First Trimester Recap (Baby 2)

Well hello, old friends! It’s been awhile since I’ve dusted off my editing page on here, and the familiarity of it all sure feels nice to come back to.

If you don’t follow me on social media, you wouldn’t have heard the news, but as you can see… we’re expecting our second child! We’re so very excited and feel extremely blessed to be welcoming this new baby in early October. I made mention of this on Instagram, but I’m not going to be sharing the infertility aspect this time around. It still took us a while, but I’m not going into detail… UNLESS you honestly are curious! I really am an open book, but just feel like by now, you know we have fertility struggles, so if you want the deets on this time around, don’t hesitate to ask. Even if you’re just feeling nosey! I really don’t mind and always feel like sharing these topics helps to normalize the conversations surrounding them.

Anyway, I guess I just sort of decided, why not document this pregnancy too? I’ve found myself looking back at my recaps of my last pregnancy to see what things lined up and so on or to remind myself what to expect. I’ll use the same format as before, so here we go…!

Symptoms

Nausea - oh boy did this hit me like a ton of bricks right off the bat. I was puking every day (sometimes multiple times!) until i started taking a combo of Unisom + B6 around week 7 or 8. The nausea didn’t disappear, but it did tame my puking which I so desperately needed. Though I did learn walking and eating for some reason really set me off. Once while chewing a bite of pbj, I gagged a little too hard, and THANKFULLY Tom scattered barf bags all around the house because I snagged one in the dining room and lost it right there. Haha.. definitely funny in retrospect!
Tired - there is nothing quite like first trimester exhaustion!
Sore boobies - I miss laying on my belly to sleep haha
Metallic taste - this was new and bleck!
Food aversions - it seemed like they’ve been a lot stronger this pregnancy. Almost NOTHING sounded good for the first mannnnnyyy weeks. Maybe until week 11? I mostly ate fruit, drank juice or chocolate soy milk, ate granola bars, and sometimes potatoes or eggs. So. much. gagging. Also lots of crying at the dinner table when I couldn’t stand to eat anything on my plate but was so hungry.
Sensitive to smells - oh the joys of dog food, poopy diapers, coffee, and the trash can.
Crampy - just occasionally. I remember feeling more cramping in the first trimester with Silas.
Spotting - this was a new one and a bit scary. I spotted in the 6th week and the 9th week. Thankfully it resolved and didn’t get serious, but I didn’t experience that with Silas, so I had an ultrasound right at 7 weeks to check things out. All was fine.
Emotional - hello hormones! All the cheesy things make me cry. Also a little more moody this time around. Had a harder time being excited and honestly felt sort of depressed for most of the trimester.
Acne - ugh such a bummer
Vivid dreams - I love this part of pregnancy. Such weird, insanely vivid dreams!

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Cravings

Nothing I craved - just finally a break in the food aversions and something would sound good. Once it was my mom’s pot roast and potatoes (they were in town), and puddings and ice cream hahaha

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First Trimester Journal

Weeks 4-8

I found out about this pregnancy REALLY early. I went in for confirmation bloodwork on week FOUR. In that bloodwork they check all your hormone levels, and they again put me on a low dose of progesterone to help support the pregnancy (my HCG was perfect, though). I was on it with Silas too. I spotted for a day or two on week 6, and promptly got in for an ultrasound on week 7. Baby was measuring EXACTLY on track based on my dates! It was such a relief to see and hear that tiny heart beating. Tom, unfortunately, was home with Silas so he missed the only ultrasound he could have been to (since Covid-19 restrictions started a few weeks later). They said the spotting likely came from an ovarian cyst that was resolving itself. Tom had a lot of travel during this time - a trip to Idaho, and another just a few days later to DC. This was honestly a lot for me just because of the timing and the intense nausea while taking care of a busy, needy toddler. Cooking food during this time was just horrendous. My parents were planning on stopping back through after spending the winter in Florida, but I called them up, spilled the beans, and asked them to come early and stay while Tom was out of town to keep me company and give me a break from Silas. Thankfully they were happy to oblige and my mom made us some delicious meals. We even snuck in a little date while they were here!

Weeks 9-12

Already started peeing all the time again - including in the night. We brought my lovely pregnancy pillow out of retirement (I cannot for the life of me stay on my side at night), along with all my old maternity clothes that I washed and tried on :) On week 9, I spotted again. It lasted a couple days and I tried not to worry, but it certainly crept in.
Week 10 on the dot, I had my first regular OB visit. Tom came along with Silas and we all got to hear the heart together. Always a relief - especially after spotting the week before. Silas got too squirmy, so the boys left and I got to have a great talk with my OB. She is seriously just the BEST and I’m so incredibly grateful a friend referred me to her when we moved here! The following weeks were more of the same with food aversions and nausea and just trying to survive while taking care of Silas and getting us fed without throwing up. I stopped taking progesterone at 13 weeks, and we announced around this time.

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This time around was in many ways the same, but of course, extremely different too (is anyone surprised? Different pregnancy, different baby, etc…). I think the biggest difference this time around was how irritated I felt. Maybe not irritated… but… I can never find the right word or description. I just wasn’t very excited. I was excited, of course, but the overarching feeling I had was frustration. Frustrated that it kept me from being a “good” mom to Silas and we spent too much time watching shows while I was curled up trying not to vomit. Frustrated that I wasn’t grateful enough. Frustrated that I felt like such a shell of myself.

So then on top of all these feelings, Nashville schools were shutting down over illness, so I stayed home to avoid getting whatever everyone else was getting.
Then the horrific tornado ripped through and they asked any extra people to stay off the backed up roads, so I stayed home.
And then Covid-19 hit. And I’ve STAYED HOME. I’ve stayed home for nearly two months by now.

It’s a weird time to be pregnant. We have our anatomy scan in May, and Tom can’t come. It all feels very anticlimactic. Like I got pregnant, and have been home practically ever since. Our church family doesn’t even know! So when we get back to worship, they’ll all be in for an obvious surprise - haha!

Anyway. It feels so much better to be in the second trimester, now. My weird/sad mood has lifted, I’m starting to feel movement, and Silas now sticks his finger in my belly button when I ask him where the baby is (haha it HAS to be directly in my belly button, not just my belly - it kills me hahaha). But he gives the baby kisses already and the thought of him being a big brother is super sweet and exciting. Though also a little sad he won’t be my only baby anymore! He’s such a mama’s boy and he is about to get the shock of his little lifetime!

That’s all for now! See you at the end of next trimester ♥️

Day in the Life

To follow-up my reintroduction to blogging, I thought it would be fun to do a Day in the Life post! I’ve never done one, and it’s been requested a few times, so here we go…!

6:00am

Little bubba wakes up and comes to our bed for a quick nurse and snuggle.

A little off from the usual routine, I jump in the shower right away and get myself ready.

7:00am

The whole family hops in the car for a coffee date near Tom’s office. My car is in the shop indefinitely, so why not have a little fun with just one vehicle for the next few days? It’s a beautiful morning and always fun to see the city before it’s bustling. We go to CREMA, which I’ve not been to yet, and share a muffin and have a relaxing chat over coffee and let Silas hold our fingers as he toddles around (SO close to walking!)

8:00am

We say goodbye to Dada, and Silas and I head back home where he eats a little more breakfast, Hondo gets the rest of his breakfast and we play for a little bit and have a little snuggle-time before nap.

9:00am

Silas goes down for a nap. I go to the basement to talk to my sister on the phone and start this blog post. Hondo follows me, as usual, because the basement is his favorite place.

10:00am

Silas is STILL sleeping! His naps have been short and difficult lately because of his new tooth, but maybe we’ve finally made it over the hump for now.

10:15am

Annnnd he’s up! Honestly for him, an hour and fifteen is a good nap. He woke up in a great mood and we’ll spend the next hour or so playing and maybe prepping some lunch. I realize I haven’t eaten anything besides a few very small pieces of a muffin, so I whip up two eggs with some green onions and scarf them down before I pass out - haha!

11:30am

We have a little lunch because Silas is getting grumpy and clingy. I make him a quesadilla and peaches while I heat up some Trader Joe’s frozen dinner thing. Mine is yuck so I throw it away, but I’m crazy hungry, so I eat some Doritos and graham crackers to get something in my system.

12:30pm

We play a little more and let Hondo outside. The outdoor area got wet from the rain last night, so it’s no good for us to play on until later. So instead, we make a run to Target for a hair dryer since a part of mine broke yesterday.

12:45pm

We get to Target and I realize Silas is poopy. Rarely does this happen, but I get him to the bathroom and take care of that before I shop. We’ve been working on saying “hi” and waving, but Silas is pretty shy (and sweet) with others, so he hasn’t actually been successful. Today, though, he kept randomly practicing his wave throughout the aisles, and promptly blushing and trying to hug me once I took notice. He is the sweetest little bug!

1:30pm

Back at home, a neighbor is getting a dead tree removed and shredded. We can’t miss the chance to watch that, so we sit in the yard for a while and Silas is mesmerized. Back inside, we clean up the toys we got out.

2:00pm

Nap time! Even with the noise of the tree shredding machinery, he goes down easy with a short nursing session. I sit down to rest because (full disclosure) my cramps are super bad and I’m tired and want a peanut butter cookie… or ten. I open up Amazon and add a few necessities to my cart, and by 2:40, he’s still sleeping, so I chance a little nap for myself.

3:05pm

He took a good nap! And so did I :) Honestly can’t remember the last time I napped in the day, but it feels good. We play with Hondo, spend a long while on the deck, have a snack, and watch a little bit of Peppa Pig when Silas starts getting clingy and needy for no reason.

4:20pm

We head to the train station and wait for Dada. While we wait, I get Silas out of his seat to sit on my lap so he can see a train up close. The train comes, Dada comes our way, and off it goes with a loud CHOO! Big smiles from Si!

4:45pm

At home, Silas and Tom play while I make dinner. Tonight it happened to be a recipe I’ve shared on the blog - a favorite in this house… veggie flatbread pizza!

6:00pm

Bath time! While I do bath, Tom cleans up dinner and makes something for dessert whiiiiich we will eat after bedtime.

6:30pm

Lotion, snuggles, jammies, books and trimming finger nails. Every night, when I pick him up after putting on lotion, he wraps his arms tight around my neck for the sweetest snuggle while he hums quietly. It’s the cutest thing.

7:00pm

Silas goes to bed, we finish cleaning up the kitchen, feed Hondo, and sit down to put on a show in the background while we talk and work and hang out. And eat chocolate peanut butter “pie.”

10:30pm

Bedtime for mom, dad, and Hondo.

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*Things I did NOT get done: 2 loads of laundry, a few dishes, some floors vacuumed, some items put away, enough snuggles for my Hondo

There you have it, friends! Nothing very exciting or extraordinary. Just an ordinary day with my little family. Being a mom. Picking up the little person who clings on my legs while I work in the kitchen because he just wants a hug. Teaching him how to say hi and give kisses and nod his head “yes.” I wouldn’t want my days to look any different than how they are now. And at 4:35pm, when Dada walks in the door, after someone has been hugging me all day, I get to hug him, and it feels so good. Well, and Hondo. But Hondo mostly spends the day laying down and getting up a thousand times. Thanks for coming along!

Did you like this post? Would you want see something similar to this in the future? Gauging things now that I’m back… blogging feels so foreign!

Where I've Been

Since Silas was born, I’ve posted ten times. Just ten.

Since 2019 began? Once.

In years past, I was posting anywhere from fifty to seventy-one over the course of the year. (not bad!)

You know what’s funny though? I don’t feel guilty. I don’t feel like I’ve let people down. I don’t feel like someone else’s world has come to screeching halt because I’ve set blogging aside.

Do I think some of my loyal followers miss me? Sure! But if I know them like I think I do, I know they understand. They know how much Tom and I have waited for this stage of life to happen, and now that we’ve been living it for the past while, we’re just loving soaking in every moment.

So no, I don’t feel guilty. Life behind the scenes has been pretty routine, and not always very exciting (wake, eat, play, nap, wake, eat, play, nap, wake, play, eat, bath, bed - - - repeat tomorrow), but it’s been such a complete joy to watch our sweet boy grow. He has been our bad napper since forever, he’s obsessed with his mama, and when he’s awake is super sweet, easy going, and engaging. He’s constantly cracking us up, and just popped his third tooth! I don’t feel an ounce of guilt for taking this time to “just” be a stay at home mom. It’s what I’ve always wanted.
And nah, I don’t feel like I’ve let people down. That insinuates that someone was counting on you. Maybe some have missed me (I’ve missed you all too! But I hope you’ve been hanging with me on the ‘Gram), but overall, I’ve not dropped out on any brands I could have been working with or left you all completely hanging (again, Instagram!).
Surely, NO ONE’S world came to a screeching halt without me. If it did, gosh I’m just so sorry, and I hope this post gives you some relief ;) haha… but basically what I’m saying is, I’ve been gone. I’ve been happy. Happier than I’ve probably EVER been. But more and more, as I squeeze-in needed moments away from my son, I find myself drawn back to my little blogging “home” on the internets. To the familiar editing page, and the sound and feel of a keyboard under my fingers. It feels good, friends. I think I’m ready.

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So in the old-school style of journal-blogging, let me tell you where I’ve been.

I have been…

changing diapers
rocking and bouncing
doing mountains of laundry
snuggling our bear-dog
getting trapped under a sleeping baby
nursing for a million hours (and still going, if you’re curious)
roadtripping to Asheville for a wedding
hosting at least seven different times
going to the zoo
roadtripping to Indiana
roadtripping to Iowa and Illinois
flying to Wisconsin
making 8 million trips to Target
falling more in love with my Thomas
loving life in Nashville
going on lunch dates
eating more veggies
enjoying nightly cookies
watching our baby learn to roll, crawl, walk, talk, pull-up, find his feet, find his tongue, wave hi and bye…
binging lots of The Office and Parks and Rec
navigating those sleepless nights with an infant
having full nights of beauty rest after 9.5 months
appreciating coffee
loving and speaking kindly to my body
giving baths
applying lotion and sunscreen and butt paste
taking temperatures and giving medicines
soothing a grumpy child
saying “no no, Silas” over and over
kissing bumped heads
telling Hondo “leave it” as he smothers his brother with licks
getting my first tan since moving south!
doing Weight Watchers
dancing in the kitchen and smooching my whole family
picking up toys
cleaning up the highchair
stealing away moments alone
missing my baby while he sleeps

LIVING LIFE

So here I am again. Ready to bring Joy Lynn Lifestyle back to life. I’m not entirely sure where to go from here, and I need to dust off my Canon and take a few practice shoots, but I think for a while I might just journal here like the old days of blogging.

I’ll fill you in on what’s been keeping us busy (or not busy!), what things we’ve been loving, a house tour, a day in the life, struggles, joys, baking adventures… whatever I can think of. It feels like time to write and to hang out in this space again. I’ve spent mannnnny hours on Instagram over the last year, and while there are many uplifting and encouraging facets to that platform, there’s also a TON of BUY BUY BUY, GO GO GO, DO DO DO… and well, I’m not one that needs or thrives on constantly pushing myself towards things that, in the end, are just shallow. I like to simply live. Just be. Just love and appreciate all that I already have, not what I think might ‘be better.’ Do you feel that way? Am I just some crazy lady over here that sees people always going and am extremely content just to take in what’s right here?

Anyway. All that to say… hey guys. I missed ya. Thanks for coming back right now, and for understanding the happy reasons for my hiatus. It’s really been a swell first year of my baby’s life :) But mama needs some time to herself and to come back ‘home’ online.

And I hope you’ve all been doing well over the last year, too! Have I missed anything? Tell me all about it! What are some highlights I may have missed in YOUR lives?!

Joy's Nashville Favorites

Last update 5/8/19

Now that we’ve lived in Nashville a year, and many of my social media friends and followers are well aware that we live here, I regularly get asked for recommendations on places to eat and play and see. Since my list has grown over the last year, and I am still finding new places, I have a hard time fitting all my recommendations into one Instagram message. Sooooo I figured now is as good a time as any to put together my full list of Nashville favorites, which I will come back to regularly to update as I continue to find new favorites.

Now, keep in mind, we moved here when I was a pregnant sea cow, and then I had a baby and spent many months indoors… BUT we still explore as often as we get the chance. Bolded places are NOT as family friendly. Also, I’ll note if anything is dog-friendly.

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Coffee Shops

This is its own category since they’re all amazing. Keep in mind, a few of these have multiple locations, but they’re all great!

• Crema

• Barista Parlor

• Dose

• Caliber

• Steadfast

• 8th and Roast

• Cafe Roze (also, great food menu)

• Portland Brew

• Ugly Mugs

• Frothy Monkey

• Bowtie Barista

• Red Bicycle

Restaurants

• Mas Tacos Por Favor

• Joey’s House of Pizza

• Phat Bites

• Pinewood Social

• Nectar Urban Cantina - dog friendly and very family friendly with outdoor live music

• 5th & Taylor

• Oak Steakhouse

• Sindoore Indian

• Chauhan Ale & Masala House

• Chaatable

• Hemingway’s Bar and Hideaway

• Martin’s BBQ

• Mitchell Delicatessen

• Lockeland Table

• Tacos y Mariscos Lindo Mexico (hole in the wall in Madison - get the chicken)

• Burger Up

• Restoration Hardware Cafe

• Hattie B’s Hot Chicken

• Clawson’s Deli

• Hathorne

• Fat Bottom Brewing Co. (chicken salad)

• Coco’s Italian Market

Sweets

• Shipley’s Donuts

• Five Daughter’s Bakery (beware! overpriced and very sweet, but a good treat - just don’t go overboard!)

• Soda Parlor

• Olive and Sinclair (Chocolate Co.)

To Do

• Nashville Zoo

• Opryland

• State Museum

• Nashville Farmer’s Market

• Hill Center Mall (Green Hills area) - almost all stores are dog friendly!

• Broadway - touristy, but entertaining night life/live music if that’s what you’re looking for

• Germantown neighborhood - shops and restaurants

• The Green Hour (Thurs-Sat only - bar)

• Rudy’s Jazz Room

• Lane Motor Museum

• Two River’s Dog Park

• 12 South (food and shopping)

• The Gulch (if you’re into murals… haha oh boy)

• Any of the many breweries (Yazoo, Fat Bottom, Black Abbey, Nashville Brewing, Jackalope, etc..)

2018 Reflections

And just like that, 2018 has come to a close.

Oh friends, what a year this has been. For me, it has been one of the best years of my life, and yet I know that for others, it may have been the most painful. Before I go on, I want to acknowledge that. If there is anything that infertility has taught me, it’s that perspective+empathy is a winning combination for tact and compassion. I know I’m not perfectly tactful all the time, and not perfectly compassionate, but I hope that I’ve become better at it. I have been on the side of doling out grace (as we all have!) when people do and say tactless things. Thoughtless things. When they unknowingly (or knowingly) broach a subject that will illicit hurt. I try to remember the perspective I’ve gained, and try to be gentler with my words. I write a little less adamantly these days, because I think fewer opinions are black and white.

Don’t get me wrong, I still have an awful lot of opinions… haha!

But I guess the path of two years of infertility, followed by the birth of our precious baby boy, has taught me to be a little kinder, a little more guarded, and yet be willing to open up when the moment and people are right.

Receiving messages from readers and followers who have been touched by infertility, or motherhood topics, or are traveling to Iceland, or love Bernese Mountain Dogs, continues to be my favorite part of having this little space online. I love connecting with people and I hope my words offer hope or guidance or even just a good story. As I looked over a couple messages I received over the last month, I read one to Tom and said, “You know, sometimes I just want to close up shop, and let blogging end here while I stay at home with Silas. But it’s these messages that make it worth it. I know I have people who read and never reach out, and that’s okay… but it sure would encourage me to keep going if this happened more regularly!” and we laughed and that’s when I decided to dust off my editing page again.

I really hope those of you out there, who still bother to come by this little space, enjoy the far and in-between writings of this Tennessee momma. In the new year, I plan on making Joy Lynn a place I come back to regularly again. Though I must admit, the last seven and a half months with my boy have been absolutely blissful. Tiring. But blissful. All that to say - please reach out if the mood strikes. I promise I don’t bite! Message me on Instagram, Facebook, or email me here.

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Now, on to reflections of this year:

As you can guess, it was one that was overwhelmingly baby-focused. As I was rocking my not-so-little 19lb baby to sleep, tonight, I hugged him tightly, and realized how quickly it all goes. I realized this is the last night I would lay down my baby in the year he was born. In the year I became a momma. (Can you tell I’ve become a giant sap since becoming a mother?! haha). Though, I’m so looking forward to 2019 and enjoying the spring and summer with a toddler instead of a newborn.

This year, I’ve learned that…

• no good comes of comparing your parenting choices with someone else’s.

• all babies are different.

• with a new baby, comes a new level of communication with your spouse.

• you have got to have a sense of humor for every stage and season of life or you’ll go crazy and be miserable.

• overly serious people are not our kind of people .

• Hondo’s Instagram is so extra… it’s our favorite thing.

• you really do know your baby and the less you doubt that, the happier you’ll all be.

• breastfeeding is incredible, but also REALLY time consuming. Pretty sure it’s been my full-time job the last 7+ months.

• hobbies matter! My baking and photography are getting picked up more often and I’m so glad for it.

• marriage after a baby is pretty awesome.

• making time for yourself as not just a mom, but an individual, is important, but sometimes hard to come by. You gotta be creative!

• finding a baby carrier you love makes a huuuuuge difference.

• traveling with a baby is not pleasant.

• even though so much has changed, Tom and I still bring on the sass and it cracks us up on the daily.

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There’s not much more I can really say to reflect on this year, besides reiterating how extraordinarily blessed we feel. Tom and I literally fight over whose turn it is to hold Silas on the regular and that alone probably sums up our feels as new parents. We’re a couple of saps, and we have no shame about it. We are completely smitten.

We are so grateful for God’s grace and forgiveness and promise of salvation, we are grateful for our Silas boy (and Hondo!), and we are grateful for one another. If we walked into 2019 with nothing else, we would be as richly blessed.

Happy New Year, my friends.

And thank YOU all for continuing to drop in even while I’ve been taking this time. I love interacting with you on Instagram, and if you have any topics in the meantime that you’d like me to take on in 2019 PLEASE DON’T BE SHY! Would you like me to review anything? Bake anything? Compare any products? Write about Nashville? See more house posts or photos? Minimalism? Marriage topics? Hondo guest posts? (haha kidding) Monthly updates? Favorite products lately? Come on - lemme hear it! It’ll help me get the ball rolling! :)

As always, much love,

Joy

The Decision to Stay Home

A while back, someone messaged me asking how we came to our decision to have me be a stay at home mom. She was curious about my perspective and the pros and cons we weighed. It was a good question, and it made me want to write a little post on it!

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To be honest, this one was something we decided on many, many years ago.

I remember it very vividly, actually.

As someone whose mother stayed at home, it was something I really saw the value in and wanted for my own children someday. We all have our own set of convictions, morals, and values, and this was something that fell into my value-set.

I think Tom and I were probably engaged at the time, but it was a topic we hadn’t actually talked about. I remember we were having lunch at Whole Foods in Milwaukee, and were seated by the windows. We were casually talking about our careers and our future, and I honestly wasn’t sure what his view was… so I kind of off-handedly stated something like, “Well, if I stay home with our kids, then yeah.. blah blah..” He stopped, turned, and said, “Well yeah. I definitely want you to stay home with our kids.”

It was such a relief to hear him say that. I figured he probably felt that way (we are very similar and share the same morals and values), but hearing him actually verbalize it, was music to my ears. So honestly, from that moment on, I knew it wouldn’t be a big discussion later on, more than an eventuality.

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That being said, there are obviously more parts to consider.

• Financially, can we live off of one income? Especially as our budget needs to grow to accommodate a child?

• How will our roles in the home shift?

• Will this ruin Joy’s chances of re-entering the workforce later on? Will she continue to work from home?

• Would the cost of daycare outweigh one of our salaries?

I mean, so many of the questions you ask yourself are very personalized to your own circumstances, so I won’t continue. But especially living in Nashville, where there are daycare waiting lists for 2+ years out, it just made sense for us. More than anything, having me at home was important to us.

Has it had its times when it feels like an overwhelming “giving of oneself” to the point where you find yourself staying up well after the others are in bed, just to have some time to yourself? Yes. It’s easy sometimes, and hard other times. It’s boring some days, and exciting and busy many others. Like literally all things in life, it was simply a matter of personal choice.

More than anything, though, the value in having me at home outweighs all the financial or career-minded aspects. Not everyone is able to stay home because of some of the pros and cons they have to weigh, so I count myself very blessed to be able to do so. It’s not for everyone. It’s not easy, and neither is being a working-mom. We all do our best for our kids and for our marriages, and keeping Christ at the center of our family will always be the most important.

All that to say - I’m staying home with my little boy and we couldn’t be happier with that decision for our family.

Go Home

This is a post I’ve wanted to write for years, but haven’t at the risk of sounding whiney.

Let me preface this a bit.

Tom and I met and married in Wisconsin and lived there for two years after getting married. But then we were ready for an adventure. “Anywhere but here syndrome” they call it, I think. We were ready for a change and were in stagnant jobs that we wanted to leave. We job hunted online all over the country, and whenever we’d see something in Atlanta, we’d look at each other to gauge our thoughts on it. We’d pause, scrunch up our noses and say, “nah.”

Low and behold, though, that’s where we landed. Tom was offered a job with a salary nearly as much as we had been making combined. So we figured why not! And honestly, we still never regret making the move to Atlanta because it truly furthered Tom’s career into what he is doing and loving now, and I got to explore work-from-home life. It was a good move. When we announced our move, all sorts of people came out of the woodwork and mentioned their times living in The ATL and how much they loved it. We were a little skeptical, but we believed them.

But we hated Atlanta.

I’m finally coming clean and I don’t feel bad when I admit it, now!

It had its bits and pieces, don’t get me wrong.

• We loved our church home… but it took 40 minutes to get there. If there was no traffic.

• We loved the few people we really got to know.

• We got Hondo in Georgia!

• I got pregnant in Georgia!

• We discovered Indian food, and never had to go far when a craving struck.

• We loved the outdoor mall where we could take Hondo into every store.

• It was nice having an IKEA around.

• We learned to appreciate the long spring and fall seasons that met briefly in the middle with about a week of “winter.”

• We were able to visit Savannah, Hilton Head, Tybee, Asheville, Blue Ridge, and more…

But we were also battling all the emotions and doctors appointments that went along with two hard years of infertility, in Georgia. We rarely went into the city because traffic always made it a whole ordeal. There were far too many chain restaurants and almost no coffee roasteries. It was crowded, people were not indistinguishably friendly, and meeting people with common interests was very hard because of its melting-pot nature (which was sometimes really cool, but no one who lived there was usually FROM there).

I talk about lessons learned here, right? Well this was one of them.

Moves like that stretch you. They build a little character. They help you learn more about yourself (and maybe your marriage too).

Basically, what I’m getting at is, try to see the positive in everything. The silver lining. Trust in God. But when it comes down to it, you don’t have to live somewhere you hate forever. MOVE. FIND YOUR HOME!

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Atlanta did not suit us. Not at all. So when the opportunity to move to Nashville came about we were ecstatic. Atlanta was simply a stepping stone for us, but I am really, REALLY glad to be “home” in Nashville. We are still loving it more every day. Will we always love Nashville? Who knows. But I can tell you one thing: we already feel far more rooted in the community here than we ever did in 3+ years in Atlanta.

• We love going into the city.

• Target is right up the road. (priorities)

• We still get a lot of visitors!

• There is snow in the winter! (This is a positive to me)

• Tom can get to and from work far quicker than he was ever able to before.

• I’m not afraid to drive here.

• I was able to have my actual OB deliver my baby instead of having the on-call doctor (that would have been the case in Georgia).

• The coffee and food scene is amazing!

• I weirdly have more pride in living in Nashville than I ever did in Atlanta.

It feels like home, and you don’t really realize how priceless that is until you leave a place that does NOT feel like home.

I guess I’m just writing this one to stay.. it’s okay. It’s okay if you don’t like where you live. It’s valid, even. But don’t fixate on it. Make the best of it… but don’t be afraid to just pull the trigger and leave after a short time if you think that’s best. We thought (after buying our house there) that we’d be there for at least another 5 years. Two years after we said that, we were burning rubber on our way to Nashville. You can make a change and you can move if you’re unhappy! I think so many people think about the what-ifs and the risks so much that they put off a great decision far longer than they need to. I guess I’m just writing this post to encourage you not to stay somewhere that makes you unhappy.

I haven’t written a super ramble-y post like this in a while! Haha frankly, I haven’t been writing at ALL lately, so sorry if it’s all over the place. Sometimes I miss those old “diary days” of blogging, ya know? Anyways. All that to say….

I’m really glad we live in Nashville. It’s been a good 3+ years since we’ve felt this happy where we live, and I’m just excited to say that.

Iceland 2017 | Video Compilation

You’ll find this on my Youtube Channel, but just in case you end up here, I thought I’d post it. This is a compilation of the videos we took in Iceland in September 2017. It’s nothing fancy, but it’s a fun way to see all our shorter videos in one. We think of Iceland often, and honestly, we’re dying to go back. Anyways, enjoy this fun montage!