I didn’t do a monthly favorites last week because I shared my Second Trimester Favorites Video, but there have been a few things both intangible and tangible that have been extra special to me in the past month of quarantine life. Here are some photos and a little peek into the items and routines making my days much sweeter lately. 

1. Trying to differentiate days. We’ve been home for a full month now and without things on the calendar like “lunch meeting on Tuesday” and “date night out on Friday” things tend to muddle together pretty quickly. A few things we’ve done and stuck to are only doing shows/movies on the weekend (starting with Dinner and Dessert Family Date Night on Fridays where we eat dinner while watching a movie together) as well as saving sweets for the weekend as well. O and I get in bed by 9:30 every weeknight and stay up as late as our little hearts desire all weekend long and the kids have a sleepover in Lema’s room every day of the weekend as well. Throwing in little surprises like a movie night and family sleepover last Thursday as well as activities to look forward to like tie-dye and baking on weekdays have made all the difference.

2. My nightgown and favorite pajamas have become the only thing I want to wear. You guys are scooping them up too after I shared this blog post and I LOVE hearing your rave reviews too. I don’t know what magic they weave into the fabric but I don’t think I could have done the entirety of this pregnancy half as joyfully without these to look forward to. I loved them before the bump but truly cherish them now.

3. Taking at least one day a week of social media + the news. Oh my goodness, how this has helped my heart. I don’t know about you, but I was really battling anxiety in the first couple weeks. I realized in prayer that I was making it harder on myself than I needed to and consuming far too much content, information and worldly perspective. Taking every Wednesday off has truly been a joy I couldn’t have imagined. Sometimes I throw a weekend day in there too. Above all else, guard your heart.

4. Making our home a place we truly enjoy being. We were at the start of our house hunt when I began hearing about the virus. By the time we were quarantined, we had narrowed it down to our three favorites and were in the heat of our search. It’s a bit discouraging to be coming up on another year lease for our rental property and confused as to how we’re still here (we planned on living here a few months-this will mark two full years!) but we’re so grateful to have this space to call home and make our own. The combination of baby arriving next month and the pandemic forcing us to stay in these walls for weeks at a time-we’re on day 32-has me in an organizing, decluttering and decorating frenzy. My favorite Home Decor store, McGee & Co, is having a sale on all pillows and decor that lasts through TODAY. Here are some favorite picks of mine and I just placed a big order to finish the nursery.

5. Listening to the Bible via the Dwell App has been such a gift to be in the past month, specifically. I personally need to meditate on scripture and have it wash over me to break patterns of fear, anxiety and overwhelm in my own heart. The Plans “Stop Toxic Thoughts” and “Faith Over Fear” have played for hours on end and it’s such a beautiful way to memorize scripture and have the people I love most listening to these things as a by-products as well. There are plans for pretty much everything you’re facing that allow you to listen to curated verses that will help you in a specific situation. I love this app so very much.

6. Muffin tin lunches. I haven’t eaten a meal that I didn’t cook in a full month. To be fair, O makes breakfast every Wednesday and Saturday and since the quarantine he’s been making dinner once a week too and that has been SO wonderful, but the logistics of planning out what we’ll eat in a day every single day is typically on me. Because we homeschool this isn’t drastically different for us but I could count on sending the kids to school two days a week which meant their lunches were packed and not something I needed to address when lunch rolled around on school days. It’s a small thing since I was still packing their lunches but in the past month I’ve found that breakfast and dinner aren’t an issue, but making and cleaning up breakfast AND lunch AND dinner every.single.day for 32 days is just a lot. A couple days a week I’ll throw together a quick muffin tin lunch filled with a bunch of different snacks and proteins and fruits and veggies, turn on a story via Sparkle Stories and call it a day. The kids love it so much but I probably love it even more.

7. Keeping Friday Date Nights. I love doing life with O. It’s my very favorite thing. We spend so much time together and do so much of our day-to-day life together on a regular basis that intentional “date night” can often feel unnecessary. We actually spent a couple years of parenthood believing that was true and it took a toll on us slowly but surely. We committed to Friday Date Nights last year and have stuck to them even through this pandemic time. The kids and I bake a family treat together, we have family date night first, we get the littles to bed at a decent hour (between 7:30 and 8:30…we always aim for closer to 7:30) and then our date night begins. Sure, I can’t wait until the day we can go pick up food from our favorite restaurant again or go see a movie outside of our bedroom but this time has still been so sweet and something we truly cherish.