Even though this week had a few rough spots, it was full of beautiful sunny days, cozy thunderstorms that made me want to snuggle up with my little man all day, and growing excitement for the summer months ahead when hubby will be home and we have nothing to do but enjoy some sweet time with our little family! Here are a few updates from this past week in the English house.

1) Sick Babies And Little Sleep

Caleb picked up some sort of bug and was coughing and super congested all week.  For a few nights in a row he woke himself up frequently throughout the night with his coughing and rough breathing.  We finally brought him to the pediatrician on Monday night and after listening to his chest and checking him out, they said he had bronchitis and early signs of pneumonia.  Thankfully we caught it early and he responded really well to the medicine within a day or two.  It was so, so pitiful to see him coughing, even though he was still sweet and smiley as ever (and even doing tummy time like a champ!).  I wish I could protect him from every sickness ever, but I suppose I’ll just take some snuggles and know the sleepless nights will pass.

Little man still did tummy time like a champ. And considering his height/weight are in the 25th percentile and his head is in the 90th, this is quite a feat! 🙂

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One year ago this week, I officially launched this blog.  A part of me feels like I’ve had this blog forever and the process of writing, creating, and sharing in community with you all has become a normal part of my life that I love and enjoy.  Another part of me can’t believe it’s been a year and feels like I’m still so new to this whole blogging world with lots of things to learn.

Over this past year, I’ve seen this blog grow in so many ways.  First off, it looks 100% different.  I spent 4-6 weeks before launching this blog playing around with the design and coding of it all.  I Googled a million things, asked questions in blogging Facebook groups, and learned so much about web design and the blogging world.  If you’ve been around since the beginning, you might remember my old design that looked like this picture below!  Madison of Grace and Vine Studios helped me redesign the blog to better fit my new goals for it and I love how it looks now!

This blog has also grown a ton in both viewership and its social media community.  It’s mind blowing to me that it’s getting 15,000-20,000 views a month, a number that just keeps growing as all you wonderful folks share my posts on Facebook, Pinterest, and any other platforms.  I’ve been so encouraged by the community of people who follow this blog on Facebook, especially as I’ve shared about our journey into parenthood.  This post below is a great example – I kept going back to read all the encouraging comments from people! If you’re not already a part of this blog’s Facebook community, I hope you’ll consider joining it!

Another thing I’ve loved about the process of writing this blog is how much more confident I’ve grown in my own creative abilities.  I remember sharing in this post about how scary it was sometimes to say I’m creative and trust my instincts when it comes to everything from writing to house projects.  I’ve had so much fun documenting the changes we’ve made to our house and sharing different crafts, projects, and ideas.  One great example is our front room.  The makeover we did in this room was so much fun to do and has since gotten thousands of shares on Pinterest (a fun affirmation that I’m not the only one who think it’s pretty darn cute!).

I love taking steps to write posts, design rooms, complete projects, and cook delicious food that uses my creativity in new ways.  Running this blog reminds me over and over that I have ideas worth expressing, experiences worth sharing, and creative visions worth putting into action.

As I enter into this new season of motherhood where my days look quite different, I know that this blog will continue to be an outlet, a place where I can share my heart and connect with other women in beautiful ways.  I am hoping to share a post soon with some of my reflections from these past months of being on a blogging maternity leave of sorts, so stay tuned for that.  No matter what this blog looks like moving forward, I can’t wait to see how it will continue to grow in the next year and the years to come and I can’t wait to keep getting to know all of you wonderful readers!

So long rambling blog post short…thanks to all you folks who keep coming around, who keep reading and sharing my posts, commenting on social media, and reminding me of the quote in this picture below that inspires me over and over.  I can’t wait to see what else God has in store for us.