August chats…but in the beginning of September? What day is it even? Life is cray and August went by faster than a shower with my 2 year old banging on the door. But a lot has happened this month! August has been big.
Let’s chat about it!
What I’ve Loved
Tailwind Pre-publishing: (precursor, this isn’t even an affiliate link, I just love Tailwind enough to SHOUT IT FROM THE ROOFTOPS.) I’ve been using Tailwind for years for Pinterest, but I juuuuust started using it for Instagram, and it’s changing the game. It allows me to schedule every single Instagram post for the entire week. Why is that awesome? Because I can knock them all out in one sitting and then be more present with my kids the rest of the week instead of living on Instagram. But all the while, still maintaining a social media presence (which is v important for the blog).
Church this past Sunday: We walked away from church this week both saying that it was the best sermon we’ve heard in a long time. The short gist: remain desperate for God in the good times, not just the bad. People tend to draw closer to their faith during times of hardship and then pull back when things are good because they don’t “need God” as much. His line was “You will sustain success when you maintain desperation.” Goooooood, good stuff.
NEW SCHEDULE FOR THE KIDS: Sorry for screaming at your eyes, but this has been absolutely life altering. And it all circles around one concept: waking Colt up in order to manipulate the schedule for the day. Before this, the kids were on basically opposite nap schedules, making it very difficult to do much of anything out of the house (my kids aren’t easy on-the-go sleepers). We made it work, but it was a challenge and often felt like we were chained to the house. Now here’s what we do:
- Colt wakes up at 6:30 or before. If he doesn’t wake up by then on his own, we wake him up. Dear GOD if you told me a month ago I was going to be doing this I would have been like whaaaa, never wake a sleeping baby!
- Ford wakes up whenever because his schedule doesn’t change regardless of when he wakes up in the morning.
- Colt goes down for a nap at about 8:45 and is asleep by 9 at the most, usually it’s faster than that.
- I wake Colt up at 10:30 at the latest, sometimes even a little bit earlier, and then we are out. I wake him up from this nap almost every day – he rarely wakes himself up in time.
- WE LEAVE THE HOUSE and go do super fun things every. single. day, and I pack lunch to bring with us. Stuff like the picture above! We hiked trails and and played in a creek ❤️. Ford goes down at 1, Colt goes down at about 1:30 or 2, and I get a solid chunk of time when they’re both napping.
Why this is absolutely amazing: Ford and I do our thing until 10:30, and then we are able to get a solid few hours out of the house doing super fun activities, which is great for ALL of us! They both go down at the same-ish time for their afternoon naps, giving me a blissful break. Y’all, this has literally been the best thing that’s happened since workout pants became an acceptable outfit to wear on a daily basis.
Busy Toddler Activities: 👆🏼 If you don’t follow the Instagram account, @busytoddler and you have kids, you NEED TO MAKE SOME ADJUSTMENTS TO YOUR LIFE, PEOPLE. I have been doing these a ton lately, specifically those mornings I just talked about where we’re hanging until 10:30 am. Things like pouring stations, sensory bins, bubble foam, etc…LOVE.
THE START OF FALL. This one speaks for itself. I count September 1st as fall, and I don’t want to hear any arguments about that, danget! I’m living for it.
What’s Been Hard
Sleeeppppp Traaaiiinnninggg: Little Colt is still waking up twice a night to eat, and he too old for that, fam. So we’ve started some night time sleep training. Not straight up cry it out, but some crying. It’s the Ferber method, if you’re familiar with that. But, we did it for a week or two and then he got and ear infection so we stopped…we are starting back up tonight. GOD BLESS OUR SOULS.
Speaking of ear infections….EAR INFECTIONS: Colt has had 3 – THREE – ear infections in 3 months. The criteria for a consult with an ENT specialist is 4 infections in 6 months, and he’s had 3 in 3 months if that helps give you an idea of how bad it is with him. So he will probably need to get tubes in his little ears. Poor babes.
Double stomach bugs: Yeah…ittttt was the worst day ever. Colt got a stomach bug, and then three days later Ford and I got it…on the same day. Both of us had it together. Taking care of your sick baby while sick is a new form of torture, and watching your sweet little 2 year old who doesn’t understand what is happening throw up every half hour for 7 hours…wow. It was rough. Thank God Seth has a job that lets him work from home when need be or else I’m not sure how we would have survived it. Sounds dramatic…but it was lol.
Our Cousins’ Loss: And now the paragraph that makes the previous three not matter in the slightest…Seth’s cousins (my cousins-in-law?) lost their sweet six day old baby boy, Josiah, this month. I flew out to Indiana for the funeral, and it was nothing short of heartbreaking in the deepest sense of the word. Watching them mourn was seeing an image of pure grief in its most intense form. Hold your babies tight and keep the families who can’t in your hearts and prayers.
What Else Has Been Goin’ On?
We moved! It’s official, we are moved in, and it feeeellllllsss goooooodddd. We can really settle in here since we know this is where we will be for the indefinite future.
New appliances! We just bought a new dishwasher, washer, and dryer this past week. It was an intensely dramatic installation process that kept us up until 1 am and really tested our patience with each other 😂. It was honestly one of the craziest nights ever where EVERYTHING that could go wrong did…too long of a story for this already long post. BUT, they are now in and are beautiful and work super well. So yay.
Ford’s birthday party! His birthday was in July, but we had his party in August. It was car themed and precious…here’s a few pics 👇🏼
August Recipe Recaps!
We were in the full swing of summer recipes this month, and we were LIVING FOR IT. I’m ready for fall, but I’ve sooooo enjoyed all this summer food. Here are our faves from the blog this month:
Scallops over Curry Carrot Puree
Summery, amazing, flavorful, and all dance-around-your-kitchen worthy! That Tom Collins, thooooo. Perfection.
What to Make in September
What’s in season in September:
Apples
Carrots
Brussels Sprouts
- Pecan Bacon Brussels Sprouts with Sweet Cider Vinaigrette
- Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Mustard Sauce and Charred Shallots
I hope your August was fantastic, and I hope you are PUMPED ABOUT FALLLLLLL!!! Woop!
You have the cutest kids! Enjoy while they are still so cuddly. My 4 year old god son is getting an attitude which is awesome since it means he’s developping his own personality but i miss those big unconditional hugs
Stay safe, i hope hurrican dorian doesn’t get close
Thank you so much Bella! I am trying to soak it all up while they’re teeny-tiny!