Contentment: Is it freeing or limiting?
Plus more from my week including night weaning my toddler, my thoughts on Mormon Wives, home organization tips and other things I loved this week!
My husband and I went on a rare date this week. As we sat over our kid-free Italian lunch, we started talking about big plans, the future of where we want to live and send our kids to school, etc. You know- the kinds of talks you only get to have once a quarter because every time you try and start an important conversation around your kids you’re interrupted so much you decide to give up.
One thing we talk about a lot is whether or not we want to stay in the city of San Francisco. He’s born and raised San Franciscan and his whole family (AKA our support system) is here. We love the city and it’s such a special place, but I’ve been itching for more space, a smaller community, and better public schools.
We always talk about when the “perfect” time to move would be, if we were to leave. We talk about what type of house we’d want, how much better the education would be somewhere else, and how nice it would be to be among nature with easy access to activities. Of course we also talk about the finances. About how and when a move would be feasible for us, especially with the insecure nature of my business being reliant on social media.
About midway through the conversation my husband stopped and said “you know a lot of people would be so happy with what we already have. Maybe we don’t need to always be looking for something better.”
He’s right of course. We have family and support. Our kids like their schools. We have a beautiful house. We can afford to travel. But is it really okay for us to just… stay? To not always be working towards a goal? To not be trying to create a better life for our kids? To just… be where we are? This idea of being content and staying still is foreign to me (the busybody workaholic with the entrepreneurial spirit) so I started thinking about it in terms of something I know well- sleep.
I’m always telling parents that if something is working right now, it’s working. That if you’re cosleeping right now or breastfeeding to sleep right now and it works and you’re content with your situation, there’s no need to “future trip.” You don’t need to worry about some hypethetical future scenario that will likely never happen (like that your child will breastfeed until they’re 10 or sleep in your bed until college). You don’t have to make a change unless something is truly dysfunctional.
(This brings me to something else that happened this week in our house- night weaning my toddler. I was *not* content with how things were going with breastfeeding her. She’s 22 months, and I’ve been nursing pretty much continually since before she was even born -I nursed my middle child until I was in the second trimester of pregnancy with her. I’ve been sharing about how this is going over on my IG with daily updates, and so far so good!)
I guess being content, in all aspects of life, is kind of a double edged sword. Yes, it may keep us “stuck” in one place. But it also keeps us from constantly grasping for the next best thing. Contentedness may prevent us from moving forward at times, but maybe that’s the point.
In the spirit of being content with our home, I thought I’d share some recent improvements we’ve made! As you may have seen in this post we hired a team of home organizers, local to the Bay Area. Miss Clutter is owned by Danielle Mahatzri so I asked her for a few tips to share with you!
How did you get started with home organization and styling?
As a former fashion techie, I made a career switch to design, style, and organize interiors. Whether it is brainstorming together to set up a developmentally appropriate nursery/playroom, decluttering your wardrobe or garage, and refreshing your retail or office space - I am here to help you tackle everything within those walls!
Got an easy tip for keeping kids stuff + clothes from getting everywhere?!
Never neglect vertical space as a form of storage. Whether it's affixing cute floating shelves or using The Container Store's Elfa over the door rack, you can really maximize your space in infinite ways when you have the wall space to do so!
Also, I love folding jammies as a set! As you fold the shirt simply tuck in the pants smack in the middle to create that matching pair.
Finally- baskets and bins! This tip for keeping a bin for clothes your little one is growing out of is a game changer:
What are some of your favorite products for organizing?
Some other things we used in Rachael’s home for organizing drawers, art supplies etc:
Magazine holders for coloring books, drawing pads, activity books, and stickers
Clear bins for markers, paint supplies and brushes, scissors, tape, etc.
Clear shoe bins to stack less-used stuff like play doh, stamps, and notebooks
Bamboo drawer dividers to make the most of drawer space
Label maker to create clear, discrete labels for inside of drawers and cubbies
If you’re in the Bay Area, definitely check out Danielle and her team! They were so sweet and kind my eldest actually cried when he had to go to school and didn’t get to hang out with them.
GOLDMINDS just launched and we are absolutely BLOWN AWAY by the response! So many of you are loving it and seeing quicker, easier bedtimes with your little ones and that seriously couldn’t make me any happier. You can get started with a free 7-day trial here! After that, it’s just $4.99/mo or $34.99 for the whole year. We’ll be doing monthly challenges and adding new stories all the time (even taking your requests!) PLUS there are bonus features like the custom story generator when you’re a subscriber- so worth it! 💫🙌
Book Club is underway and we’re reading To Have and to Hold. I am about 1/3 way through and BREEZING through it while nodding vigorously the whole time. It is so validating. I’m in talks with the author, Molly Millwood, to plan a live Q+A here on Substack in October! Be sure you subscribe here to join our book club convos! (just $5 per month!)
We started The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives on Hulu and this might be an unpopular opinion but I am bored and confused?! Who was swinging with each other?! Are we supposed to believe these people are actually friends who hang out? Why are they trying to make “Momtok” happen!?
I made a couple more recipes from What to Cook When you Don’t Feel Like Cooking by
and saw the book is back in stock on Amazon if you haven’t grabbed it yet!!! A quick “girl dinner” I made for myself while solo one night this week was also inspired by one of her recipes and so easy and delish. I heated up some leftover coconut rice (from the book’s recipes but you can see a similar recipe here) and topped with 2 fried eggs, some soy sauce, chilli crunch sauce and sliced scallions.I loved seeing the coverage from March Fourth this week at the White House. I was sad that I didn’t get to attend since I’ve been in class this week (I’m in a graduate program in Infant-Parent Mental Health) but I love the action items they give to make it easy to get involved and to incite change! Here’s what you can do:
My style ICON on Tiktok is Caroline Bankston- I just love everything she puts on! I’ve been eyeing the Birkenstock clogs she wears (why didn’t I just keep the ones I wore in high school?!) since last fall, but just found these dupes and grabbed them! Will be wearing with these socks.
That’s all for this week! See ya soon
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