Happy happy weekend, y’all! I don’t know about where you live, but our weather seems to have finally gotten the hint that it’s fall and this week was BEAUUUUTIFUL.  Beautiful days in the 60s and 70s that were perfect for walks! I love this time of the year so much and can’t wait for all the fall goodness in these next few months!

Here are some pictures and updates from our first week of fall!

 1) Long Naps (FINALLY!)

I shared Caleb’s 7 month update on Monday, and since I wrote that he has been doing SO great with naps.  I don’t even know what to do with my stretches of alone time longer than 30 minutes, y’all.  I’ve loved being able to have longer quiet times, to work on writing/blogging stuff, to catch up with friends and do other adulting things.  And Caleb is so much happier and sleeping better at night now that he’s napping (which means Mama is sleeping better at night too).  So basically this transition into better napping is amazing, even though I’m sure something else will happen to disrupt it soon enough.  I’ll just soak in the goodness while I can!

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Another week has gone by and it’s time for another Friday post! Here are a few updates and pictures from our week…

1) My Awesome Hubby

In case you missed my Instagram post, my awesome hubby Jordan turned 27 this past weekend! He had a cross country meet on Saturday and competed in a Half-Ironman on Sunday, so we didn’t get to celebrate much this weekend but we are excited to soon! He rocked his Half-Ironman (1.2 mile swim, 50 mile bike ride, half marathon run – INSANE) and got 1st place in his age group and 6th place overall.  Basically he’s a rock star and needs to be bragged on a bit! I’m so grateful for him and all the ways he loves me and our family so, so well.  Here’s to many more years of celebrating you, babe!

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It has been a crazy summer with three different trips – a grandparents’ visit, a wedding, and a funeral, and after all those adventures I am so glad to finally settle in and just be HOME for a few months.  I love summer but fall always comes just as I’m ready to settle back into a routine.

Anyway, here are a few pictures and updates from our last week or two!

1) My Grandmother’s Funeral

My grandmother passed away a few weeks back and we flew to Baltimore this past weekend for her memorial.  She was an amazing woman – intelligent, generous, passionate, and deeply invested in her family and her community.  I loved getting to celebrate her life and the legacy she created with my dad and all of my extended family in Baltimore. We spent the morning after the memorial visiting the house where my dad grew up, a beautiful home on a few acres that my grandparents built shortly after WWII.

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We are 1.5 weeks into the school year and real talk…I already miss summer SO much! Here are some updates from these past two weeks as we settle into a new rhythm of Jordan teaching and coaching cross-country and my being at home with Caleb.

1) A New Rhythm

This was Jordan’s first full week back to work (last week was partial teacher work days) and to be honest…it’s tough on both of us.  He loves his job and I’m so glad he gets to teach and coach, but he’s gone for 12-14 hours a day and it’s a major bummer.  I miss getting to see him throughout the day and since we have Caleb going to bed so early these days (I’ll share more on that soon), he hardly gets to see him.  I think it will take us a while to settle into a new rhythm and figure things out.  When Jordan finally got home from what was a long day for both of us on Monday, we sat on our front porch with our puppy and decompressed for a bit.  I love those moments with him and want to cling to them when the days are hard and we miss the slowness of summer.  I’m so grateful for our new normal, but it will definitely take some adjusting!

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This past week we headed out to North Carolina for my friend Taylor’s wedding and it was quite the adventure!   To be honest, I was SO anxious about taking Caleb on this trip. He had a really rough few weeks before we left and it seemed like everything he’d ever learned about sleep just went out the window.  I went into the trip thinking it might be mostly just survival mode, but he actually did great and we had a lot of fun showing him off.

Below are some updates and (mostly grainy iPhone) pictures from our weeklong trip t0 the beautiful North Carolina! I’m lucky my hubby and friend Haley take pictures because I only had about three pictures from the whole trip and had to steal theirs for this post!

1) Charlotte & Davidson, NC

Caleb did great on our plane ride out, napping in the stroller at the airport and then mostly just hanging in his carseat on the plane ride. I was super anxious about this so it was such a relief.  He’s turning into quite the little traveler after a trip to California in July, this trip in August, and a trip to Baltimore for a funeral in September.  I’m glad he’s been taking all these plane rides in stride!

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One of my favorite parts of working in education is that life comes in seasons.  The excitement and newness of fall  lead into a perfectly-timed break at Christmas, followed by spring break just as we start to feel weary and need a break.  Summer break is the best part because it gives us a time to recharge – to spend slow time with the people we love and soak in the long, warm summer nights.

This summer has been everything I’d hoped for.  Jordan didn’t teach summer school so he could be home with me and Caleb and our days together have been more wonderful than I could say.  We’ve done a whole lot of nothing in the best of ways and I wouldn’t trade our slow days of Netflix binging, baby snuggling, coffee drinking, house projects, and general silliness for anything.  One of our biggest goals as a couple is to go against the grain and live slow, to say no to the whirlwind of commitments and activities so we can say yes to our family and the relationships and people God has for us. And this summer, we have done just that.

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Hi friends! I haven’t been posting in this space as regularly as we enjoy our last few weeks of summer, but know that I miss y’all and am excited to jump back into writing again soon.  There’s been a lot going on with both my family and Jordan’s family these last few weeks, so here’s a few updates!

1) A Sweet New Niece

Jordan has two brothers (and a twin sister, so four kids total), and all of them have had kiddos in the last 6 months! First was Merritt, Jordan’s oldest brother’s son in January, then came Caleb in February, and as of July 4th, little miss Piper! Piper did keep us waiting a few days past her due date but she was so worth the wait.  She’s so sweet and snuggly and my sister-in-law is doing a rock star job taking care of her and her two older siblings (even though her troublemaker older sister is pretty much getting away with murder these days).  It’s crazy to look at Piper and think that Caleb was even smaller than her when he was born.  Time flies by in baby world and it’s incredible how much Caleb has grown since he was a teeny-tiny little nugget like she is.  Anyway, I love getting to snuggle this sweet baby girl and can’t wait to watch her grow up with my boy!

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