A look at life, lately.

In many ways, life is full and at times stressful. My last post was a lot of fun to write, and I feel really proud of it, actually. Obviously I gravitated toward the heavier stories rather than the light and happy ones, though I did my best to create a balance. The truth is that lately, our family has been doing really well. Every day has its hard moments, of course, but I largely feel like we are out of the woods.  I know how to thrive. I am really good at setting boundaries for what we can and cannot handle as a family. I am good at pushing those boundaries to make sure that I am not saying "no" to opportunities to get out more than I am saying "yes". So anyway, here is a look at what we've been up to lately, in pictures :) 

Visits with Grammy, Pappy, Uncle Josh, and Aunt "Joo-wee"

We took a roadtrip to Sandusky Ohio to meet up and go to an indoor waterpark :) Everyone had a great time and loved the water! 

We have been spending a lot of time up at my parent's cottage, where we have a lot of help managing the little people. Piper loves swimming and playing in the sand. Nora loves eating handfuls of the sand. Ruby loves looking at the sand ;-)

Where would we be without Grandma Deb? 

Josh and I have taken up sailing as a hobby. It's been a dream we've had for a few years, and now we own two little sailboats; a laser and a sunfish. We've had a blast learning, succeeding, failing and getting stuck in the weeds, and taking Piper out when the wind is weak. It has been so fun to realize this dream on a small scale and start looking ahead at what the future could hold, too.

We go to parks, the library, and the farmer's market. We get dressed and take care of ourselves and our home every day. I love putting the babies in matching outfits and bows in Piper's hair. 

I get away and take care of myself. I went to see Taylor Swift a couple of months ago, got a pedicure a couple of weeks ago, and I'm no longer afraid to load all of the girls up to go grab a coffee or run to Target if I'm feeling like I need an extra treat/pick-me-up for the day.

 

We have family over to our house for get togethers and celebrations. We've learned that staying home is often a lot easier than going out, so we try to bring people here and family here as often as possible. This is one of my favorite pictures ever from Uncle Brad's birthday party at our house :)

Josh has been super busy with work, so when we have days or afternoons with him, we make the best of it and head to splash pads, parks, and bike rides. 

and when he isn't home, we send him selfies and texts to know we're doing ok and cheering him on :)

Even on days when I work, I dig deep, take it easy, and still do my best to be an engaged mom. A few weeks ago it was pouring rain and Piper was pretty fascinated by it. The babies were asleep, so we went outside and splashed and danced in the rain together. Will she remember? I have no idea. But I know I will.

We play dress up, go for walks, meet up with friends, and try our hand at getting dressed up and going out to eat.

and every once in a great while, all three girls will fall asleep in the middle of a beautiful afternoon, so I will quickly throw on my bathing suit, grab my favorite magazine, and lay out in the sun for a little bit (and send gratuitous snapchats of myself to my siblings ;-) ). 

So there you have it. A more balanced look at life lately. Obviously we have had ups and downs, and I like to share both sides of this parenting journey. I feel vulnerable sharing posts like my previous one because I am sharing intimate moments of my weaknesses. But overall, I feel very confident in who I am as a mother. I feel like, in general, I am absolutely rocking this mom of 3 thing. and because I feel so secure in who I am right now and who we are right now and how we're doing right now, I don't mind sharing the ugly. I hope that, by sharing the ugly, other moms are encouraged. I know I'm not alone in those hard moments, but I suspect a lot of other moms do feel alone. And rather than write an "open letter to a mom with Littles" that gives blank generalizations of, "I know how hard it is for you, momma of littles, to make it through the day" blah blah blah, I choose to say, "Hey, here are my hard moments. and I made it through that day", and you can too.