A Little Life Update
Photography: Dakota & Co.
Aside from little tidbits in my (almost) weekly Liz List blog posts, I haven’t written anything super personal on the blog since January. What’s funny is in that post I proclaimed 2020 as my “Year of NO”, and… wow… LOL. 😂 Little did I know what the universe had in store for us all. What a shit show this year has been, no? Of course, almost all the goals I wrote about in that post have been tossed out the window. It’s safe to say life has changed a bit since then!
A lot has happened over here in the last 7 months, and so I think a little life update is overdue. If you’re a new reader… hi! I hope you enjoy learning more about me, and thanks for following along. ❤️
KATE/MOTHERHOOD
Kate’s doing so well! I’m SO grateful she’s young enough to not understand what’s going on and that I don’t have to explain anything to her.
She’s officially 15 months old now (which is a pretty big age for developmental milestones), so here’s a few other random updates… She started ISR swim lessons a few weeks ago and is making great progress. Yesterday she floated for 15 seconds by herself and can already flip herself around to breathe! 👏🏻 She can say a few words (momma, dadda, papa, uh-oh and bye are the big ones) and understands us when we talk to her in both English and Spanish (more on teaching her Spanish below!). She barks, moos, quacks, and can point to different body parts on herself and us (which is the cutest thing ever). We’re now working on getting her to point to things she wants instead of whining. We’re also starting to introduce her to “please” and “thank you” and “you’re welcome” - all the manners! She’s not walking on her own yet, but she’s getting close. Kate’s been on the longer side of average for rolling over and crawling, so I’m not at all concerned or surprised she can’t walk yet. It makes things easier for me, anyway! 😂
Shortly after Kate was born I put her on a waitlist for a local Mother’s Day Out program, but who knows if/when that will happen now. It was set to start when she turned 18 months, so I guess we’ll see in a few months! Really the only thing I’ve worried about on the motherhood front (aside from her getting COVID, which I’m sure I’m not alone in that fear!) is her lack of social interaction. We went into quarantine right as she was starting to be much more aware of people around her. But we’ve been around family and friends + other kids by now, and after an initial “stranger danger” period (normal for her age), she warms up just fine. And she’s very curious about other kids, which is so cute! Despite my worries, I don’t think she’s been too affected by it.
CHILDCARE
This is a pretty major update! We got an au pair. Her name is Carolina (pronounced ka-ro-lee-na), and she arrived at our home from Bogota, Columbia on February 19th. I held off on sharing this news because 1) I wanted to respect her privacy and 2) I wanted to make sure it was a good fit and was going to work out for both parties. Then, once I was certain it was a good match (she’s the BEST)… that’s when the pandemic hit. I saw a lot of parents really struggling with childcare, so I wanted to be sensitive to that and waited before sharing this particular update a little longer. Now it just feels weird that I haven’t shared yet… almost like I’m hiding it, but I promise I’m not!
Carolina has been here over 5 months now and is very much a part of the family. I’m so SO grateful (privileged, blessed, all the things) that she arrived in time to help during quarantine since having grandmas over to babysit was obviously not an option and work got really hectic for dad. Carolina speaks to Kate exclusively in Spanish, which is how Kate is learning the language. (Side note: I can speak/understand a little Spanish but am not fluent by any means! I’ve been practicing my Spanish with Carolina + have been using the Duolingo app regularly, so I’m improving for sure! At least that’s one productive thing I’ve been up to in quarantine! 😂).
If this is a topic people are interested in, I might do a more comprehensive post about it at some point in the future. Y’all just let me know!
TRAVEL
We had plans to travel to Scotland and Ireland with my mom and stepdad in August/September, but obviously that trip was cancelled. We’re hoping to reschedule it for next summer/fall!
The biggest update on this front is that we bought an RV (and named her “Midnight” - full tour here). We had considered buying one last summer after a visit to Smokey Mountains National Park but ultimately never did. Then the pandemic hit, and for obvious reasons that sparked our interest again. We found one we liked and decided to go ahead and make the jump to purchase vs. rent (since we’d already been interested, anyway!). It’s not without its challenges, but so far we’re really enjoying RV life. We’re typically big European travelers and really love visiting Italy and France, in particular. And while of course I miss those places, I’m embracing this season of traveling around America. We live in such a beautiful country, and I’m so looking forward to seeing and exploring more of it.
As you may know, we leave soon on a MAJOR road trip in Midnight. I’ll share a blog post next week with all the details! And of course, I’ll be documenting the trip on my Instagram, so stay tuned for updates from the road!
BLOGGING
I doubt anyone noticed, but back in March I hit pause - until recently - on documenting home decor and construction updates, scaled back how often I talked to the camera on Instagram Stories, stopped sharing clothing items, etc. It just felt a little tone deaf with everything going on in the world! I’d say my content temporarily tilted to be more family/motherhood-focused vs. lifestyle. Behind the scenes I took the time to focus on my mental health (basically creating more space to process my emotions as it relates to this wild and crazy year) and spend time with Kate. I think that was the right call!
Blog posts have been light, but not non-existent. Honestly, at the moment I feel like I’ve finally struck a good personal balance between blogging for fun and just enjoying life. I’ve almost doubled my Instagram following since I re-started blogging back in April 2019, and I’m happy with that! I feel pretty strongly about not “buying” followers, participating in paid engagement boosts, or doing big loop giveaways. I’m totally content with the slow and steady growth, especially in context of the amount of effort I’ve put into it.
TLDR: I’m having fun with it, have no real blogging goals at this point, and really am just sharing my life and seeing where that takes me. I’m also easing back into regularly scheduled programming with the home design and travel content again, which I’m very much enjoying since that’s really what I love sharing most.
HOME
We recently finished Kate’s playroom project (ICYMI I shared a sneak peek of the design plan here). I love how it turned out. It’s so cute and colorful and whimsical! I did buy a couple more items for the space, including a tulle canopy to hang from the ceiling + some fun art and decor pieces. I’m excited to finish it 100% when we get home from our trip. Also, if you’re new here, back in January we started renovating our upstairs bathrooms and finished those spaces right as quarantine began. I stopped sharing progress updates of that project, but they turned out great! I’ll share professional photos of both the finished bathrooms and playroom sometime in the fall.
And with the above projects finished, to be honest I don’t really have much more to do around the house! Nothing major anyway. The only other thing I’m thinking about is getting some new furniture for the back patio and maybe adding a pergola eventually, but I’m still undecided! I also want to install a gallery wall of family photos up the staircase at some point. I just feel like the staircase is super bare and needs some more life. I’ll definitely tackle that when we get home.
I do have another pretty big home-related project on the horizon, but I’m not quite ready to divulge details just yet. Sorry to be cryptic… but it’s MAJOR, I’m super excited about it, and can’t wait to share more at some point in the future. ❤️
PERSONAL
Of course, things aren’t back to normal yet, but by now I think we all recognize the situation we’re living in is here to stay a little while longer. Personally, I’m feeling in a better headspace and like I’ve found a footing in my “new normal” (though some days are better than others). Even though I’ve faced my own challenges this year, my struggles pale in comparison to those of others. People are/were sick, losing their jobs, struggling to juggle work and childcare, stuck inside cramped quarters, and working on the front lines of this pandemic. It’s been heavy, to say the least! I cannot emphasize enough how fortunate my family and I are that we’re holding up okay over here. I am beyond grateful. 🙏🏻
Aside from everything else I’ve covered above, the only other update is that I’m back on the healthy eating and exercising routine. It got a bit dicey there for a few months… for SURE was eating and drinking my feelings. 😅 But you know what sometimes when you’ve got too much on your plate and are living through of the worst year on record… somethings gotta give! And let’s be honest, pasta and spritzes were definitely helping me cope for a minute there! 🤷🏻♀️🍝🍹 But then - of course - I started to feel sluggish both mentally and physically and decided it was time to reign it in. I’m even seeing a nutritionist (virtually) to help me set goals and keep me accountable. It’s been a couple weeks now since I decided to make my physical health a priority again, and I’m feeling much better already. Highly recommend joining me if you feel like you’re at that point, too! 💪🥗
Finally, even though I’m still processing the lessons learned from this year - of which there are MANY - the biggest for me has been to not take family or health for granted. This year has taught me I need to slow down and enjoy the ride more. As someone who tends to get caught up in the day-to-day hustle of achieving goals and accomplishing to do lists (Enneagram 3 here 🙋🏻♀️), it was a necessary wake up call. Less focus on doing, more focus on living. Any time I start to take my life for granted in the future, I’ll always remember 2020 and the lessons it’s taught me. ❤️
There ya have it… that’s what I’ve been up to! That turned into quite a major update (very much NOT “little” like the title of this post suggested, haha). I hope you enjoyed reading it!
On a housekeeping note, I plan to take some extended time off of the blog during our upcoming road trip, so aside from a Liz List on Friday and one more post next week about our RV trip, you probably won’t hear much from me on here until Labor Day. I might decide to post a couple updates from the road, but maybe not. Just depends on how I’m feeling! 😘
XOXO,
Liz