The first month of fall has come and gone! The past few weeks have been absolutely packed for us. Eric took his last two weeks of paternity leave before our youngest turned one (!) so we worked on all the projects. We went apple picking, baked apple everything, filled and planted another raised bed, saw family and friends, did so much paperwork and then capped it off with two birthdays. My youngest two have birthdays two days apart which is a bit wild.
On a personal level, I’m feeling pretty depleted. There’s been a lot going on. My oldest child is hyper-social. I’m still nursing my one-year-old 6-8 times a day. I’ve been focusing more on nutrition, sleep and health in general but my cup still feels like it’s draining faster than I can fill it. I find myself dreaming about our family escaping to the woods for a weekend, a week, a month… that’s how I know I’ve got too much on my plate, because life is objectively pretty good right now. Just a lot. So I’m going to be sparse for a bit while I handle the burnout.
On the blog, I’ve been starting my annual updates of popular posts. I’ve added to my Gluten-Free Twin Cities Restaurant Guide and next up is my gift guides! I’m planning to add one for women this year, hopefully before holiday shopping kicks off in November.… Read More »
Somehow it’s already *checks calendar* July 23rd and we are just over a month away from the beginning of the school year here. Summer is well and truly flying, and it’s more than a full-time job ferrying kids to and from activities, attempting to meet everyone’s social needs (definitely #momfailing that one all the way home…) and FEEDING THEM. My goodness, I am thankful for those free school lunches and just plain old packed school lunches when they can’t ask me for another sandwich, another orange, another cookie, or another handful of crackers because they are a mile away from the pantry!
I’m not sure about you, friends, but life has been a doozy lately. We’ve effectively been sick since the week before Christmas (RSV, two rounds of norovirus and another cold). The baby has sleep regressed and refused to take a bottle–kid has my stubborn streak, apparently. It’s been too cold to be outside many days and we’re all suffering from a bad case of cabin fever. I was not sad to see the end of January!
I took last week off from blogging as we had family in town and a packed schedule and to-do list. Now there’s a lull in our lives between autumn and the holiday season, 
What a month, friends. We had so much going on between kids’ commitments, out-of-town family, home to-do’s and travel planning–and ending the month with a bout of pinkeye for 3/5 of us–that I feel like I blinked and it’s May! School will be wrapping up soon, and then we’ll have a couple of weeks free before summer activities start.