Appreciating how well Maeve is sleeping! Wow we have come a long, long, long way. Occasionally she'll protest her nap and skip it but usually she'll nap for an hour and a half at least. She usually still cries for a very short time at nap time and bedtime but sometimes not at all. She never wakes up at night and waits for her light-up clock to glow green before calling out to us to come her her.

Excited by our very successful Patreon launch for The Girl Next Door Podcast. Over 160 listeners signed up to financially support the show which far exceeded our expectations. It's incredibly validating to have opened up an avenue of compensation for a show that we've been hard at work on for over nine years.

Bookmarking this incredible and fairly easy butternut squash pizza recipe.

Feeling more confident in parenting the boys lately. I think we can see their personalities more clearly and adjust our parenting accordingly. I think they've also aged out of some big, unwieldy emotional meltdowns. Or least don't have them nearly as frequently. There are signs of tween challenges to be sure but overall parenting the boys feels easier than it has in a long time, and more fun.

Using our patience and seasoned-parent wisdom to parent Maeve through big toddler emotions. She can be quite the hot mess in the mornings and later afternoons, despite all our best efforts to head it off. It makes an otherwise very pleasant morning...much less so. I'm remembering that these phases don't last forever.

Browsing the new Childhood Magic site for easy craft ideas for Maeve and the boys.

Recognizing how much more bandwidth I have lately compared to a year ago...but still with so many projects and to-dos that I don't have the time for!

Eager for the heat to break. It's still so hot uggghhh.

Thankful for a photo of Maeve and me on the swings at the park, taken by a mom I had just met who offered to take it saying, "Moms don't get enough photos with their kids." How incredibly sweet and thoughtful is that? Now I want to pay that kind gesture forward.

Waiting to hear a decision on Chris's sabbatical application – and probably not until December unfortunately. If his sabbatical is approved we'll make plans to live in Eau Claire from this summer through next Christmas which feels both daunting and exciting.

Thinking I need to start buying fall and winter clothes for all the kids. Maeve is in 4T clothes, Cedric is solidly in mediums, and I think Dash will soon be in kids size large shirts!

Listening lately to the podcasts A Beautiful Mess (back from their summer break), The Lazy Genius (which always gives me good Monday energy), and The Sporkful (always interesting).

Reunited with wearing a FitBit. It's been a whole saga of breaking FitBits and me hemming and hawing not wanting to spend the money to buy a new one. I ended up finding a great used Charge 5 on Facebook Marketplace and am so happy to be wearing one again and to have the activity and sleep data.

Energized by recent creative conversations with fellow writers and podcasters Lauren, Rachel, and Sarah.

Letting Chris take the lead on planning dinners and making the grocery list lately.

Making the most of this regular week as we head into the boys' two-week fall break! We'll be spending a week in Austin and then after that don't have any plans...we should make some for how we'll keep the boys entertained!

Hope you found good things in September, friends!

Currently: September 2021 | Currently: September 2018