Links + Loves vol 9

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It's been a while since I've shared some links and loves from around the internet! The last post I labeled "link love" was in July when I shared toys & activities for road trips with babies/toddlers. Since that post, R got a few things for her birthday, so I can share a real-life experience. The water wow book from Melissa & Doug is really awesome, and I don't understand how it works. It's magic. MAGIC. My mom got R the boogie board for her birthday, and she loves it. There is also a case specifically for it, which I had no idea!

But I'm getting off topic of sharing new links with you... here we go!

This has been one of our favorite and most-used items for the past few years. As in, daily on multiple doors. Our house is just one floor, and what's nice about a Latchy Catchy is that Jordan and I can go in and out of rooms without worrying about the lock slamming and making noise, waking them up from naps (I'm pretending R takes naps! ha) or from sleep after they go to bed. There are lots of cute, fun patterns too!

I posted this essay last week on the blog and have received such great feedback, so thank you for reading and commenting! I'm still pretty bummed it didn't get chosen to be published on the site I submitted it to. I felt really good about it... better than anything else I've written and submitted. But I just hope that the person/people who needed to read it were able to find it through my blog!

Even if you don't follow tennis, you may have heard of the controversy surrounding the women's final of the US Open over the weekend. Admittedly, Serena Williams tends to find herself in controversy a lot, but I thought this article summed up the current issues really well and gave me some interesting things to think about in terms of how women are treated vs men in the world of sports.

I found this essay from Lore on Sayable so beautiful and thought-provoking. She and her husband have been trying to have a baby, and she's experienced a few miscarriages over the past couple of years. In this article she writes about the danger of saying "at least" to people when they share their struggles. She also wrote "what to do when your friend loses a baby," which I think is a good thing for everyone to read.

In other fluffier links, I know I talk about this website a lot, but they just had a great sale and I snagged a couple of tops for fall! Another reason I love Mindy Mae's Market is because they always offer free shipping, and every package comes with an inspirational quote on a white card.

This book recently came out just a few weeks ago, and I'm kicking myself for not pre-ordering it and getting some of the pre-order goodies they were offering. I started listening to Anne Bogel's podcast on my morning runs a few months ago, and I don't even care if you think it's nerdy that I listening to a podcast about reading. I've been enjoying it so much!

Speaking of things hanging out in my Amazon cart, I've had this cookbook in there for months. At this point maybe I'll just put it on my Christmas list.

I'm in a group on Facebook for working moms, and it's such an encouraging and supportive group of women! Someone recently shared this article from USA Today on the myth of the work-life balance, and I thought it was great (and a bit snarky, which I love!).

If you don't know, I'm kind of weirdly obsessed with my rain boots. We don't get a ton of rain in Oklahoma, but when we do, I like to have appropriate footwear! The ones I had for years finally bit the dust and cracked, and I thought I might splurge on a pair of Hunter's. Buuuuut, really in the end I just couldn't pull the trigger. I found Joules, which are super cute (cuter than Hunter IMO) and cheaper! There are more options on the website, but Amazon carries them too!

My favorite podcast is back after a summer break! If you have never listened to Risen Motherhood, DO IT. "Gospel-centered hope for everyday moms" is their tagline, and I just love this ministry and feel so encouraged by it. So much so that I support them every month out of my own blow money. I'm trying not to hold it against them that they rejected my article ;)

Finally, I know I've mentioned this before, but if you have a kid, you should check out the Kidizen app. I might be obsessed. It's basically a kid's consignment store online! People post items they are selling, and you can buy from them. I've found that it's not always a great deal for cheaper brands, but you can find some amazing deals, especially on fancier/name-brand items! I also just bought J his Halloween costume for $8, so it kind of has everything. It's not just clothes but swaddles, books, dress-up clothes, and even baby slings and things like that. Use my referral code theladyokie to get $5 off your first purchase.

Just a heads up that I might be taking a couple weeks off from the blog. There's a chance I will pop in next week sometime, but if not, don't worry if you don't hear from me until October! We have a lot going on this month, and I just don't know if I'll have time to log in. But either way, I hope you have a great rest of the week. 

I so appreciate YOU taking the time to read my blog. I don't take it lightly that there is someone on the other side of this screen reading this. I hope you find a link or two to love from my post! :)

p.s. Find other link + love posts here.

Last 5

Apparently I blog once a week now. Is anyone even here still? I mean, I'm barely here myself. August was not my favorite, and I won't lie, I've been in a terrible pity party mood lately. Don't even comment and try to encourage me because I don't deserve it. I was just being ridiculous and not joyful and I won't excuse myself, but I will say that August was packed full of VOMIT and SICKNESS and I paid a doctor copay for every single member of my family at least once, a few people twice. Because did I mention vomit? Three Sundays in a row someone in my house puked. I don't want to be one of those crazy people who blame everything on the devil, but it seemed suspicious.

Related side note: I once edited a book written by a lady who told me that the reason her book had errors is because it was correct when she emailed it to me, and the devil--I repeat THE DEVIL--intercepted it in transit (across the internet?) and changed it all. She also argued with me about commas and said she knew what was correct because she got an A in English class in the eighth grade. Oh, and her book was about a talking squirrel that lived in her backyard and was based on a true story. She insisted the cover of the book be white with a rainbow across it. Naturally.

Anyway, what I really popped in to share was the last 5 photos on my phone. I thought that might be an easy way to jump in and share a few of the goings ons in our lives lately. Of course, I'm not showing you the actual last 5 photos, which are all of clothes because recently I've gotten very obsessed with selling clothes online and have half my phone memory used up with different angles of shirts and pants. That's all I'll say about that! ha.

ANYWAY. The kind of last 5.

1. Family ice cream date

If you follow me on Instagram, you will have seen this photo already and might notice that yes, I did photoshop Jordan's shirt and the giant image of Bonhoeffer's face. As much as I love Bonhoeffer, he was ruining what is otherwise a lovely photo of the four of us. If you don't follow me on IG you have no idea what I'm talking about, so just ignore.

I told you that August was hard, but we did have some good times, including a weekend date to the local DQ for some ice cream. R got some vanilla ice cream in a cup with sprinkles, Jordan and I got blizzards, and J got bites of everything.

2. Pony rides and triple birthday parties

Forgive me if this is actually a horse, but I think it's a pony?

Near the end of August, our church group got together for a triple 3rd birthday party two friends and I hosted for our three kids, who were all born in August 2015 just a few weeks apart. We had a 1-year party, and now two years later they are all 3! We were all standing around going, didn't we just do this? Our friends have the perfect house for hosting, with a huge backyard, a trampoline, and even rides on their pony (horse). Sadly, it was just R and I because J was sick and Jordan had strep, but it was nice to just have one child to worry about, and we could stay later without them anyway ;)

3. Toe infections

Jordan and I have different ideas about when it's necessary to go to the doctor, and we argue about it all the time. I grew up basically never going, and Jordan grew up going a lot. We noticed R complaining about her big toe hurting a few weeks ago, and Jordan said we should take her in but I wanted to try soaking it and putting antibiotic cream on it and seeing what happened. So we did that for a few days, but it was clearly getting worse, so we took her to the doctor (compromise!). Turns out, she had a bad infection, and the dr put her on a strong antibiotic with instructions to take it 3x a day and soak her foot in warm/hot water 3x a day for 20 minutes. And we were supposed to do the soaking and the medicine for ten days.

Confession time: We have never gone the distance with either kid giving them the advised amount of antibiotic for any doctor visit. For like a week we start out strong, and then we forget a dose, and then another one, and we slowly just stop around day 8 or 9 and just toss the rest once we realize it's a week later and we never finished the final few.

But the doctor said that if the infection didn't get better, we would have to take her to the hospital so they could put her under and cut the infection out of her toe, and so we got majorly serious about the medicine and the soaking. Today as you are reading this (Wednesday) is day NINE, and I am very proud to say that we have not missed one dose of medicine, and we make her sit and soak before we leave for daycare, right when we get home, and right before bed. This is a breakthrough, people!

She looks less than thrilled in the above photo, but actually she asks to sit and soak her toe, and she sits the entire time, I think probably because she gets to watch Veggie Tales. We rarely let her watch TV, but this past week and a half she's gotten 20 minutes of Veggie Tales 3x a day, and she's loving every minute. She also loves to take her "pink medicine." She's always been really good about taking medicine. I don't know if that's weird or not, but I'm thankful we don't have to fight with her!

4. Wagon walks

This one doesn't so much need a giant paragraph. After work sometimes I'll load up the kids in our wagon (that I bought off Craigslist for $20) and take them for a walk. The kids love it, and the weather has not been too terrible! And by that I mean it's been in the low 90s. Perspective ;)

5. Snuggles

J continues to be the most snuggly bean there ever was. He has always favored me, but lately he seems very attached, and I don't hate it. Maybe if I stayed at home all day I'd get tired of him wanting to be held and tired of him crying whenever I leave his sight, but I don't stay home, and I don't get tired of it. 

This is probably definitely the reason he's not walking yet: because I carry him almost everywhere. I don't care. He vomited a lot in August. Like, so much vomit every couple of nights for two weeks straight. We weren't sure what was wrong and even took him to get blood drawn to make sure his liver is functioning properly. Everything came back normal, so we aren't sure if it's a food allergy or a bug or what, but it's super random and doesn't seem to be related to any particular food or situation. All that said, he hasn't been feeling 100% lately, and we've been having lots of snuggles.

This summer has absolutely flown by. When I took J to get his blood drawn, the dr asked me how old he was, and I said he just turned 1 a week ago. Then I was like, no wait, he turned 1 almost two months ago. HOW. 

So that's a quickish snapshot of life lately! There have been a lot of great moments and some moments I will not miss one bit, but overall we are happy and (mostly) healthy and trying not to wish these little years away. We are blessed and thankful indeed.