It’s pumpkin month! ANY QUESTIONS?!?
Reading
Letters to Judy by Judy Blume (3.5 stars) – advice to kids in the 80s that’s still relevant
Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation by Kristin Kobes DuMez (5 stars) – a must read that shows you the real origins of American evangelical culture, and how we got where we are today
Accidentally Engaged by Farah Heron (3.5 stars) – cute romance about two Indian-Canadian foodies
Can’t Even: How Millennials Became the Burnout Generation by Anne Helen Petersen (3 stars) – informative but depressing
Last One Out Shut Off the Lights by Stephanie Soileau (2.5 stars) – short stories set in Louisiana; well written but incredibly depressing, and also some animals are harmed, which is a no go for me; I’m impressed that I finished this
Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner (4.5 stars) – a beautiful memoir about losing a parent, with lots of hunger-inducing Korean food content
Listening
I’ve always said that I don’t get Billie Eilish in general, but I keep hearing the end of her new song on a commercial and… I really like it?!?
Watching
The Morning Show season 2 – I wasn’t sure where they would take the show after the Mitch scandal, but this season is Emmy-worthy so far IMHO. Loving the twists, the turns, and the constant notation of what day of 2020 it is, so you’re waiting for the bomb to drop.
The Way Down – Sooo many thoughts about this cult documentary. I knew about the plane crash, but had no idea who the people were. This… explains a lot. I’ll be interested to see the two new episodes next year.
Impeachment: American Crime Story – I’ve never watched any of the American ______ Story shows, but I might start based on these fantastic performances (we’re about halfway through).
Y: The Last Man – I’ve been watching this on the elliptical. I’m a few episodes in and not sure if I’ll continue, especially since I heard it hasn’t been renewed. Agent 355 is by far the most interesting thing about it.
Social Media
My sister has been on TikTok for a while and sends me links daily. I need another social like I need a hole in the head, but this month I finally caved. I figured it was less complicated to open the videos in the actual app. I promptly discovered Emily Mariko and am hypnotized by her cooking and cleaning videos. (Between her and Crying in H Mart, I have new interest in Asian cooking and hope to check out our local Vietnamese market soon.) I also love Gwen Carole, csapunch, and of course Jonathan Graziano/Noodle the Pug.
You might be a homebound new mom if you look forward to strangers’ Instagram stories. I love Mama Community Monday on Expecting and Empowered, Erin’s Tuesday Truths, and basically every day on Sharon Says So (this woman is doing the Lord’s work).
Travel
We went to Nashville for the first niece birthday party since before covid! The party was followed by a tea party at their house the next day. Fifoo is a whole mood.
I was excited for C3 to see his cousins! I think I’ve mentioned before that he and my littlest niece are only six months apart. They’re going to have so much fun together.
Around Town
Grizzlies season is here! My MIL and Taylor and I are going to try a rotation where two of us go to games and the other stays home with the baby. Cindy and I went to opening night and I felt like I got a piece of myself back. FedEx Forum has established a “vaccination or negative test” policy, and while I know some people will find a way to cheat it, I feel pretty safe going there. Especially since our current local numbers are very low. Anyway, there’s an opening night tradition where Grizz, the mascot, holds up a baby in a bear suit and they play The Circle of Life. I would have loved for C3 to be the Circle of Life baby, and Taylor was going to look into it with his connections. Then we found out the guy who plays Grizz also had a baby this summer… so we knew there was no chance! I’m okay though.
We took our first family trip to a pumpkin patch! I really enjoyed it, and enjoyed wearing C3 around the patch. I finally figured out how to use the Tula carrier my sister passed along to me. It is a GAME CHANGER to have both hands free. I love using the Tula on short walks, short outings, or even around the house.
My mom and I took C3 to Big River Crossing one Saturday to show him the river and his city. He was pretty nonplussed, but we got some great photos!
At Home
Our home renovation was completed in March and I realize I never posted after pics. But here’s one view of the kitchen! We just added this painting from greatbigcanvas.com. Since we had a lemon tree at our wedding (it now has SEVEN lemons on it starting to turn yellow!), they’re kind of a symbol of our marriage. Taylor narrowed it down to a few lemon paintings and this was my favorite. I think it looks great and appropriate for a kitchen.
We also put up a “command center” in the kitchen. With C3’s grandmas rotating through our house, it can be hard to keep track of things like when he last ate. I liked the idea of a central area to write down that info. This set was just what I wanted. I must be a real mom if we have a family calendar!
Taylor got us a new portable fire pit, which has already seen s’mores action! We’ve been watching Braves games in the backyard with our next-door neighbors. It’s been fun. On the other side of us, neighbors have finally moved in after a six-month renovation. It’s nice to be building a little real community here after almost two years.
On a less home-related note, I’ve always had a big problem with losing items in my purse. Getting some small organizing bags helped. But when I started switching back and forth from a regular purse to a diaper backpack, finding my keys went from annoying to EXTREMELY STRESSFUL. So I took my time searching for just the right key ring that clips securely, is hard to miss, but also has a little style (i.e. not a plain carabiner). This is what I ended up with. I ordered two, thinking I would get my keys copied and have one set on each bag at all times. But so far it’s easy to keep track of the original!
Eating
We tried Arbo’s, the hot new cheese dip in town. It was pretty good, but I still prefer Pancho’s!
Wearing
The quest for jeans that fit got real this month. My rotation consisted of two pairs of maternity jeans, one NYDJ light wash from Goodwill, and one pre-pregnancy pair that I can squeeze into on a good day. This might sound like enough, but my baby is a fountain of spit-up and laundry accumulates fast. I did another circuit of my usual secondhand stores, found nothing, and realized I might have to go to, like, a department store and spend serious money. One afternoon I was near a TJ Maxx and decided to do a quick browse. I found a pair of Lucky Brand Ava fit jeans AND a pair of Democracy Ab Solution jeans, the very brand I was about to look for at Macy’s! (It’s highly rated for postpartum.) Both were about half off what I would pay in those stores, so what might normally feel like a splurge became a bargain. I feel great in them and am really pleased.
Beauty
I talked about Farmacy Honeymoon Glow last month, but I’m loving it so much I wanted to mention it again. It has indeed made me more glowy. I try to limit use to a few nights a week because it’s powerful… that slight sting tells you it’s working!!
Wellness
I’m back on the elliptical (on our home machine), shooting for three nights a week. I do it after I put C3 to bed because that’s the only free time I have. I’m not up to my old time or pace, but it’s something. I’ve lost a few more pounds, but am still a ways above my pre-pregnancy weight (and even further from my pre-pandemic, pre-miscarriages weight). I feel okay about myself, though. Still not on any official diet or plan. Just seeing how far I can get with small changes. Also, last week I ran my first continuous mile in almost a year! I was so in the zone that when someone from my book club saw me and tried to get my attention, I didn’t see her at all. I didn’t even know until she told me later. I was very focused on my goal!!
This month, I decided four months was long enough to wait for my PPD/A to magically go away. So I took steps to get help, and am happy to report I’m starting to feel better. I’ll probably talk more about this at a later date. Having a baby changes so many fundamental things. I struggle with how much to share about C3 himself, and these months since he was born. I have to think about how what I say will affect my family. My marriage is more interdependent than it was before we were parents. I’m working through the tension between that and the fact that I still own my experiences and who I am.
Your Monthly Rufus
There aren’t as many photos of Rufus this month, but he’s getting a lot of love! He got an A+ at his annual checkup this month. He’s also starting to investigate his brother a little more closely.
On the Blog
I finally wrote up C3’s birth story. I’m planning to write a “fourth trimester” post with more detail about my maternity leave, and I have some other ideas too!
Good Reads
We Need to Talk About Nate (do not read if you haven’t finished Ted Lasso season 2)
Musicians on Musicians: Alanis Morissette & Olivia Rodrigo
On Being a New Mom and My Constant Battle With Time
I thoroughly enjoyed Caitlin Higgins’s apartment reveals on the Emily Henderson blog this month. “Cat (similar)” in this post cracked me up.
Laurie Colwin’s Recipe for Being Yourself in the Kitchen (might be time for a re-read of Home Cooking!)
Readasaurus Reviews: Slam Book by Ann M. Martin. MEMORIES!
How on earth did I end up here?
Challenging Myself – Allison’s experience going to an influencer event as an over-40, plus-size fashion blogger, and how it made her even more of a badass
Thousands of People Are Trying to Leave QAnon, but Getting Out Is Almost Impossible
For Goodness’ Sake, Please Let Us Not Return to Low-Rise Jeans
Be First to Comment