learn how to be human by being fully present at our moments of greatest vulnerability.

Happy Friday, friends! We are counting down the days until baby brother’s arrival, so thank you for your patience as I’ve navigated these last few weeks!

Today, I am SO excited to share with you our new backyard!! This was definitely one of those “reveals” where it’s tempting to just wait one more month and then another month, after we’d finished this or that was blooming, but the truth is that a landscape project is ALWAYS evolving and changing – after all, it’s a project that’s literally growing! At this point, the major elements are all in place, and I’d love to have the chance to share it with you!

For those friends just joining us, this is a project that was many years in the making. As two people who grew up with expansive yards (that’s just how we do it in New England), our yard was a pretty big disappointment when we moved in. Not only was it tiny, but it just wasn’t very usable. The previous owners had done literally nothing with it – no plantings, no hardscaping, etc. Accordingly, we spent zero time back there our first few years in the house. A few before photos:

Deteriorating deck, sad grass, old stumps, barren wasteland of a lower right corner: check, check, check, check.

With an interior that only needed furnishing, we knew we’d eventually want to invest some money in improving the backyard. June’s impending arrival lit a fire under us, though it still took us until after her first birthday to break ground.

I’ll be honest – this was NOT an inexpensive project. In fact, it cost more than my first car (!!!). We used a big chunk of savings we had set aside, and we were also so grateful to be able to put some money from my grandmother towards it. Naturally, spending such a large amount of money was challenging and a bit nerve-wracking for us.

Having had a year to live with the improvements, however, I can confidently say that I am SO happy we chose to spend the money in this way. It transformed a part of our house that was a negative into a major positive, and changed our daily habits in wonderful ways. Not only does our backyard now look beautiful, but it’s already served as the backdrop to so many family and friend memories. That is the kind of consumption I’m happy to take part in.

Ready to take a peek? Here we go!!

The first major changes were to remove two trees, the deck, and a concrete stair pad. The tree removal was necessary to grade the lawn and create more usable space, two of our main goals, but it was still painful for this tree lover.

Grading the lawn came next, then building the stairs, setting the patio, and constructing the retaining wall. Our contractors also built the arbor and laid new sod.

From there, it was up to us! Over the last year, we’ve added a few plantings, rebuilt our veggie bed, strung string lights, and added patio furniture and a fire pit to move closer to our vision for this space.

Ahh, much better!! To recap, our priorities were: more privacy; more usable, flat lawn space; L-shaped stairs leading down from the house, good for perching; a pergola; a flagstone patio with space for a dining table and fire pit; and string lights! I’m so happy to say we got all of these things and more!

Let’s talk about the furniture for a minute. It’s all from World Market, and while I’m happy with how it looks (and with the price!), I do not expect it to last forever. The table surface is already showing wear after one year, so I expect we will likely only get 3-4 years out of it. But that’s okay – we weren’t able to invest more last summer, and we wanted to be able to use the space right away! I am prone to holding off on purchases forever, waiting for the perfect piece I’ll have for the rest of my life, and while generally I think this is a good approach, sometimes it’s more important to just choose something and get on with it!

So far in the back bed we have a Golden Celebration rose in honor of our kitty Jack, two gardenias, and two hydrangeas. (The hydrangeas might need to move, as they hate getting blasted by the afternoon sun.) We also have a thriving elephant ear in the corner that somehow survived our whole backyard getting torn up (we planted it several years before this project and did not expect it to survive!). We also planted two teeny jasmine plants on either side of the pergola/privacy fence, and with the way jasmine grows, I am eagerly anticipating them exploding into a gloriously-smelling arch sometime next summer! Next year, we hope to fill in the back bed with even more plants, and eventually add more potted plants on the steps like my inspiration photos.

One of our main goals with this project was to increase how private our backyard felt (we were starting from basically zero, so it was only onwards and upwards from there!). I’m so happy that we accomplished that thanks to a few changes. The most significant was replacing our deck with a patio, so that we were no longer up on a platform when we were eating outside, but beneath the level of the fence. The pergola and plantings also help.

Of course, our biggest and most important goal was to create a space where we all loved spending time, especially June. Throughout the last year, we’ve seen that dream come to life, and we are so grateful!!

There you have it, friends! I hope the tour was worth the wait! :)

I’m curious to hear, if you live in a space with a yard: has the outside or inside of your house been more of a priority? We held off for five years on this work, but are so glad we took the plunge when we did!