To kickoff the first week of 2022, I thought I’d share a 5 life updates January 2022 post with y’all. I’ve been writing a handful of recap posts lately (here, here, here, here, here, and here) but, I promise, I’ve started writing a few posts for next week that are a bit more diverse and not just life recaps of my little family. January always feels slow compared to December and I couldn’t love it more this year. I’m savoring this slow season because I know it will be fleeting. My recent injury (more below) has forced me to slow down too. The first few days, I had some overwhelming anxiety around being physically slower (with Rowan really!) but now I’ve come to accept it and am just leaning into it.
I’ve decided to take it as a sign that I was going a mile a minute and don’t need to be this month. Since our month feels a bit slow, I almost had trouble coming up with my list for this post of 5 life updates January 2022 but you’ll see below I’m sharing a cute little Rowan rite of passage update, a house update I’m beyond thrilled about, an exciting wedding update for my sister, and more. I hope everyone has a happy, relaxed January weekend!
On Jillian: Dress (on sale! also comes as a top) / Sweater (as seen below)
On Sarah: Dress (on sale! also comes in pink on sale) / Ballet Flats (also come in tan and blush)
5 Life Updates January 2022
My Sister’s Engagement Party
Later this month, we’ll be traveling to California for my sister and her fiancé’s engagement party. I can’t think of a better way to start 2022 and to celebrate new beginnings! Their wedding isn’t until the end of the year but their engagement party marks the first occasion of a few this year that we will all have to officially toast to them and their future. My mom and the mother of the groom are busy planning what will surely be a joyous occasion at their house for the engagement party. Coincidentally, it will be the first time I get to see the house Sarah and Blake bought together so I am all around very excited for the weekend and to see more of the life they are building. Now, I just need an outfit!
I Broke My Left Big Toe
Well this is the exciting update y’all have been waiting for! To start the new year, I was putting away items from the holidays and dropped a huge, heavy, glass cake platter on the big toe of my left foot. It instantly sent shockwaves of pain through my whole foot and I knew something wasn’t right. I hadn’t broken a bone since college and my oh my had I forgotten how much broken bones hurt! It feels like the silliest injury ever from the way I broke the bone (a cake platter, really?) to the break itself. People take you seriously when you break your foot but much less seriously when you break a toe (to be clear, I am VERY grateful that I only broke a toe and didn’t have a worse injury).
I honestly didn’t realize how much I use my toes until I broke one, such is life I suppose. The largest challenge is having a broken bone with a very busy, on the go 15-month-old that I am now very much struggling to keep up with as my mobility is limited right now. I’ve struggled with feeling like Rowan needs so much more from me than I can give him right now and that is a hard feeling. After about 6 weeks, I should be good to go and will make lots of physical and mobility progress between now and then. It could be a lot worse so I’m grateful and doing my best to rest when I need to and be there for my little boy!
Organizing Help
The third floor of our house is a built out attic space. We use one of the rooms as the nursery and one of the rooms as a storage space/office. We don’t have another attic area, basement, garage, or a single coat/storage closet in the house (only small closets in the bedrooms) so this storage space is key. Needless to say, the storage room has gotten a bit out of control as have some areas of our kitchen. In addition, I just don’t think we have our kitchen organized and optimized to the maximum.
On the recommendation of some friends, I hired Margaret of Sunday Plans to come help me get a handle on it. I am so excited! We got started this week and will finish up next week! I’ll be sharing some before and afters on my Instagram Stories. This type of thing makes me feel like it’s Christmas morning! After getting going this week, I’m already SO obsessed with the process and how it is going. It is also a completely night and day different experience doing it with Margaret than if I did it by myself. Wow!
Rowan’s First Haircut
Oh my gosh you guys, Rowan’s hair is so long and grows so fast! We’ve trimmed his bangs before but he hasn’t ever had a proper haircut because he’s only 15-months-old. However, it is getting so long in the back over his neck (a mullet will be here any day now!) that we think it is time. We’ve held off for as long as we can because we think his long hair is so darn cute! We think we’re going to take him to get his first haircut this weekend but it might be next week if our days fill up. Either way it’s happening and I think I will both laugh and cry at the haircut appointment! How is my baby already getting his hair cut?
Back to the Kitchen
I 100% know I’m not alone in the January feeling of wanting to get back into the kitchen and start cooking more. I feel like we cooked so much at home in 2021 and were really healthy January – the summer. Then this fall and holiday season got insanely busy and I feel like we defaulted to ordering in too much or defaulted to easy, maybe not the healthiest meals (there is no denying that frozen pizza from Whole Foods is just easy). In the fall and during the holidays, I feel like I only made sweet potatoes, crock pot chicken, chili, beef stew, and enchiladas. Ha, those were my easy go-tos! Anywho, I’m inspired to try out some new recipes and to get back into the kitchen this month.
I just signed up for The Defined Dish newsletter on the recommendation of Allison, I have revisited some old recipes I love and used to make all the time from Kelly’s cookbook, I have been keeping my eyes peeled for yummy + healthy + easy recipes like this winter harvest kale salad, and, as always, I have pinned a few recipes (fall/winter as well as spring/summer) from my forever favorite Half Baked Harvest. P.S. For any pregnant women out there, I wrote a post after having Rowan on the best make ahead freezer meals for expectant mothers.
On Jillian: Dress (on sale! also comes as a top) / Sweater (as seen below)
On Rowan: Pants (they are reservable!) / Long Sleeve Tee
