Sobremesa Stories

Letting stories unfold around the table

Four Ways For Introverts To Grow Their Friendships

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I’ve learned so much about myself and other people by thinking through where we lie on the introvert-extrovert scale.  Where we fall in that spectrum affects our marriages, our friendships, and so much more! One of my most searched and popular posts is about what I’ve learned about living in an introvert-extrovert marriage, so I know I’m not alone in thinking through all of this.

I’m right in the middle of the introvert-extrovert spectrum – comfortable in social situations and not afraid to talk to new people, but I 100% get my energy from time alone and love being by myself. As I’ve jumped into the challenging journey of finding friends and community post-college, I’ve realized that my introverted nature is both a strength and a weakness. These are four things that I am trying to do to step out of my comfort zone and grow my friendships!

Great tips for introverts who want to grow their friendships and find community!

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Womanly Wednesday: Anxiety After Miscarriage

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Welcome to this week’s Womanly Wednesday! In this series, different women share their struggles, bravely opening up about their stories so that other people would be inspired and encouraged.  Make sure to check out the Womanly Wednesday archives to read other posts from this series!

I don’t consider myself a particularly anxious person. Yeah, I definitely have those, “My parents are calling after 9:00 pm– oh-my-gosh-who-died!?” moments, but I don’t typically lay awake at night worrying over things, and I’ve never had even a hint of a panic or anxiety attack.

That’s why I’m still surprised that, as I approach the final month of my fourth pregnancy- the time when baby is safe and would be healthy if delivered today- the anxiety I feel is at an overwhelming high.

I didn’t experience this anxiety with my first two pregnancies. They were both textbook smooth and, aside from an unplanned C-section with the first, both babies and I were healthy and happy. We grew our family at just the pace we had planned.

Womanly Wednesday Anxiety After Miscarriage

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How I’m Fighting The Pressure To Be Productive

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We’re coming up on almost four months since our son was born, and for the first time, I feel like we’re starting to have a bit of a routine.  Caleb’s getting more consistent in his naps (even if they are just 45-50 minutes long) and my weeks are starting to follow a bit more predictable pattern.  This is what I’ve been craving for so long, but this week I started to notice something a little strange in my heart: a frenzied desire to get things done.

Whenever Caleb went down for a nap, I found my mind spinning with ideas of how I should use that 45 minutes. I’d open up my computer and try to find something to do that felt purposeful, something that made me feel productive and useful and busy.

I couldn’t point to one specific reason why I feel this urge to be productive, but it is deeply engrained in who I am.  Somewhere along the way I started believing that the worth of a day is measured in how many items I can cross of my to-do list.  

Do you ever feel tied to your to-do list and like you're failing because you can't get it all done? This post shares what you can fight the pressure to be productive and choose something better!

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Five on Friday: Summer Celebrations And Building Projects

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1) Anniversary Dates

We celebrated our anniversary last weekend with a day date of some shopping at a local outlet mall and sushi/Asian food.  It was so fun to have a few hours away from little man, even if he did make things difficult by completely refusing to take a bottle and giving his grandma a run for her money.  I got a bunch of fun new flowy tank tops that will be perfect for nursing in the summertime, as well as some new shorts and two new dresses for some weddings we have this summer (gotta love Memorial Day sales and cheap prices at TJ Maxx!).  Later that evening we went to a wedding shower for an old friend of Jordan’s.  Caleb fell asleep in the car immediately after we left so we enjoyed some yummy sweet treats from Sonic while he slept! It was a fun day with lots of silliness and sweet time with my hubby and I am so, so grateful for that.

Anniversary Sonic Trip

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Womanly Wednesday: Life As An ICU Nurse

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Welcome to this week’s Womanly Wednesday! In this series, different women share their struggles, bravely opening up about their stories so that other people would be inspired and encouraged.  Make sure to check out the Womanly Wednesday archives to read other posts from this series! 

I am a pediatric cardiovascular intensive care nurse, which means I take care of babies & kids who have life threatening heart conditions. Being a pediatric nurse has been one of the best, most humbling, and challenging experiences of my life. There have been beautiful miracles and horrible losses. 

Sometimes the patients have a very ‘easy’ to fix problem. But more often than you would expect, they have extremely complicated hearts and sometimes even need an entirely new heart via transplant.

Womanly Wednesday Life As An ICU Nurse Jessie

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Four Ways To Celebrate A New Dad

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Thank you Snapfish for sponsoring this post! Make this Father’s Day extra special with personalized photo gifts from Snapfish. 

I have written a whole lot in this space about my transition into motherhood and all the ways it continues to challenge me and bring me joy.  Being a mom is beautiful and impossibly hard at the same time and I always want to be honest about that.  But as I look back over my posts, I’m realizing that I’m forgetting to honor someone incredibly important: my husband.

Jordan has transitioned into his role as a dad with grace, joy, and humility. He encourages me, makes me laugh, and affirms me in a million ways I didn’t even know I needed as I’ve become a mom, and I don’t know how I could do it without him.

Dads like my husband are worth celebrating every day, but with Father’s Day around the corner, today I’m sharing four of my favorite ways to honor what my husband brings to our family in his new role as Daddy.

Great ideas about how to celebrate a new dad in your life, whether your own husband or a friend!

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Five on Friday: Scary House Projects and Summertime (!!!)

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It was a fun week of adjusting to our new summertime normal and I love all the time I’ve gotten to spend with my family.  We also celebrated a few fun milestones this week (all having to do with the number 3, randomly).  It was a great week and I can’t wait for many more like it in the next few months!

1) Scary House Projects

Our house backs up to a creek and some woods, a view that I love to see out of our back window.  The only downside is that the three big trees we had in our backyard stopped the yard from getting any sun and it was pretty much a constant mud-pit.  This past weekend Jordan had two friends with some experience in this kind of thing come help him to cut them down.  They were rigging all sorts of ladders, ropes, harnesses and chainsaws into the trees, and I hung out in the house with Caleb as they worked (only to be startled every once in a while by a giant branch falling and shaking the earth beneath our feet).  It was scary to watch the boys up so high in the trees but they did a great job and our yard looks so much brighter now that those trees were gone.  We have all sorts of dreams to make this backyard a more livable space and are so grateful to those friends for coming to clear it all out!

Backyard Trees

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Caleb’s Three Month Update

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It’s been three months since our handsome guy made his grand entrance into the world (you can check out his birth story HERE!) and this past month has been so, so fun.  He’s becoming more of a little person and less of a newborn and we’ve loved seeing his personality unfold!

The Numbers

He hasn’t been weighed in a week or two, but our little chunk is clocking in right above 12 lbs and measuring about 22 inches long! It’s crazy that he’s almost doubled his weight in three months.  Can you imagine if adults did that? He’s starting to look so much more like a little person and I can see a huge difference when I look at pictures from the first week compared to now.  His little body is filling out and getting so squishy and sweet and I love that he is growing healthy and strong!

Caleb's Three Month Update

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Womanly Wednesday: Mothering A Challenging Baby

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Welcome to this week’s Womanly Wednesday! I “met” this week’s guest poster Susannah when I started following her blog about a year ago.  I love her heart to encourage women in their faith, their marriages, and their parenting and have already learned so much from what she’s shared about her journey with her sweet boy.  Make sure to check out her blog, Simple Moments Stick! 

I always knew I wanted to be a mom.  As a little girl I would carry my dolls with me everywhere and, as I grew up, my “dolls” became human babies.  Anytime a parent let me I would commandeer a baby and keep him or her as my own until the parent absolutely needed their child back.  I could not wait to have a child of my own.  I couldn’t wait until I was the parent who would be able to take my child back after he or she was loved on by someone else.

Womanly Wednesday Mothering A Challenging Baby

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