Life Lately: Family Focused

Hi there friends. I hope your week is off to a good start. Finn and I have relocated for the week!

We flew down to Florida yesterday to spend the week with my grandmother. We haven’t been here to visit since late June (we’ve had several trips not work out for various reasons) and my parents aren’t here right now so it was the perfect time to pop down and keep her company.

Finn was a great traveler. He received a junior officer sticker from TSA when we went through security. He put it on his shirt and walked through the terminal telling everyone he was a “police kid.” It was very cute. Surprisingly, Finn wasn’t interested in his tablet (he only gets it when we are traveling) and spent most of the flight looking out the window, snacking and snuggling with me.

Backtracking a bit…we’ve had a lot going on recently.

My mom stayed with us for a week and a half and then my dad drove up from Florida to meet us in Charlotte. It was his first time seeing my new house since I bought it last August so it was nice to show him around. Zoey was in heaven when my dad was here. They are two peas in a pod. Zoey’s SEVENTH birthday is tomorrow. I can’t even believe it.

My dad brought their 14-year-old golden Sam with him for the trip. Sam is overall healthy and happy but has some mobility challenges with his back legs and is on some daily medications that my dad manages. Sam does much better being with my parents so that’s why he made the long journey. He had a bit of a hard time on my hardwood floors but did great with my two pups and was even trying to instigate play with them.

My parents left last Thursday to head to Durham for some appointments at Duke. My mom is really sick and we are working with the team at Duke to determine our options moving forward. I haven’t shared this online because it’s felt deeply personal for my family and I want to respect my mom’s privacy. At this point it feels like the right thing to give you guys a high-level overview of what’s going on because it has impacted my presence here as well as the overall state of my heart and mind. I will share more when we know more if my mom is okay with it. In the meantime, we would very much appreciate your prayers.

Finn was a beacon of light during my mom’s visit and helped to boost everyone’s spirits. On this day we had a picnic on the back patio and sat outside for most of the afternoon enjoying the cooler fall weather.

Running has been a saving grace for me, as it usually is during stressful and/or tough times.

Lastly, I did some fall decorating before we left for Florida. I’ve been on a nesting kick lately and it’s been nice to make things feel a little cozier at home. I had custom swags made for my front door and side door from someone here in town that I randomly discovered on Instagram one night. I think she did a great job. I also did the mum and pumpkin thing. Obviously, my mums need to bloom but I learned my lesson years ago about buying them already blooming because they don’t last very long. Hoping I can hold onto these until we’re ready to decorate for Christmas.

Signing off to hang out with Finn and Mema today. I’ll be back with some business as usual kind of posts (book round ups, stroller reviews, etc) as well as life updates in the next couple of weeks.

xo,
Jen