In the middle: the PODCAST 😱

I can’t believe this is happening, but… here it is!

In The Middle is my new podcast, where I’m sharing bits of my heart and writing.

I’m sharing from the inside of my story, while I’m still in the middle of my own messes, in middle of being a wife and mother, in the middle of figuring out how to be both creative and ambitious, and the present mom I desire to be.

I am seeking out beauty and truth and hope my weekly episodes bring you along with me.

NYC: the recap / PT 1

If last week was a color, it would be blue: deep dark blue, the blue of storms. A hurricane, actually. And, continuing this color theme: last week would also be yellow. Cheery and bright, warm on your face, exciting and hopeful. Last week was… well, lot of things. And I want to remember it, and… actually, I’m still processing it.

I want to process the experience and keep the memories. That’s what this is.

If I’m honest, I think going viral for wearing your wedding dresses to dinner is just about the silliest thing ever. We go to dinner together to True Food all the time anyway, we just happened to wear our wedding dresses and take some photos and videos.

Wow, has that one decision provided some hilarious and incredible opportunities that we won’t ever forget.

Let begin in the most obvious place: the beginning.

Alexis made a pretty sweet & simple reel of our evening out and then… millions of people watched it… and liked it, and shared it, and commented on it, and then… People magazine reached out for a feature. (What is happening?)

It went from trying to just trying to get answers and images delivered to People to trying to arrange our schedules (7 adult women! Not easy!) so we could say yes to interviews with CBS, Good Morning America, The Today Show, and more networks and magazines. (What is happening??)

Turns out, these networks are competitive. 😂 Everyone wanted to be the first to talk and how do you decide who to say yes to when you don’t watch any TV or read any magazines? Which is best?? Those questions were blowing up our group chat as we also tried to figure out how to get us all on zoom for these meetings. And then, KHOU wanted to meet in person… well, that complicates things. (What is happening???)

Our Aunt let us know she thought The Today Show was likely zooming with us to see if they wanted to fly us up to NYC. None of us believed this was possible. For wearing our wedding dresses to dinner?? What? 😂

During the zoom meeting that somehow we all miraculously made, our Today Show coordinator (Hi, Emma! We adore you!) let us know they wanted us live on Monday, and they wanted to be exclusive for our first appearance. Ok, we’re committed. We’d be remote, filming from our place in Houston. Ok, phew. We can do that.

And then…

THEY WANT TO FLY US TO NYC?

Yes, no, yes, no, yes, no, yes, no. The amount of ups and downs and impossible hurdles we jumped to make this happen… were… excessive and impressive. Monday wouldn’t work. In fact, next week won’t work at all. It would have to be the weekend. Wait, our dear friend is getting married. We can’t do that. It would have to be… right now. Like… actually today or tomorrow. Is that even possible? No way that’s possible.

IT’S POSSIBLE AND IT’S HAPPENING.

No time to pluck your eyebrows girls, get in the car, we’re driving to the airport!!!!

It’s a good thing the Today Show wanted us in our wedding dresses, because there was not a single minute to spare to look for clothing to wear on national television.

Hurry, throw that in the car!

Where is Hannah Joy??

Tell Alexis if she isn’t standing on the curb ready, we’re not stopping for her!

Mom, we can’t get there if we’re dead!!! Slow down!

Why didn’t we get someone to drop us off at the airport??

All the parking lots are closed?? Full!!!

They’re trying to send us to the the parking lot 15 minutes away.

I volunteer to drop the girls off so they’ll make the flight, and I’ll just stay home.  Everybody yells at me.

Mom volunteers to drop us off so we can make the flight, she’ll just stay home. Everybody yells at her.

Kate volunteers to drop us off so we can make the flight, she’ll just stay home. We look around.

No, you can’t miss the flight. But you can drive the car to the lot and get back as quickly as possible. We’ll make a scene if they try to leave the gate without you.

We were lost and so very frantic. The frequency of our panic and voices just kept raising as we laughed and yelled our way through elevators, underground trains, skyways, and ran through terminal E until we made it to our gate.

Construction at the airport made getting around the most complicated and frustrating experience I’ve ever had. (And I’ve traveled a lot.)

Trying to then explain to Kate, who was currently on a bus back to the airport, how to manage what we had just done was impossible. There were always at least two voices at once giving her differing directions over FaceTime as she cried her way through IAH in pure exasperation.

Kate finally made it into the proper security line, and was finally so close to making it to us! Hooray! We weren’t even loaded yet, she is totally going to make it!!!!

… and of course that didn’t happen.

The flight attendant servicing the ticket counter was not having a great day and he hopped on our FaceTime to let Kate know that she was 120 seconds too late and that they were now boarding standby.

She should find a different flight.

Oofffff! When I tell you I had to drag mom onto that plane… I mean it.

We all were a little teary wondering if she’d find a flight in time to make it for the most radical thing ever happening to us a group of sisters. Oh, please, let there be a flight!!!

Sitting on the plane, we were finally able to take a breath for the first time. This is happening. We’re headed to New York City on two hours notice to appear live on the Today Show in our wedding dresses.

What. Is. Happening.

(Part two tomorrow. I didn’t realize how long this was going to be. 😂)

Poor Auden flew to NYC in a diaper and… well, actually it was his only one, because along with losing his outfit before getting to put it on him, I also just entirely forgot to pack diapers or diaper wipes. Not winning any mom of the year awards right now.

One minute, weekly home videos

I’ve started an 18 week project - expanding my skills in making better home videos for our family. I have a lot of (a lot a lot… too many?) video clips that deserve some sort of organization so we can enjoy watching them together. I won’t be sharing them all here, but I’ll be sharing some. This was one of our first. (The boys love watching these even more than I do.) ❤️

I broke a habit of 3.5 years

This year is one change after another, some little, some large, they just keep rolling in or calling to me.

In January I upgraded from my iPhone to a flip phone for more freedom. No regrets there, but it did alter my time with a camera significantly. I broke our daily photo streak of three and a half years! I have missed it, honestly. The creativity. The sweetness of having so much of our togetherness documented. And I’ve realized I don’t have nearly as many photos with Auden as I desire.

So… we’re back on (as of… last week?). The daily photos continue, a new start, new dreams of what we’ll do with them. (Books! Poems! Art!)

Saturdaze

Right after we took these I said “ew, I feel weird” and within 20 minutes was wiped out by a fever.

Can you tell which photo isn’t iPhone? Hint: they actually aren’t my favorite + there are possibly two of them 😜🤗🤷✨

it’s not quite music yet

Eliot started talking about xylophones months before Christmas. Not asking for one, really, just seeing them everywhere (puzzles! books! out playing!) and always mentioning them to us. In October we decided we were going to get him one for Christmas and the wait for him to finally get one was likely harder on me than him!

I talked about it all the time. “You’re getting a xylophone!! Yay!” There was no surprise factor. 😂 (He was so thrilled and a little confused on the wait.)

The anticipation & having to practice patience was good for me, I don’t find myself complaining about the noise (because… it’s just noise… not music... yet😂). I’m just happy to see him so happy!

Feverish

A sick day for Emerson. He’s as snuggly as Auden! (A rare treat for me, he’s usually a daddy’s boy when he wants snuggles.)

Being sick stinks, but I hope he always remembers the extra head rubs and care and sleeping with mommy & daddy and chicken noodle soup and rocking in the afternoon sun together

Making a home

This isn’t where we thought we’d be in 2023; we were supposed to have our house on our two acres completed in the Spring of 2022. But we’re here, finding joy in the making of the coziest, dreamiest home in our “treehouse” or “loft”

Winter brings out the best in this place, I think. The way the light filters through the windows, the comfort in a mess of blankets & pillows on the floor in front of the fire.

I am finding gratitude for the littlest things that make a house a home.

Birthday boy & breakfast

Celebrated with donuts & sharing the things we love about Eliot! The birthday breakfast tradition holds strong. ❣️

Eliot is THREE! 🥰