Your toddler erupting in emotions doesn’t mean you are doing something wrong. (aka, “I know you sooooo badly want to keep your shoes on but you just spent 10 minutes stomping in puddles and they’re wet and dirty, we need to clean them.”)

Watching my 3 year old’s current obsession with making her 6 month old sister laugh is priceless.

When you’re tempted to worry if your kid is ‘okay’ developmentally compared to another kid, instead of folding inward in anxious thoughts, verbally encourage the other kid / mom. Think: champion, not collapse.

It matters how I spend my ‘off’ time, aka, making space for quiet, making it more possible to be mentally and emotionally ready in my ‘on’ time. Netflix and constant podcasts sounds like a nice idea in the moment, but not when the rest of my day involves little silence. :)

The small, ordinary details only you and your spouse pay attention to deserve to be savored. I tell myself often to slowwwww downnnn. Don’t rush to the next thing. Sit with it. Ask God to cement them into my heart.

It makes a Mt. Everest-size difference to my life to having so many good friends in the same season parenting alongside me. (These beautiful, imperfect, kind, Jesus-following friends are raising my girls’ potential future bffs. How awesome.)

I am growing in my awe of God as I fall short as a parent, knowing He never does.