Oh hey there! It’s been a minute since I’ve posted here and that is entirely due to the fact that we are living out our BUSIEST season to date. This summer is ridiculously full and that is not an exaggeration. On a weekly basis you can find us juggling our schedules as delicately as possible. And also raising three kids. THREE! Our first summer with three kids and it’s packed full. Work, work travel, responsibilities, kids activities, home responsibilities, summer fun, you name it: j u g g l i n g.

So grateful to have captured our family with the lovely Talia Laird Photography.

First, I feel the need to make the disclaimer that this is not a competition of busy. Maybe your schedule is even more full than ours; this is simply a description of our very own crazy and how we are owning it.

We knew entering this summer that it was indeed going to be insane – and I, at first, was the encourager: We can do this. We just have to be smart. Plan our time wisely. Outsource where we can. Focus on each other. Nearly two months into this “summer schedule” and I had a break down.

I was flying home from being on tour with pumpspotting and found myself in a mamava pod, pumping, and sobbing on the phone to my husband, not even making out words. My flight was delayed for the millionth time in one day and I just wanted to get home. Time is precious and so is my milk + traveling with breastmilk is a bit tricky so unexpected delays caused a bit of stress. I did make it home, but almost 7 hours later than I should have arrived. I just squeezed and kissed everyone until it was bedtime. My heart could rest a bit because I was home again, but it longed for so much more time with each of them.

Let me back up though and talk through what is making this summer so crazy and why I got so emotional.

Mark works a quite demanding job and has always traveled for work. He is in a busy season of travel right now, and quite ironically, so am I. It just so happens to be that pumpspotting is on a cross-country tour in a 40’ RV nursing and pumping suite (read why here) and I have the amazing opportunity to participate. I’ve been flying in and out of the tour, traveling for 4-5 day stretches and working on tour + continuing to work more on a regular basis outside of those travel blocks. It’s been absolutely incredible and rewarding. It’s also, logistically, quite a puzzle for our family.

Last week when my flight was delayed and I was an emotional mess waiting to get home, because I just kept thinking of the ticking clock. I (we) only had a short couple of days together before Mark and I would swap places and he would leave for his work trip.

The two of us have pretty much been alternating weeks of who is gone for the past couple of months. Couple that with everything else we have going on and we have to remind each other to take it slow + focus on what is important. And by remind each other, I mean a daily reminder.

After my trip, we decided to live up our weekend worrying less of responsibilities and more about each other. Now, here we are, swapped places. Mark is in Texas for work and I’m home with our babes.

Living Our Summer of Less

So much travel. So many commitments. So much responsibility. A finite amount of time and energy. Because of this, we’ve adopted the philosophy of making this summer “The Summer of Less” and I want to tell you why, because I think we could collectively benefit from this mentality.

It seems a bit ironic if you look at our calendar to call it anything with the word less in it, but that’s exactly the point. Going into this season, we knew how busy we would be, how full our work travel would make our weekly schedules and just how crazy the day-to-day could or would get. So, we are determined to maximize all of the good, even in a really busy season. Thus, The Summer of Less… because when you have less of some things you are actually making m o r e room for others.

Here are a few specific examples of how we apply this:

• Ordering groceries online and having them delivered to our doorstep – less time and trip to the grocery store. (See what service we use here.) Actually, less shopping in stores in general. We order online and have things delivered very frequently.
• Having a neighborhood teenager mow our lawn – two extra hours to spend as a family on the weekend.
• Getting a cleaning service in our house (finally!) – saving us the time and energy when we only have a weekend together for precious family time and fun.
• Keeping things as simple as possible – if we host a BBQ, we will keep the menu simple and clean up simpler (disposable everything).
• Relying on trusted help – we are so lucky to have people we love in our lives to help with our children when we, as parents, can’t be there. This means less stress for us when we are away because we don’t have to worry about how our kids are doing and it just means more consistency + more love for our kids in our absence.
• Power hour – I don’t even know if Mark realizes we have done this, but Friday night power hour. We will both spend an hour doing as much as we can around the house after the kids go to bed. Picking up, dishes, laundry, cleaning, you name it. Collectively, we have two hours to get as much done as possible thus creating more time on Saturday morning to enjoy summer.

An example I gave over on Instagram was that recently my sister called last minute and invited us over to hang out at her farm + each lunch. It was in the midst of a really busy transitional weekend, but you know what? I COULD SAY YES. I could say yes because we’ve been practicing our less mentality which has allowed us to open up to more. Yes, because all of the other things were taking up less space, less worry, less time, all so that I could make MORE room for the really great things.

We know that we can’t do it all. We also know we have to be really smart with where we spend our money when we are outsourcing (budget friendly family here!) though recognize the current value of our limited time together. That in itself is a balancing act.

Mark and I are working on doing a better job having quality time together each week, because that is something that can get lost in the shuffle – especially when we both want to spend as much time with our kids and as a family as possible between travel.

Less is more though. Less free time sometimes seems overwhelming when we look at our calendar for the upcoming week or month, but it also means we have more thoughtful and dedicated time to one another. Less spending because more budget is tied up in expenditures (mowing, cleaning), but it buys us back our precious time.

It really is a beautiful mindset to have. What can you change to do, have, act less of so that you can create more room for something else? How would that benefit you?

I can tell you honestly, we aren’t perfect at this. Remember when I said I was once the encourager? Well, this past week, Mark had to take over that role. He’s had to boost me up, reaffirming we are doing okay. He’s told me he admires how passionately I work on something I’m so invested in. He tells me that I’m still a rock and constant for our family, even though my work has taken me away from them. He always tells me how much he and the kids love me and how what I’m doing is so important. He’s encouraged us to push forward in making this summer the best we can, despite the crazy schedule.

We are living The Summer of Less and though imperfect, it’s pretty darn great. I’m so thankful for this abundant life I have in front of me + grateful that we entered this season with a less is more mindset.

I hope this update finds you all very, very well.

 

❤