Welcome to my Scenes From the Month series! In these posts, I share the highlights from my previous month (or five..) ranging from the simple, everyday things to the more memorable events. One of the primary reasons that I blog is to keep a scrapbook that I can look back on in the future, and these posts help serve that purpose. Now that I have babies, everyday moments are extra special!
I’m simultaneously wondering “Where has 2020 gone?”, and “When the heck will it be over?” This post is going to be long enough, so let’s not get into the sad things that have happened in the world since I last posted a Scenes From the Month post. Instead, let’s chat about a few highlights from the first five months of our time as a family of four. It’s really hard for me to do this, but I’m limiting myself to only four photos each month, or else this post would never end! Limiting the photos means they are going to primarily be focused on my kiddos because they are the major highlight of my months, but if I’m able to start posting these monthly again, I hope to continue sharing the smaller highlights from the month such as books, coffee, home decor, etc.
April
On April 6th, we welcomed our second baby boy to the family. In the first week leading up to Caden’s birth, we spent as much time as we could with Carson, our toddler, who was soon to no longer be an only child. Carson and Daddy built a fort, and we took several family walks. My parents came to meet Caden the weekend after he was born – they kept Carson while we were in the hospital delivering Caden. On April 24th, we celebrated Carson’s second birthday! We had planned a fun, outdoor Curious George-themed party for him, but that was unfortunately canceled due to the pandemic. We made the most of it by using the decorations I already had collected and having a family Zoom call. Carson loved the attention (and the blue icing on his cupcake!).
In the month of May, we did fun, very low-key things for Mother’s Day, my birthday, and our nine year anniversary. For Mother’s Day, we took a short walk on some local trails. For my birthday, we did donuts for breakfast and a cheese plate for dinner (my faves). And for our anniversary, we did takeout from our favorite local restaurant, Emmer & Rye. And, of course, we also spent lots of time with our babies on those days. Also this month, many family members came to visit and meet Baby Caden – my sister Ellen & her husband (then fiance) Lane came from Dallas, my sister Elizabeth and her husband Jason brought over Chinese food, my brother came from Waco, and my in-laws came from Fort Worth. We also did some fun things with Carson, like make pizza! It is challenging to entertain a toddler with a newborn during COVID-19 times!
In June, we made the decision to send Carson back to part-time daycare so that he could play with friends and be engaged in activities all day. The top left photo is Carson the morning of his first day back at school – he was ecstatic! Ellen & Lane were married in a small (incredibly beautiful) ceremony on June 13th. We traveled to Dallas for the wedding – our first road trip as a family of four! We celebrated Father’s Day by going to a farm and winery, and a couple other weekends, we went swimming in our new over-sized kiddie pool in the backyard!
For July 4th, we went to my parents’ house in San Antonio for the weekend, celebrating with all of my siblings and their SOs too. We did what we could to keep everyone entertained, fed, and happy this month. One weekend, we found some green space in Austin to hang out and burn off some energy. Carson also enjoyed learning about the Armor of God and crafting his own armor in virtual VBS through our church. To be honest, this was one of the harder months we’ve had in a long time because of lack of sleep, the weather being way too hot to spend much time outside (#Texas), and getting deep into the tough parts of raising a two-year-old, but we have some wonderful memories from it.
And for the final month of this post, my friend Kaitlin came to visit from DC (much needed girl time!), Caden continued smiling all the time, and we enjoyed lots of water activities, including a backyard splash pad, and our neighborhood pool. We also went to the zoo one weekend, and Carson went to my parents’ for one weekend so that we could move Caden into his own room and start sleep training him. We use the Taking Cara Babies method – it worked in two nights for Carson! It’s taking a bit longer for Caden, but I think we are close to having another great little sleeper. Oh, and Caden has started playing with his toes and his voice which is adorable.
These months were so strange but also such a beautiful first chapter of life with our little family of four.
{Thanks for reading! Want to know a little more about me? I’m a CPA learning how to balance a career with motherhood and regular travel while planting roots at home in the Austin, TX area. When I’m not exploring my home city with my husband Daniel and baby boys Carson and Caden or cuddling with my chubby orange cat Banana, I’m probably either out on a playdate with my son or planning, packing for, traveling to, or daydreaming about our next adventure. After all, my travel mug collection is never complete. If you have wanderlust too, be sure to follow me on Instagram (and InstaStories!), Pinterest, and Facebook, or subscribe to my blog!}