march 2015 goals

the cutest, most important (and only complete) goal for this month. a tent for this little one year old. 

i was in serious need of some better order and organization in our house at the beginning of 2015. so, it was a real good thing when the fresh start of a new year, a cleaning and organization burst from nesting and a really powerful sermon series at church all came together for the perfect storm of motivation. its also possible that the NPR program i listened to about hoarders and their tendencies may have added in a healthy dose of fear (as in, maybe i don't need every receipt from my 9th grade ski trip.) 

we threw out and gave away more bags of stuff than i thought was possible and it felt really great. its amazing how much easier it is to not be constantly overwhelmed with papers and toys and stuff, when you have, well, less papers and toys and stuff. 

i am trying to move away from just having a clean house that looks clean from afar but is a wreck behind every door and drawer. a big theme for this year, knowing it will busy and we'll add another baby to our family, is that our lives and our home would be life giving. and its hard to do that when everything is just sort of a mess under the surface. whether its inside a closet or inside my heart, i don't want things that look better on the outside than the inside. 

so, in the spirit of trying getting my house and heart in order, i started making monthly goals for myself at the beginning of each month. i've just written them down in my journal the last few months, but its been really helpful to have something on paper to work towards. 

and now, half way into this month, with lots of knowledge and grace that many of these things may not get done, here are some march goals:


life

- clean out the nursery closet and finish organizing the room.
- get baby monitor/car seat/etc. down from the attic and make sure things are working/replace what isn't.
- special one on one time with each girl before we add another baby girl into the mix.
jared is really great at taking our girls out, but sometimes i forget that i can do that, too. i'm with them most of the time, but i really want to plan something that's special and intentional just for them. 
- finish our taxes
- potty train olive
we'll see about this one. she is so uninterested and anytime i use the "big girls go on the potty" line, she just tells me she wants to be a baby. so much for the second one does it quicker than the first. 
- get coming home outfit for baby girl #3.
we have a little pair of pants that both winnie and olive wore home, so thinking we'll keep with that tradition. 

littlekind/business

- post 5 blogs this month
two down, three to go. 
-make teepee for florence's first birthday! Done!
our niece, florence, turned one this past weekend! can't wait to see them next month!
- get office completely organized.
i'm almost there. its been a long process, but i can see the light at the end of the tunnel. 
- create a small inventory of products to be able to send out in the months after baby #3.

sisters, part two.

just because i can't get enough of these two. 

nyfw and homework from a former life.

sometimes it feels like a separate life when i studied fashion in school. and really even while i was in school, i knew the route in fashion i was going to take wasn't going to be super traditional (two kids in the two years after graduating, not the most traditional "fashion route.")

we spent a lot of time researching for upcoming projects by watching runway shows and pulling out trends and design inspiration. and since this past week was fashion week in nyc, I decided to pretend like I was back in school and do a little homework.

i pinned a few of my favorite looks from some of my favorite designers. (side note: pinterest would have been really helpful in college. and that sentence alone makes me feel old.)

nyfw/littlekind pinterest board

15 books in 2015.

as soon as i could muscle my way through a chapter book, i usually had two or three going a time. i spent a lot of time with my nose in a book and while i still love to read, i've done a lot less of it in the last few years. a good bit of it has to do with having kids and having a lot less time to myself. but then there's a more embarrassing part of it that has to do with dumb television and 235 levels of  game, two dots. 

so in an effort to not let another year pass by wishing i had read more, a book list for 2015. 15 books in 2015. a short enough list that i can actually achieve it with a new baby on the way, but long enough that i can have an alternative to spending countless hours rocking a baby and playing candy crush. some i've already started, some i've heard great things about, and some that i'm hoping the reviewers of amazon won't let me down for. 

parenting/marriage.

- desperate: hope for the mom who needs to breathe
- the highly sensitive child: helping our children thrive when the world overwhelms them
- the story of marriage

spiritual growth.

- becoming myself: embracing god's dream of you
- grace for the good girl: letting go of the try-hard life
- bittersweet: thoughts on change, grace and learning the hard way
- the circle maker

littlekind.

- make it happen
- the fringe hours: making time for you
- quiet: the power of introverts in a world that cant't stop talking
- bird by bird: some instructions on writing and life

fiction.

- divergent
- this is where i leave you

memoirs and tina fey.

- in the land of blue burqas
- bossypants

snow day!

today is cold, real cold. we had a few snow days this week. well, more accurately, we had a few ice days this week. but when you only get a few days a year when it's somewhat white outside, we call it snow ;)

 

we keep our blankies close. 

                       

and wear our pajamas.

valentine's and the mom that i'm not.

i'm reading a book with a group of moms that have young kids called "desperate: hope for the mom who needs to breathe."  we read a chapter recently that was about what kind of family you were and what kind you wanted to be. 

truthfully, it's a lot easier for me, when I think about our family or just me as a mom, to think about what we're not and what I'm not. and while a good bit of that is wrapped up in comparison or being overly self critical, there can be a measure of good that comes from knowing what you're not. 

like maybe if you aren't great at baking and it stresses you out, don't sign up to bring the baked goods to the school party (that would be me.) or if you're drained after spending time out or with people and need alone time to recharge, then its okay to not try and be friends with everyone, to really invest in the few people you can (that would be me, too.) and if your family isn't made up of "outdoor" people, it's okay to spend family time together watching movies (okay, okay, you get it..;)

i think its when you stay in that place of what you're not and use it to make excuses or comparisons or as way to beat yourself up, that it can be harmful. when you let what you aren't define you more than what you are. but if we can acknowledge and embrace what we aren't, we can use it to help point us to what we are. 

i thought about this as i was pacing the aisles of target last week thinking about valentines for winnie's first school valentine exchange. because, being aware of the things that i am not, i do know that our family is big on holiday and traditions. and on top of that, as a family built by two art school graduates, we really love to create things ourselves when we can. 

so, we gathered up the supplies to make some "wild about you" valentine's day cards last week. and as we stamped some cards and picked out some plastic animals, i thought about who we were as a family. 

the things that we are and the things we are not. 

 homemade valentines and store bought cookies. 

sisters.

i didn't grow up with sisters of my own, so getting to experience the bond between the two of them is something special.

valentines or opposite day.

we have a long running joke now that goes something like this...

we'll be talking or i'll think of a show/movie/band that i was really into in, say high school or college and every single time i ask jared if he liked them, he'll say something like "oh, yeah, they were my favorite in 6th grade." we're only a few months apart age-wise and although he has older siblings, he's also seemed to be one (or ten) steps ahead. 

we met in college, art school to be exact. it probably wasn't until the end of high school that i realized i wanted to do something in the art field. up until that point i had thought about social work or something that fit better with my "i like to memorize facts" mind. jared had been drawing since he was little boy and making videos with his friends all through school. he's always known what we wanted to do. 

i really like to follow rules and get a little panicky if i know i'm breaking one. even those small, probably shouldn't be a rule rules (i know, it's annoying.) jared has more of a rules are guidelines approach. he's honorable and does what is right, but doesn't let the rules of how things are supposed to be done stop him from what he has his mind set on doing. 

i tend to be careful and analytical and in my own head. i like to think through the 352 ways something could unfold (go wrong) before i move forward. jared is quick to respond and react and doesn't get worried or stressed over most anything.

and sometimes it feels like it would be easier, if we started out more on the same page, if we were maybe a little more similar. 

but the Lord knew what he was doing, imagine that. because i know that i've grown so much more as a person and a wife and a mom because of the way that my husband does things differently that i do. he challenges me to see things differently.

so, today, i am thankful for my early adopter husband that let's me pretend i have any clue what song/band/movie he is talking about (also, thanks Jesus for google, i can pretend i know what movie or person he's tweeting about.) i'm thankful the Lord knew that maybe he'd need a little help grounding himself and i would need a lot of help getting out of my shell and my head. i'm thankful that the Lord can take two really different people and make something beautiful.

and jared, your four girls think you're the best. thanks for making my life and their little lives an adventure. 

west elm thanks + giving pop up

back in march of this year, i had the opportunity to sell for a day at west elm during a west elm + etsy pop up shop and it's happening again!

this time, it's called the thanks + giving pop up shop and it helps to benefit the st. jude children's hospital. if you're a charlotte local and are free on saturday from 4-8pm, head down to west elm for live music, local vendors and holiday treats. it's going to be great. 

see you there!

love week 2014

love week has officially come and gone, but the impact on our community and our family is far from over. love week is a week in our church where we go above and beyond the other 51 weeks of serving and giving. there are events practically around the clock for over a 100 different outreach partners.

teaching our girls to looking beyond themselves and help others is super important to me. i still remember one christmas, my dad hearing on the news that toy donations were low, took our whole family to toys r us for a shopping spree. we went in, went on a toy shopping spree and left them in the donation bin.

i want my girls to have memories like that and that means it has to start with me. to raise them to be generous and compassionate,  i need to be generous and compassionate. and really, they may not fully grasp everything we're doing, but that's okay. at this point in their lives, i figure if nothing else, they are learning that helping others is just part of what they do (even if we have to have conversations about why they can't take the toys home for themselves.)

one of the first events we helped with was packing little care kits for the homeless in our city. things like nail clippers and granola bars and band aids are a practical way to give someone hope. the girls loved being helpers and collecting everyone's finished bags.

probably my favorite kid friendly event was one our group hosted and i was able to do a few times throughout the week. it's a ministry called bright blessings and it provides homeless and transient children with a birthday celebration. they say that they've found a huge number of children they talk with have never had someone celebrate their birthday. and bigger than toys and cake, having someone celebrate your birthday means you're seen and valued. it gives them something to look forward to.

families and young kids can volunteer by wrapping presents, decorating wrapping paper or placemats (great for really little ones), putting together party favors, and so much more. if you want to volunteer during the year, you can check out events here.

it was a really incredible week, but it doesn't have to stop. we can carry the same love and generosity all year, whether at a planned event or not. i know i always feel challenged at the end of love week to open my eyes to the ways i can love and serve the people around me.

and because it's sometime just easier to show you (and because i am a big fan of the team that created this ;), i'll let you see for yourself. 

The Sights and Sounds of Love Week from Elevation Church on Vimeo.

naps, wineskins and staff advance

"enlarge the place of your tent, and let the curtains of your habitations be stretched out; do not hold back; lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes. for you will spread abroad to the right and to the left, and your offspring will possess the nations and will people the desolate cities."

isaiah 54:3

the last six summers, for a few days in july, jared and i have had the honor of being apart of meeting with all the staff and spouses of our church for our annual staff advance. the theme this year was "stretch marks" and it was all about the skills it takes to allow yourself to grow and stretch and how we do it together as a church. there was so much wisdom and it really hit a nerve that i feel like the Lord has been speaking to me lately.

a few days before, i had been reading a chapter from a book called "loving the little years: motherhood in the trenches" by rachel jankovic. it's a short book with chapters that read more like devotionals and it is so helpful.

the first time i read it there was a paragraph that stood out. it was right around winnie's second birthday and she was determined to quit naps. getting her to slow down and stay in her room took nothing short of a miracle (and that miracle wasn't coming.) 

in the chapter, she's talking about change in your routine and growth spurts in your home and your children and she says:

"whenever this happens, this ambiguous restlesstness in the house, i try to think of it as a growth spurt. it is like all my children have a growth spurt at the same time and develop new needs. this is only a problem when mom doesn't have a growth spurt herself . it's even more of a problem when mom refuses to have one and demands that everyone else gets back into clothes that are too tight. just like the wine and the wine skins, you can't make the old schedule work with the new needs. naps, when filled with children who no longer need them, crack open and make a big mess."

since we were very literally going through the same scenario at the time it stuck out to me, but over time it stayed with me. the picture of my resistance to growth looking like the wineskins that jesus talks about in luke 5:37-38:

"and no one pours new wine into old wineskins, otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. no, new wine skins must be poured into new wineskins."

as we move on to new stages and settle into what is "normal" at each stage of life, it is so easy for me to get comfortable and to want to go back to "old wineskins." and being comfortable makes growth a foreign object, something that like a virus that we fight against.

and the thing is my kids aren't just growing physically. sure, there are physical hurdles to get over, like learning to live in days without naps. but truthfully, for me, the most stretching things go beyond naps and pacis and things that seem more concrete.

like, what about when i realize that my child's strengths line up right with my weaknesses. the things that come so naturally to her are so many of the things that i feel like i am still grasping to learn. and in order to help her grow into who the Lord made her to be, i'm going to have to do a lot of growing, too.

 i have to choose that growing and having some stretch marks is far better than not growing and eventually bursting open.

so, with lots of grace, i want to grow well.

new york shopping.

last christmas, jared gave me a really generous gift of some money set aside just to spend on shopping when we were in nyc.
(side note: we actually did this with most of the money we took on the trip. set it aside outside of our account, so that when vacation came around it didn't feel like a chunk of money was leaving our account. mental note to do that again, much less stress when i am supposed to be relaxing.)

we spent a lot of our trip walking around and eating and walking around and shopping and walking around.
it's always a treat with two kids when i spend money on clothing for myself, so it was fun to get a few new things.

we walked around anthropologie and i got this top and dress. the dress i wore on our actual anniversary dinner. and both were on major sale, so even better. 

clovelly peplum top // tonnelle dress
this j.crew shirt (and the madewell stuff below it) has been one of my favorite summer mom outfits without being a summer mom outfit.

vintage cotton tee

madewell can sometimes be a little pricey, but you can catch some really great sales and the price has reflected the quality so far in anything i've bought. also, the shorts remind me a little bit of the cheerleading shorts we all wore in middle school and high school (even though we never did cheerleading.) just a lot better and without weird phrases written across the back.

track shorts // shape study earrings

we knew we wanted to bring home the girls something special and on our last day walking around the city, we were having lunch across from this little store in chelsea. it was so cute inside and we picked out a little dress for each of them. 

my little sunshine

we got the dress on the left in pink for olive and the other dress for winnie. they are both made my a company, siaomimi. really cute stuff.

all in all, it was a great weekend!

new york city.

a few weeks ago, for our five year anniversary, we took a long weekend trip to new york city. we hadn't been out of town just the two of us...no babies, no pregnancy, no work since, well....our honeymoon.

the girls and i got really sick right before we left and i actually ended up getting pneumonia. it was a long two weeks of sickness that lasted right up until we left. but thanks to lots of medicine and rest and a doctor clearing me to travel, the morning we left we felt like this...

we stayed a the roger hotel and i can not describe to you how amazing the terrace off our room was. new york, outside and that high up, feels a lot different and more peaceful than the manic city right below it. we spent the last night there with takeout and a view of the empire state building.

on the actual day of our anniversary we spent the day walking around and shopping and eating. a few of my favorite things. also, there were a group of men playing ping pong in bryant park, so clearly jared needed to stop and watch awhile.

on the night of the anniverary, we ate dinner at butter and went to the broadway show, once. i fell in love with the movie and the music when it came out in college and the show did not disappoint. 

the next day we walked up through central park and stopped at two super important landmarks, the fountain that giselle danced around in enchanted and the balto statue. i am pretty sure winnie expected us to actually run into giselle and balto while we were there. 

we had brunch at the boathouse in central park. so good. 

we ended up at the museum of natural history. jared loved seeing all the fossils and i had forgetten how beautiful all the animal displays were. also, little teepees. 

we walked around so much that day. and we're usually not great about taking pictures together (or correction, i just can't ever seem to be not awkward in pictures) but we sucked it up and took a few together. baby steps.

we left later in the day on sunday so we were able to spend the morning at hillsong nyc. carl lentz preached a great message and it was fun being able to see community and church taking place in the center of a city like nyc.

oh, don't mind us, just practicing our picture taking/selfie skills.

as much as i love nyc and loved our weekend away, we were ready to get back to our life at home and our girls. and nothing makes you want to go home more than spending six hours waiting for a delayed plane.

until next time, nyc!