Whooo! It’s my birthday TOMORROW. Year 35 both did and didn’t go as planned. At this time last year, little Jonathan was very well baking and set to arrive in July. But as I’ve said many times on here, his birth and my maternity leave was so far from anything I could have imagined a year ago.
This year has taught us a lot of really hard lessons. I thought I’d share a few of the things I’ve learned about myself over the past year.
We missed our family this Christmas. Our usual Christmas routine involves a chaotic day. It starts with Christmas at our house to open presents from Santa and our immediate little family. It’s then followed by brunch and presents with my side of the family at Mimi and Papa’s house, and then afternoon naps and Christmas dinner/presents with Nathan’s family. And we missed it this year. Especially having extra sets of hands to entertain kiddos during the day. 🙂
But we made the most of it, and had our little Christmas at home with just the four of us. Complete with Zoom calls to our families, a big brunch and ending with steaks for Christmas dinner. It was both exhausting and so much fun. Harrison really started to understand Santa this year (he comes down the chim-a-lee) and had so much fun. Here’s what our Christmas looked like this year…
Some of you have been hopping over to my little corner of the internet for over a year now. Others just wandered in and may be wondering, “Who exactly is this person?”
So let me introduce myself. I’m Lauren. I’m a 35 year old, organization and list lover, mama to two little boys, who spends my summers wandering through my backyard garden and then posting pretty flower pictures. I’m so glad you’re here!
Here are some of the questions I get asked most in blog world and over on Instagram.
If you’re new around here, every once in awhile I like to round up seven quick things that are making me laugh or melting my heart about Harrison. I imagine someday I’m going to have to start doing seven quick takes for Jonathan, but for now, he’s all sweetness, coos, and baby talk.
I love these posts and going back to read them because it’s an easy way that I can memorialize these small little bits of his personality as he grows.
-1- When Harrison greets us in the morning, including his baby brother, he says, “Nice to meet you, Jonathan!” Makes me die laughing every time. Nice to meet you too, Harrison. I’ve known you your whole life, but it’s a pleasure to meet you again this morning.
When we found out that we were pregnant with baby #2, I was so excited for Harrison. My gut feeling was that Harrison was going to be pumped to be a big bro. That he would love little baby Jonathan immensely. But I also had that anxious thought in the back of my mind of what if he turns into an insane child and can’t handle splitting the attention of mom and dad with baby brother?!
I kept speaking to my anxious heart that he would still feel loved. He would still feel important. And that having a little brother was going to be the greatest blessing to him. When I struggle with anxiety and worry, I oftentimes have to repeat to myself truth. Over, and over, and over again.
We had plans to get together with the cousins for Halloween 2020. But Saturday morning, I got a text from my sister that Cousin Evie had woken up with a cold. So, we quickly changed plans and postponed cousin Halloween until everybody was feeling better. We started Halloween weekend by carving pumpkins.
My last What’s Up Wednesday was in June! Four whole months ago! I few things have changed since then. Little Jonathan has changed our family forever. I can’t believe he’s going to be three months old on Friday. How do babies grow up so fast?!
I’m linking up with Shay and Sheaffer to share with you what’s going on in our life lately!
1: WHAT WE’RE EATING THIS WEEK:
2: WHAT I’M REMINISCING ABOUT:
Halloween’s past! We’re not doing trick-or-treating this year, but I love looking at how much Harrison has grown since his first Halloween.
When Harrison was six months old, he dressed up as Where’s Waldo?
Sunday was our sixth wedding anniversary. We celebrated by going to the pumpkin patch with the boys and cousins. 🙂 For our five year anniversary, we took a trip to New York just the two of us and had so much fun. This year, with a new baby and COVID, we got take-out sushi, popped a bottle of champagne, but switched to bourbon after one glass, and just enjoyed a dinner together after the boys were asleep.
I thought it would be fun to do a little Q&A on our last six years together with both Nathan and me. When I pitched this idea to Nathan, he was excited to finally be included in the blog. 🙂
My sweet little boy. Officially two and a half today. I’d ask how is it possible, but we all know that time has a way of stealing away. There are so many moments, little boy, that I adore being your mama. I watch you share, take care of your brother, give hugs, find joy in hanging with your people. And I sit back in awe and think to myself, I can’t believe I’m so lucky to get to witness this boy grow up.
And being two, your independent streak is showing up strong these days. Seeming to test just how far you can push your parents’ patience, and whether those limits can be bent. You seem to prefer to learn lessons the hard way – you are hard-headed and fearless. And holy smokes, I know those are traits that some day I will praise in their rightful place, but man, is it a challenge some days.
I’ve been gone from blog world for almost two months. I thought I’d only be gone for six weeks. Maybe even only four if everything went well! But like everything with life and a new baby, you just can’t really estimate what life will be like juggling two little ones instead of just one.
To make matters more interesting and challenging, because #COVID, Harrison was home with us for about a month leading up to Jonathan’s birth and for two months afterwards. This is his very first week back at daycare. I adore his daycare, and he has truly thrived there, so I was eager to get him back to his routine, his friends, and a place he really loves, but it also weighs on me these types of decisions right now. Whether he’ll be safe from coronavirus, whether we will be ok if he brings it home to us…you just can’t really know. We weighed the risks and benefits of it all, and decided that for Harrison and our family, it was best for him to go back to school. I know so many of you have had that hard decision to make this fall too, and it makes me so happy when I see other moms supporting each other and the hard decisions we make for our families. So keep it up, friends! This is a tough year and season of life, but I have no doubt that good, good things are coming.
MAKING: A whole lot of energy bites. I blogged the recipe HERE. We go through at least a full batch of these weekly right now.
