{dear friend}

Another week gone too slow AND too fast. I am both wishing the days away so Thanksgiving and Christmas can be here and simultaneously begging time to slow down. Sigh!

Here’s a little record of life lately… //

M A K I N G: This Spicy Black Bean Soup recipe. I have made it twice in the last few weeks!

D R I N K I N G: Whole milk, by the tall glass, still. I can’t even begin to stop. Freaking love that stuff right now.

W A N T I N G: These goodies on my Christmas list:

Mama Bear Necklace

This turntable for the baby’s room

A new leather bag

Some gorgeous/functional new cookware

W A T C H I N G: We have been watching episodes of The Fall and Designated Survivor lately. The Fall is so fascinating! I am also loving This is Us. Totally feel good and Mandy Moore! So many hearts.

R E A D I N G: I admit I have been HORRIBLE at reading lately. I feel so distracted. I did get my used copy of Night Lights in the mail so I’m excited to start that soon.

L I S T E N I N G  T O: Christmas music. I gave in! 

E A T I N G: A little bit of this and a little bit of that. Throughout much of this pregnancy I haven’t had much of an appetite, but I think it’s starting to return. Chocolate chip cookies are a favorite… to compliment the milk. :)

W I S H I N G: I could find some way to help volunteer around my community/in Boston in the coming year and beyond. Zan shared this letter with me this week and so much of what has happened surrounding the insanity of the election and that “tangerine champion” (best worst nickname, forever) has made me want to step forward and do something. Anything! Now I just need to figure out what.

E N J O Y I N G: the coziest most amazing fleece sheets on our bed right now. You NEED THEM. YOU WILL LOVE THEM.

H O P I N G: crazily, for lots of snow this December.

N E E D I N G: Thanksgiving vacation! So soon!!

F O L L O W I N G: accounts I am loving lately… dear franny  |  by mari andrew  |  erin boyle 

F E E L I N G: So many emotions, all of the time.

W E A R I N G: the best maternity jeans ever.

B O O K M A R K I N G: this book-a-day advent calendar. For someday, not very far away from today. 

L O V I N G: The fact that in one week our house will have a Christmas tree. Let the holiday magic begin. ✨✨

25 weeks. Saturday morning with Zan and Penny at the beach. ❤️

This week has been EMOTIONAL for me in so many ways.

It is a serious thing
Just to be alive
On this fresh morning
In this broken world. // Mary Oliver

Besides the broken, there is still so much to be thankful for. I’m thankful for a stroller found and a baby shower in the works. I’m thankful for dinner with family and days off in the city. I’m thankful for fresh fleece sheets and taking a pottery class. I’m thankful for second graders, and kindness, and sunshine, and the rain. I’m thankful for a growing baby and a healthy pregnancy every. single. day.

We didn’t get a spot at the daycare we wanted this week which was another disappointment in the mix but that’s a silly problem compared to what others are going through, honestly. We will keep looking and everything will work out. I wish others who are struggling with bigger and more significant things could be sure of that truth, too, but I just don’t know sometimes and that makes me sad.

Is it okay to be positive when for some life’s so bleak? I know it is more than okay, but I’m sensitive to it right now. To know I am safe when others are not is a tough pill to swallow if I think about it hard enough. Perspective is so powerful, isn’t it?

My problems seem so little in this big broken world.

My goodness! Such a downer post from what felt like a definite downer week. So I guess I’ll just end with this… a quote my sister sent me Wednesday morning that I love love love. A perfect way to fight the darkness and move toward the light:

“Do all the good you can. By all the means you can. In all the ways you can. In all the places you can. At all the times you can. To all the people you can. As long as ever you can.” // John Wesley

I want to live my life this way, and teach my daughter to love this way, for as long as ever I can.

This week feels so monumental to me. I get emotional at least twice a day lately because I’m so excited and worried and happy and anxious. And just to be clear, I’m not talking about my pregnancy. Except for one thing: The idea of having my daughter born during the first female presidency is absolutely amazing and utterly fantastic. We’re with her. We’re with her a million times over and on Tuesday we’ll vote together for the very first time and then I’ll get goosebumps and surely tear up about it.

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul
And sings the tune without the words
And never stops at all. // Emily Dickenson

The photos for this week were taken happily by Rachael after our brunch at Mamaleh’s yesterday. We wandered for a minute around Kendall before finding a spot to take these shots. I feel like I’ve grown a lot this week! Partly because I have grown, and partly because I’d just eaten a very large and amazing breakfast. Win, win.

Some new mom thoughts this week:

What do you guys think about strollers? Besides the election, stroller thoughts have been running through my mind all week. Do I really need the super fancy Uppababy? Or would the Baby Jogger be just as fine? The convertible stroller intrigues me, as I hope we will have at least one more kid, but the ease of this City Mini is really making me excited. I want something nice, obviously, but I really just want to find something that is NICE ENOUGH for us. So really, in all honesty, how much do strollers matter and how much time is too much time spent thinking about all of this? Any advice, I would love.

Also on my mind, Doulas and Daycare. One I need sooner, and the other later. But apparently it’s never to early to start looking for the latter. I feel SO LUCKY to get to spend 6 months at home with the baby but I’ve already started sending emails about openings for baby care in September. Nearly 11 months away seems crazy far away! I’ll follow the rules on this one, though. Hoping to find an accredited in-home child care (I think I want in-home, but I’m open!) close to our house for 4-5 days a week. I would love for family to chip in on babysitting hours, but don’t want to expect anything too much of anyone either! So we’ll keep emailing and see.

I can’t believe I am at 24 weeks! Only 16 weeks to go….

Have a great week, everyone. Positive Vibes. FINGERS CROSSED. HOPE FLYING HIGH.

xo!