Oh man y’all, it’s been a hot minute. Blog posts have been few and far between this summer, and couple that with a rough pregnancy beforehand… I feel like my poor blog and readers have been neglected. I’m hardly posting on Instagram these days, too. (Although to be fair I’ve gone through phases of posting and not posting on Instagram for years.) I do have a lot of content I want to share with you, but I’ve just having a phase of being unmotivated to do so, as we try to live up the last bit of summer, and as we keep adjusting as a family of five (WHAT? typing that out still blows my mind).

Anyway, all this to say, I wanted to post a little update on our family along with my August GBOMB, so you know what’s going on and coming up, and what I’m hoping to blog about soon.

GOOD

We’ve done a lot of fun things together as a family this month including dinner with friends, spending a weekend in Utah with Kyle’s family, going to the library and city fair together, and celebrating my birthday (we got sushi!!). I also was able to go to the Weezer concert with one of my good friends which was a blast! It really has been a fun month, despite the bad (see below!).

BAD

I’ve been having some abdominal pain, womp, womp, and have to get my gallbladder out next week. So my August was full of doctors appointments, ultrasounds and lab work.

ON MY BRAIN

I’ve had a lot going on inside my brain for a while, but of course when I sit down to write it all out, it disappears. #mombrain

All right, so family updates. First, an update on yours truly:

If you’ve been following my postpartum recovery at all, you know that it has been amazing. I’m 3 months out and not really “postpartum” at all anymore! And I feel like I’ve been fully recovered for at least a month. My mental state is so much better than during pregnancy as well, and I’m so, so grateful for that. Everything has been a dream this time around. I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that this is my 3rd pregnancy, labor & delivery, and child, so my body knows what to do, and I know what to do, as well! There’s always some rough moments, but they have been few and far between, and I honestly don’t think I’ve even cried this time around.

So while my postpartum health has been great…. Some other aspects of my physical health have been not so great, like I mentioned above. During the first weekend of August we were staying at my in-laws’ in Utah, and I started developing some pain under my breasts, which I thought was just some particularly painful heartburn. It got worse and worse as the night progressed. I even moved out to the couch for a while so I wouldn’t keep Kyle up. I’m not sure how long I was out there, but after writhing (literally) in pain for a while, I went back in and asked Kyle to give me a priesthood blessing. He woke up his dad to help him, and it was probably about a half-hour after that that the pain subsided enough for me to lay back down in bed and go to sleep.

I still had lingering pain the next couple of days, that settled on my right side. After doing some googling, I decided it was probably my gallbladder, and made an appointment with the doctor. After an appointment with her, an ultrasound appointment, and getting some labs done, turns out my gallbladders is inflamed and I have some gall stones. I then met with a general surgeon, and I have surgery scheduled for next Wednesday, the 5th of September. Yay! Ha. I’m a little bugged this is happening because 1) we just paid for a baby and now will have to pay for a surgery, too and 2) I recovered from pregnancy and labor & delivery just in time for this set back. I worked out like twice before this happened, and really just want to be able to work on my physical health and strength. COME ON BODY.

Other than that, I’ve been doing the stay at home mom thing, and I still teach the 16 and 17 year old girls in my church congregation, which I LOVE SO MUCH.

Next, an update on Kyle:

Kyle is such a hard worker. I honestly can’t even begin to describe it to you. I know I’ve posted about various parts of his job before, but here’s a big long summary of what he’s been up to. Last fall he interviewed for and was given the Chief of Children’s Mental Health position, meaning he now manages the team he’s been working with for the past 5 years (5 employees). However, he still had at the time about another year left on his student loan repayment contract, which meant he had to continue running the parenting program that was his previous job, so he could continue to log those direct contact hours. This means he’s basically been working 2 jobs for almost a year now. He leaves for work at 8 am, and usually comes home sometime between 6 pm and 8 pm, depending on his scheduled appointments that day. He has ONE LAST GROUP that started this past week, which lasts 6 weeks, and then after a few more weeks of wrapping up all his families, he’ll be done with his contract term, and be able to fully turn over the reins of the parenting group, meaning that he’ll be able to focus on his actual management position and tasks. He’s burnt on running his group, and it will be a much needed change for both him and our family, because it means he will be working a regular scheduled — 8 am to 5 pm. YES.

He still works with the 12 and 13 year old boys in our church congregation, too, and while they can be a handful he really enjoys it. He’s the best daddy, the best husband and I feel insanely lucky to have him.

And now, Abe:

Abe is just about 4.5 years old, and shows it. He is getting so big and grown up, and I can hardly handle it. He starts preschool next week (sadly the day of my surgery) and I am so excited for him. It’s going to be a really good thing and I know he’s going to learn and grow so much.

Our Eliza:

Eliza turns 3 in November and is HILARIOUS. Seriously, this kid converses like she’s at least a couple years older than she is, and says the most bizarre things on the daily. I feel a little guilty that we’re not doing any any special classes for her this year (because hello preschool and having a new baby) but I think she’ll be just fine. She’s also developed into a little drama queen, and can switch from happy to angry to sad at the drop of a hat, so pray for us a little bit 😉

Baby Jonah:

Be still my heart, he’s 3 months old. I still need to write up his 2 month update (oops) but he’s sleeping a 5-7 hour chunk of sleep at night, wakes up to eat, and then will go back down for another 2-3 hours, so I can’t complain there! He’s out grown his slightly fussy stage, and is smiling and trying to laugh, and he’s just freaking cute, guys.

Everything Else and Looking Ahead:

We have family coming into town this Labor Day weekend, as we will be blessing Jonah that Sunday. And then, like I mentioned above, Abe starts preschool and I have surgery, and hopefully after my recovery we can get back into a schedule and a routine. I think it will be a really good thing for all of us. We’re planning on visiting my brother- and sister-in-law in California in November, and are trying to decide if we’re going to combine a Disneyland trip with it too. I’m so excited for a little family vacation!