Uncategorized – Loving My Littles

To Be Here

I love January 1st and the opportunity to do some reflecting o goals and hopes for the new year. I think it’s a good time to reflect on the past year, to see and celebrate everything that was accomplished, and worked through, and also a great opportunity to see areas for improvement in the coming months.

I know lots of people choose to be super pessimistic about news goals and resolutions, and while I know they’re not for everybody, and certainly we certainly aren’t going to attain “a new year new me” with a couple breezy resolutions! But I think it’s a great idea to be intentional about seeing the areas in your life and relationships that could use some work, and making some clear goals to help work on those things.

I love making lists, so I made a 23 in 2023 list this year. Some of them are things I want to start implementing. Some are things we already do, but want to make sure we continue. I want to work on learning some things. There’s some things we’ve been talking about doing as a family, and it’s time to just do them already.

01. Read the Bible in a year

02. Start running again

03. Read 3 books to my kids daily

04. Relearn how to do my hair pretty

05. 1 line a day journal

06. Go on 6 dates with my husband

07. Have lunch with Scott once a month

08. Be a good friend

09. Play games with my kids

10. Go to the cheese factory

11. Spend 1000 hours outside.

12. Go to the beach

13. Take Liam fishing

14. Take the kids to the zoo

15. Less time on the phone

16. Plan playdates

17. Go outside every single day. Even if it’s just 5 minutes.

18. Do the Gentleness challange

19. Summer bucket list

20. Learn a new skill

21. Try 21 new recipes

22. Go on 22 hikes

23. Read 23 books

I also chose a word to help me focus on the main thing that’s been on my mind with looking forward to 2023. I want to be Here. To be present, right where I’m at, both physically and mentally. I’ve noticed how easily I can mentally check out, pop an earbud in and listen to audio books when I am overwhelmed, and I can check out in social situations I’m uncomfortable in. It’s easy to become busy with my kids and stop trying with other people.

So I want to be here. To be present. To put in the work with my children and other people around me, not using coping mechanisms when I am overwhelmed, but working through the things that cause that.

I would love to hear your goals or intentions for 2023! ❤️

Love

Becca

Best Books of 2022

Picture of my kiddos reading! I am thrilled that they seem to love reading books as much as I do! Hoping that continues as they learn to read! ❤️

I have loved to read since I was a very small child, (I have vivid memories of hiding a flashlight and huddling under the blankets late into the night reading!) and I am thankful that that has continued into my adult life/mamahood.

This year I read more than I have since I was a teenager. My kids settled into a amazing routine earlier in the year, napping at the same time, and I ended up with a solid hour to read in the afternoon. And I finally came to terms with audio books, and felt line I can count them as reading, so I was able to add the time during my running to read.

I got the through 164 books, about half of them reading and half on audio, and while I won’t make you slog through all of those titles, I went through the list and picked the ones that stood out to me particularly as favorites from this year!

A man called Ove– by Fredrick Backman

I loved this book. Ove is a older man with literally nothing to live for anymore. The book jumps back and forth from the present, where Ove just wants to die, and his pesky neighbors keep interfering with their constant problems, and glimpses into Ove’s past. I know the premise of the story is odd, a man just trying to die, but it ended up perfectly. I made my husband watch the movie with me and he loved it too. We are excited about the new adaption coming out in just a couple weeks starring Tom Hanks!

The Astronots Wife– by Stacey Morgan

This was such a interesting memoir exploring the authors life while her husband was away in space for 9 months. I really enjoyed her story, and her wisdom about the things she learned in a difficult season.

The Invisible Husband of Frick Island– by Colleen Oakley

The ending was hilarious. The whole book was an interesting mystery, a compulsive read. I wanted to know what happened, and by the time I got to the end, it was nothing like what I thought, which is always a fun surprise!

The Diamond Eye– by Kate Quinn

I loved her first book, the Rose Code, and this second one didn’t disappoint! It follows the story of Mila Pavlochenko, Lady Death, one of 2000 women snipers in the Soviet Army. She was credited with 309 kills, and eventually came to the US as a spokesperson, becoming friends with Eleanor Roosevelt. It was a facinatings story, and very well written.

M is for Mama by Abby Halberstadt

This was a really encouraging book for moms, and I would highly recommend. I am planning to read it again in 2023.

The Cartographers by Peng Shepherd

This book probably isn’t for everyone, but I love stories about other worlds/dimensions within our world, with a touch of magic and fantasy, but with lots of realism, and this book checked all those boxes. It was a interesting story, a compelling mystery and I really enjoyed!

Cultish by Amanda Montell

This book was facinating. I read it really fast I needed to get it back to the library, and I want to get it again to read a little more slowly. She explores the language behind cults, from famous cults like Jonestown, to MLMs like Lularoe, to soul cycle, it was facinating to see the similarities between the way they use language and words to draw people in and keep them hooked in the craziness that is cults.

It’s interesting because we all assume we wouldn’t fall prey to the woo of a cult, but Ms Montell examines the way that leadership is able to resonate with people with the compelling phrases and idioms, and explores the similarities between religious cults, and workout fanatics who take over peoples lives.

I found it fascinating and have continued to think about it.

Taste: my life through food by Stanley Tucci

I loved this book so much! I really love good food memoirs, books about chefs, or home cooks, descriptions about food. All of it. Stanley Tucci’s book about the food in his life, and growing up in a Italian family was delightful! I am also enjoying his show about Italian cuisine on Discovery+.

I would love to hear about some of your favorite reads from the year!

With love,

-Becca

On Skipping Grocery Pick-up

I love to listen to podcasts and audio books. I’m a young mom, and don’t have a lot of friends or social outlets at this point in my life, so I tend to listen to something audio when I need a break from the being-home-alone-with-toddlers-24-7 overwhelm.

I like mom podcasts, and enjoy learning about parenting. Being a mom is hard, and it’s helpful to find resources to work through issues we’re facing with our kids.

So last week I turned on an episode and the ladies commented about how hard shopping is with young kids, and how lucky they are to live in an era of grocery pickup, because they don’t have to live through the struggle with toddlers that their moms did.

Oof. First of all, shopping with toddlers is so hard. I am extremely thankful that pickup orders are possible, it’s so convenient to drive up, pop the trunk and drive home.

BUT. I think avoiding social situations like shopping with young kids is doing them (and yourself) a big disservice. Every outing is a training opportunity and avoiding the hard situations means that your child isn’t going to learn how they are expected to behave in a store, restaurant, or place of business. Instead of learning early, it’s going to be impossible to run errands or shop as they get bigger/louder, because they just didn’t learn how to behave in a social setting. (And the tantrums will get bigger if they’re not addressed and worked through as toddlers.)

All of this is to say:

1. Don’t be afraid to take your kids with you, even when you know it’ll be hard. The work will pay off later when your kiddos are able to be respectful in businesses, and have FUN learning life skills with you! (And don’t worry, shopping is stressful for me too right now, I’m right there with you, there is a 100% chance that either Tori or I will cry in the store or the car on the way home. )

2. Let’s give lots of grace to the mamas in the store/restaurant/church who are dealing with those toddlers meltdown. She’s made the decision to push through the hard and embarrassment of meltdowns and tears to help her kiddo learn how to navigate social situations, and snarky comments/judgmental stares and unsoliced advice are not helpful or edifying in anyway! In fact, having someone tell me “you’re doing great,” or “keep it up, it gets easier!” Is literally something that will brighten my entire day!

Keep it up mama!

Love, Becca

8 ways to chase away the Monday blues

It has been the most stereotypical Monday morning.

My 3 year old peed his bed. My 18 month old had a horrible poop explosion. I spilled my coffee all over our couch. It’s pouring rain. The world is going crazy with awful, unimaginable things. I woke up in a panic from a nightmare at 5am. Liam has run into the bedroom and slammed the door announcing “me grumpy!” Twice.

We’ve just been bombarded by things all morning, and it’s not even 8:30am! It’s tempting to just give up and have a lazy, movie marathon day. Or, we can take a little while to reset our day, and try to reclaim the day.

The “ducky pond” we love near our house that’s normally little has completely flooded the surrounding area in the last 24 hours. We’ve gotten a lot of rain!

These are some of my favorite ways to do that:

-get outside. Spend some time in the sun. If it’s raining, get outside anyway! Fresh air (and a change of scenery) is amazing for resetting moods!

-drink a extra cup of coffee or tea. This is very calming to me, and actually sitting down to enjoy a hot beverage is relaxing!

-read your Bible. I’m catching up on my chapters from Numbers that I missed this weekend.

-Watch the rain from the window. It’s oddly calming to watch the rain drops roll down the window.

-Get some exercise. This is so important and a great way to start the day over! Get those endorphins and the blood pumping through your body!

-Journal a prayer and/or some things your grateful for.

– Read a book for 20 minutes! (Leave a comment and let me know if you want a suggestion! )

-Call or text a friend. It could be something simple. “I was thinking about you!” Or something more involved like getting together. It’s about taking the focus off of you and your bad day, and brightening someone else’s!

We are headed out for a run (in the rain!) in a few minutes, and then we are going to work on doing some of these to help continue to reset our day!

Love,

Becca

5 things I’ve Learned About Smaller Living

We have been living in small spaces for about 2.5 years now. We started out by living in an RV for about 6 months, which we really loved. It was so different learning to live with 1/4 of the stuff we had in our former apartment. But it ended up sparking a new mindset for me, and I am so grateful we’ve had the opportunity learn to live with less. It’s been life changing in many ways!

After 6 months, we needed to move out of the RV, and had a very quick timeline. We found a small local apartment, and moved it! (It’s about 450 Sq feet.) It’s not been without challanges, (there is no oven, so we learned to cook everything in our smoker and other kitchen appliances.) but the way my mindset has changed towards things, and what we really need, has been huge, and I wouldn’t give that up for the biggest house in the world.

1. Kids don’t need as many toys as you’d think.

We have had to keep toys at a minimum, due to lack of space at first, but then because we saw that our littles were more than content with the intentional toys we brought into our home. We’ve also seen them become more creative, and using their imaginations with other things from around the house. We prioritize books, and toys that encourage imaginative play, (instead of electronic toys that sing for example!).

2. If you actually need it, you’ll find space for it.

There have been some things that we thought we needed, and then realized once we’d moved it around multiple times, that if we can’t find a place for it, we don’t truly need it.

3. To be intentional about what we bring into our home.

This was a huge one for me, and I am so thankful to be learning this early in our marriage! With minimal space, and a place for everything, I have to be 100% sure we need something, and that we know where it will go before we buy it! This means that I do lots of research, and think about purchases a while before buying anything, which also has helped us save money.

4. Minimal doesn’t have to mean boring and stark.

I was just looking through pictures from when we first moved in, and it’s amazing how different our apartment looks now. We’ve slowly added little touches and enough decor to make it feel homey and hygge, but not cluttered or overwhelming. It’s a fine line, and means I am always straightening up, because there is no closets or drawers to throw random junk in.

5. Declutter daily

This doesn’t have to be huge or whole closet makeovers. This is just getting rid of the daily clutter, putting stuff back in its designated place, and making sure that things that shouldn’t be in the house are gone. (Garbage, broken things you could fix, but won’t, things that are no longer practical, etc.) It makes a big difference in my mental load to have the visual clutter calmed.

What are some things you’ve learned through through your home or current living situation?

With love,

Becca

Reflections and Challanges

I love January. The way the calander offers a chance for newness. The opportunity to make some goals, and spend some time reflecting on the past year. Setting intentions, and creating a plan for the next year. Whether those goals are attained and go well, or unforeseen circumstances change them, I love taking the time to reflect on growing and learning in the new year.

As 2021 has been winding down, the word that keeps coming to mind when I am thinking about 2022 is Challange. I said it in the post I wrote on my birthday earlier in December, I am looking for a challange, goals to work towards and the drive to keep growing and learning. So this is my list of goals for 2022. They’re not huge or revolutionary. Some are health related, some are going to greatly reduce stress! (Dealing with the photo problem! I’m a huge picture taker, and the thousands of photos are becoming a bigger problem by the day!)

I’m really excited to start working on these, and the opportunity to grow and learn through them in 2022!

⁃ Read 22 intentional books

⁃ Run 12 minute miles. (Pushing double stroller.)

⁃ Learn and incorporate a strengthening workout into my routine.

⁃ Clean up our diet even more.

⁃ Dispose of the paper clutter in our home.

⁃ Organize our digital photos.

⁃ Run 15 miles a week. So at least 780 total in 2022.

⁃ Actively work on cultivating some friendships.

What are some goals you’re seeing in the new year?

Love,

Becca

22 reading challange // 2022

I’ve always been a very avid reader. I was the kid who got in trouble for reading long into the night. My poor eyesite is actually accredited to laying on one side while reading with my flashlight as a child. (That’s why one eye is doubly as bad as the other.)

I’ve done reading challenges (with Goodreads) since 2014, with anywhere from 150 to 35 books, depending on what stage of life I was in! All that to say, I love to read. This year I did pretty in number, around 45 books, and while I’m happy I read, and it was nice to keep my mind engaged, the quality and content was mostly “fluffy” type reads. Mindless stuff I could fit in while my kiddos napped.

In 2022, I’m looking for a challange, and I’d like learn some things. Focusing a little more on quality and content, over numbers for my list.

So this is my 2022 reading challange. I picked 22 because it is catchy, while also a nice number of challenging works, but leaving some wiggle room for recommendations and other books that catch my fancy.

A couple of these are rereads, but ones I thought were worth the extra time, and I’d like to spend more time getting into them.

2022 reading challange!

These are a mix of memoir, nonfiction, self help, and a couple fiction titles I’ve been meaning to read for a while.

1. The Happiness Project, by Gretchen Rubin

2. Grumpy Mom Takes a Holiday, by Valerie Woerner

3. Share your Stuff, I’ll go First, by Laura Tremaine

4. Declutter like a mother, by Allie Casazza

5. Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley

6. When Breath becomes Air, by Paul Kalanithi

7. Wild, by Cheryl Strayed

8. Lillian Boxfish takes a Walk, by Kathleen Rooney

9. Welcome Home, by Myquillyn Smith

10. Landslide, by Susan Conley

11. How to Talk so Little Kids will Listen, by Joanna Faber and Julie King

12. Mrs Mike by Benedict freedman and Nancy freedman

13. Hillbilly Elegy by J.d. Vance

14. Worthy by Elyse Fitzpatrick and Eric Schumacher

15. Uninvited by Luda TerKeurst

16. The Art of Memoir by Mary Karr

17. Hannah Coulter by Wendell Berry

18. The Flirtation Experiment by Phylicia Masonheimer

19. The Next Right Thing, by Emily p. Freeman

20. Burnout by Emily and Amelia Nagasaki

21. Cozy Minimalist home, by Myquillyn Smith

22. The Lazy Genius Kitchen by Kendra Adachi

I’d love to hear about your reading life, lists and any challenges your considering in 2022!

Love,

Becca

Family traditions around Christmas

Liams traditional photo with the stocking he was given from the hospital when he was born on Christmas Eve. I love taking this picture every year! I am excited for when he’s grown, and we have 20 of these photos to look back on! 😍

I am loving traditions more and more every year. Especially with kids that are growing older and more able to participate and create them with us! This year we are staying home for Christmas, and it’s ended up just being us. I’m a little sad about that, I love the family gathering aspect of Christmas, and have struggled this week with not having family close by. But we have so much to be grateful for this year, and we are making memories and traditions together, and I’m really thankful for that.

One of our favorite traditions is watching “Its a wonderful life” together on Christmas Eve. We love Jimmy Stewart’s performance, and the reminder of what is important in life!

We’ve also started driving around a couple nights in December to look at everyone’s beautiful Christmas lights, and it’s really fun! The kids enjoy it, and it’s amazing to see everyone’s displays.

We started reading a family advent book this year, it was very much too old for our kids, and we’ve missed days here and there, but it was nice to be a little more grounded in the reason for Christmas, and to help our kiddos start learning that.

I’d love to hear about your families favorite holiday traditions! ❤️🎄

Love,

Becca

Birthday Thoughts 2021

Here’s to 25! 😍

The past couple years have been long, and so very busy. But they have also been amazing, beautiful, and life changing in the best ways! (Kids. 😉) I am feeling settled in our routines, and loving the stage we are in right now!

I’ve loved the idea of picking a word for new year, and the past couple weeks I’ve been mulling over what a new year means and looks like for me and the word I keep coming back to is challenge.

I’m wanting a challange, and some goals to work towards. The drive to keep learning, to grow.

I have some fitness and health goals I’d like to work towards over the next months. I love to read, so I’m working on a list of books to learn new things, and expand some of my interests. I want to work on pursuing and strengthening friendships, and relationships. To keep working towards on my roles as a mama and wife. Birthdays are a little weird, but they’re also a good time to set some goals and intentions for the next year, and I like putting things out there, (i.e. on Instagram or here.) it kind of feels like accountability for me. That’s been a big help with learning to run this year. 😊❤️

With love,

Becca

It’s okay to Ask for Help

Yesterday last year Tori was having surgery on her eye.

It was a really hard day for me. Handing my 7 week old baby off to a nurse, and walking out of the room was torture. I had a panic attack in the room, and the second nurse gave me a hug, even though she wasn’t supposed to.

It took a little over 3 hours. We sat 4 floors down, waiting for a phone call from the surgeon, and then for the nurses to let me come up. They won’t let you stay with your children as they wake up, and the nurse told me they waited too long to call me, so by the time I got up to her, she was hysterical, and it took over an hour to calm her down.

With her birthday last month, and coming up on the holidays, I’ve been thinking about where we where this time last year. It was such a joyful time, with a newborn, getting to watch Liam become and thrive as a big brother. We were so in love with our little family.

But it was also the hardest time. Looking back makes me so sad too. Between her eye surgery/appointments/care and the tongue tie issues/pumping/bottle feeding and just being postpartum in general, I feel like I completely missed her newborn stage. We were up every 2 hours every night for 4 months, trying to keep her weight and my supply up, and when you’re sleep deprived, everything melds together. It’s just a blur. There wasn’t enough time to just soak up the newborn snuggles, and it hurts that it is gone so fast and forever.

It’s strange that something can be both the most magical happy time, but also the hardest and darkest time too.

All this is to say 2 things:

1. Soak up the little moments with your kids. They grow and learn so fast. Slow down, when you’re able, hold them longer, they’re only little for a couple years, and then they’re independent little people.

2. The hard times don’t last forever. Things will get better. So if you’re struggling, it’s okay to slow down, and go into survival mode for a while. Ask for help, and then actually let them help!

Love,

Becca Weston