Every year, by the time my mom’s birthday ends, I get this feeling that’s part dread and part yearning for summer to be over and fall (sweaters! hot coffee! turning leaves!) to be here. Then I remember August and even most of September are still fully summer and I shouldn’t wish them away. So here are some late summer favorites to remind me to enjoy this moment right here 🙂

The Switch from Hosting Things to Attending Things

In July, we hosted BBQs three weekends in a row, so when August rolled around, I said CLOSED FOR BUSINESS! It is so so nice and convenient to be in our own home and not have to travel anywhere when we have people over (being able to just sneak upstairs and put Demps down for a nap or bedtime is a MAJOR plus), but you know what else is nice, not cleaning or cooking the meal and just showing up someplace to enjoy yourself. We have a baby shower, two first birthday parties, a family breakfast and a wedding this month and I am soooo excited to be the guest and not the host for a little bit 🙂

Quick and Easy Dinners

Right now, dinnertime looks something like this. One of us entertains Dempsey (or supervises while he entertains himself) and the other one of us cooks dinner. Sometimes we switch halfway in between but gone (for now) are the days of us being in the kitchen together, so I am reeeeaaaallllly trying to set ourselves up for success by sticking to super simple recipes right now. There’s been lots of grilling and pasta dishes and um, also just going out to eat, because that’s truly the easiest dinner 😂

Post-Olympic Life

Okay, you guys know I live for Summer Olympics but now that they are over, it’s been nice to not feel like I have/want to just sit on the couch and watch Olympic coverage all night. Back to sitting in the backyard to read for a bit or even throwing on a weekday movie (Space Jam: A New Legacy, anyone??). I’m also getting myself into bed earlier without beach volleyball going “late” into the night and that’s always a major plus.

Life with a Busy Baby

It’s starting to feel like I have to stop calling Dempsey a baby and start calling him a little boy, because that’s what he looks like these days. And that little boy is BU-SY! He basically wants to stand up and get into stuff 24/7. It is exhausting but also the best! He is waving, pointing, making a little motorboat noise with his lips 🥺, “walking” with his push toy and eating meals with us. I love every single second! This week, we took him to the zoo! He waved at some wild pigs and it was the actual cutest ❤ Cannot believe this “baby” will be one in a couple of months!

Being Back at the Office

Sort of. I’m there twice a week now and though I SUPER miss seeing Demps and spending the day with my parents, I’ll admit it’s nice putting on real clothes and chatting with coworkers and interacting with Joey in a non-parent capacity (we eat our little lunch and take our little walk), without being tempted to get things done around the house. It’s crazy how less chaotic actual work feels when I’m undistracted at the office. Plus I know Dempsey is in great hands. And it makes working from home the other three days of the week feel pretty good too!

Please tell me what your favorite things about current life are 🙂

We were all dying of smoke inhalation in Colorado this weekend ☹😢 Spring started off so rainy that I thought we would be able to avoid another hazy summer, but here we are again. Very sad! But aside from the horrible air quality, we had a good low-key weekend and in a month (or a summer, really!) with just so so many plans, I will take all the opportunities to relax and be at home we can get! Plus Dempsey is just more and more fun every day? How’s that possible?? 😍💗

Walked to the coffee shop Friday morning, as always, and spotted that gorgeous flower on our way back! Lori came over to hang with Demps in the afternoon and our housecleaners had to cancel, but that meant not having to figure out how to have five adults, a vacuum and a napping baby inside at the same time.

Pruning is my new coping mechanism for daily stress. You know, like when you’re not feeling in control, so you prune the hell out of your tomato bush? But for real, that thing was growing all over our watermelon vine and my okra plants and it was too heavy to be held up by the cage, so I trimmed it back and it looks all spick and span back there now. Those fairytale eggplants are too cute and do you see that teeny tiny okra?? I forgot they grow pointy side up until I saw that one! My lantana (known more adorably as ham and eggs!) are all in bloom again and I love them so much ❤

Post work, we hung out with our sweet boy and watched the women’s marathon. How cool for Molly Seidel to get the bronze. I cannot imagine running in that Tokyo heat! I pulled a handful of shishitos and those cutesy eggplants and grilled them up with some brats for dinner. Why does it always rain when we decide to grill?? We ended up eating inside, but what can you do? After Demps went to bed, we watched the Olympics and, since it was National Root Beer Float Day, we had to make some! Poor Demps doesn’t even know about all the fun desserts Mom and Dad have after he goes to bed 😂 Oh and we watched two episodes of Mr. Corman and I’m not sure yet, but I think I like it?

A very chill, yet oddly productive Saturday! Joey is back in training mode for his half marathon in October, so while he was out running, I was feeding Demps then, when he got back, I made breakfast for us. Sorry but I am still fully obsessed with this soft scramble and wow, does sprinkling garlic over your bacon before you bake it, make your house smell so so good! Took a little trip over to Adam’s new downtown apartment that afternoon and would you look at that smoggy view?? I could barely make out the Denver skyline, yuck! Joey and Adam got right to building a couch but Demps had fun with me tossing him onto Uncle Adam’s Lovesac 😂 I left the boys a bit later and headed to the dreaded mall to find a dress for our most upcoming wedding (Joey has FOUR cousins getting married this year!). I ended up finding two! Back at home, a cute boy was waking up from his nap and then we played while Joey made us pasta dinner! Demps mostly threw his on the ground but I liked it, plus Joey made us some real good and strong margs.

Sunday = my turn to run! We made a plan for Joey and Demps to pick up breakfast while I was out but Joey could not get through to Sassafras to place an order and then our housecleaners canceled AGAIN, so we figured why not just go out! We got an order of beignets and maybe let Dempsey have a few tiny pieces. I know you’re not “supposed” to give babies sugar but come on! We also got him a side of grits and he sure did love them. A Southern boy at heart, I guess 😍😍

Our plan was to let him sleep until shortly before the Rockies game but he woke up much earlier than anticipated, so we loaded up baby and lunches and were in our seats by 12:40. Dempsey was having the best time staring at all the people, pointing at things and eating a teensy almond butter sandwich. It was too cute!!! Since we got there early, we also left early, but that’s fine for me. You know I loooove leaving stuff early 😂 We made big salads for dinner and Dempsey is in a avocado-hating phase but a chicken-loving phase. After his bedtime, we watched Big Brother then turned on the Closing Ceremony and gosh, I’m sad the Olympics are over 😭 I’ll admit I did not have the time or enthusiasm I usually have and that was sort of sad but what can you do? We’re in a different life phase this time around. How cool is Paris going to be though?!

How was your weekend?