September is over and to be honest, I had to rewatch my one second every day video from this month to remember all that has happened. Nathan’s job has gotten busier now that students are back and school is in session, I have tried to spend as much time outside before it gets too chilly, and then throw in a new baby and things get pretty crazy (but in the best of ways).

We really soaked up the almost-fall weather by spending a lot of mornings at the playground. I’m excited for it to be actually-fall weather and I don’t have to change out of my jeans and flannel by 10:00 am because I’m too sweaty, though I know I will miss this perfect playground weather. Hez has decided to actually play on some of the playground equipment instead of just wander around it. Believe it or not- he has even gone down the slide on his own a couple of times! Naomi is still in the stage where she can sleep anywhere at anytime and it has made it so much fun to get out and about.

Speaking of Naomi, she’s pretty cool. She started sleeping through the night. I’m not sure why, because I haven’t done a whole lot in trying to set up good sleep habits, she just does it and it has helped me feel rested! I feel like we are out of the stage of “survival mode”.

She is just a dream. She smiles whenever you glance in her general direction, and she almost laughed today when I was wiggling her belly around. She looks like a little baby Buddha, and she is just a little cute lump (in the best way possible). Hez still adores her, and he shows this by frequently stopping whatever he is doing and running over to give her little fuzzy head a quick rub. He also likes to poke her eyes, put his fingers in her mouth and lay on her… so you know, we’re working on boundaries.

Hez has a new obsession with Shrek and that’s fun! It’s legitimately the first movie he has ever sat down to watch. In fact, I’m typing this out right now as he watches it (don’t judge my parenting- it is Friday night and Nathan is working and I have officially declared the last hour and a half before I put them to bed “family movie night minus dad”). It’s precious, and I’m fairly confident he’s the only 1.5 year old that would say his favorite movie is Shrek. I’m working on getting him a Shrek costume for Halloween. Even if Halloween is cancelled because of Covid, we’re still going to party while dressed liked ogres over here at our house… and in the morning, I’m making waffles.

Our new house is beginning to feel more “homey”. I officially convinced Nathan to let me buy some throw pillows and I crafted together some wall art for our living room and Naomi’s room. I would include pictures, but i’m still trying to decide if it looks like a kindergartener painted them or not, so I’ll let you know if they stay up on the walls. It helps that I found a really pretty framed piece of locally made art at the top of a playground one day! It was such a random blessing.

Some more random blessings this month have included game nights with friends, our duplex neighbor making us incredibly delicious homemade Chinese food, discovering a neat little local distillery on our date night, and just savoring this age of Naomi. It is crazy to think that when Hezekiah was this age, we were moving across the world for what we thought was the foreseeable future.

And while we have absolutely zero idea of what our future does hold, it seems like every time I like to plan out my own future things change so I’ll just keep soaking in these days full of baby snuggles and playground dates and iced coffee (still digging that free Panera coffee subscription).

Here are some photos from this month, enjoy!

If you made it this far, here are some other things I’ve enjoyed this month:

–Instant Pot chicken burrito bowls Literally, the only prep you have to do is to cut up raw chicken and open some cans. It is easy, makes a good amount of food and is delicious served with chips or on lettuce (if you’re into that sort of thing).

-The Social Dilemma on Netflix. Can you link a netflix link? I don’t know. But anyways, instead of watching The Office for the seventeenth time, watch this documentary and enlighten yourself on the effects social media has on our brains. After watching, I’m not going to swing to the other side of the pendulum and delete all my social medias (although if thats your choice that’s totally cool), but I do love being more aware about why social media can be addicting and how it can effect us psychologically.

–Dutch apple bread I made this one day, but half way through making it I realized I did not have eggs, or butter or the right type of bread pan. But hey, It turned out pretty tasty.

–Needtobreathe’s new album: Big fan of Needtobreathe, that’s all.

–Missional Motherhood by Gloria Furman Yes, this is the second time I’ve read this book. I just wish I could soak up the word on the pages and implant them into my brain, so I will just keep reading it until that naturally happens.

SEE YA NEXT MONTH.