Wow, Halfway through an incredibly strange year… Here’s a look back at the last month and some focus for next month…
For the past four years I’ve taken a July Blog Break and I thought about skipping this year because usually that break happens around when our family vacation is or other fun summer activities and events which are all cancelled this year. However, when I did my Powersheets goal refresh, I realized that rest (specifically SLEEP), and my mental health were top priorities for this next section of the year, and a blogging break will still fit those and hopefully give me more time and ideas to come back strong in August. So this is my last new post until August!

JUNE MONTHLY GOALS:
*Plan for & Celebrate Father’s Day: Hubby said it was about 100x better than last year- I know it was a pretty low bar with how sick and exhausted I was last year, but I’ll still say mission accomplished! I can’t wait until next year when we can (hopefully!) be with extended family again to celebrate.
*Work on Baby Books: The basic baby book for my youngest was totally updated which is great, but I am still hoping to make her a fancier book through the Project Life App and my middle kid’s book was never even touched. Adding that specifically to next month.
*Declutter and Make Space: This was not successful and really added to my anxiety this past month so hoping to gain some traction next month.
*Start work again on something creative: Made a few gifts but nothing major. I’m just hitting some major creative walls right now and think I need to do some work on my mental health before I come back to this.
*Project Life Catch Up and phone photo purge: I got a great tip from a friend to re-look into Google photos as a backup. I also did a good deal of catching up on our family yearbook but am still a tad behind. A lot less than I was a month ago though!!
*Find a new summer schedule: This was rough due to the sleep regression/growth spurt/teething from the baby but we have some very basic sense of a rhythm to our days now and will hopefully get a more sepcific/functional schedule next month. So… progress!

JUNE WEEKLY GOALS:
*Family Fridays: YES! We’ve really enjoyed our family movie time and have been extra thankful for Disney Plus for giving us so many options.
*Budget Check in and Family Meeting: This month, we realized we’ve been lax about including the kids in this and we want to try to change that next month.
*Photo routine: Hit and miss but better than last month.
*Strength Training/at home workout x2: I got some weights as a belated birthday gift and while it’s not a whole 40-50 minute workout I’ve at least snuck in some weight time! I also kept going out for more runs than I thought but after getting a heat rash in the 105 degree weather I think I’m done running for a while unless I get it in crazy early in the morning
*Write: Well at least I got my blog posts in? Have I mentioned I feel creatively drained?
*Library Time: YES! This has been so great for the kids. I am so thankful for this resource.

June DAILY Goals:
*Hydrate and 8K steps: This is the one goal that I smashed this month. I gave myself one day off a week but other than that I even got all the way to 10k most days. Which is good because my step count is probably not going to be my goal again until it is bearable to get in evening walks or jogs again.
*Daily Delete and Screen Limit: This is the goal I absolutely failed. I did way too much “doom scrolling” and a lot of late night reading on my phone because I knew the baby wasn’t sleeping long stretches anyway. It was not great for my mental health.
*Coffee & Jesus: About 50/50 with this daily habit.
*Family Meal Discussion- Roses, thorns, buds:</em > Started strong, then let it go, then finished strong. Moving this to bedtime instead of dinner time.
*Readaloud Time: My favorite daily goal/new tradition with the kids. Trying to figure out which story is next!

This month is a little more condensed/simplified. My main focus is my mental health and getting it back to a better place! Here’s what my tending list looks like:
JULY MONTHLY GOALS:
*Declutter house and create more peaceful spaces: This is a holdover from last month but with a new focus/end goal. This is… so much harder now that there are three kids so we’ll see how far we get…
*Schedule Sibling Time: I’ve had a lot of immediate family time recently but am missing the extended family time! Hoping the zoom and FaceTime arrangements can morph into in person quality time when this pandemic is over.
*Revisit Finance Goals and House Hunting Priorities: I think I’ve alluded to this but we are pretty cramped in our current house and if it weren’t for spiking coronavirus cases we’d be looking for a new home right about now… but we are taking this as a sign to delay and rethink some finance goals and house priorities.

*MOPS retreat/contribution: I’m on my MOPS group’s steering team again and it is going to be a strange time planning for a strange year! Doing a little thinking and brainstorming ahead of time to prepare- especially in case this needs to be socially distanced.
*Plan for back to school: School starts early August. We aren’t sure what it will look like, but we are sure we need to do some planning before that- including brainstorming/starting a new tradition to make going back to school extra special for this kids.
*Build Pumping stash: I got REALLY lazy with this recently with the growth spurt and lack of sleep but I’m starting got realize that maybe the best way to GET sleep is to pump more and start having Dad take over the bedtime routine with a pumped bottle… plus building a stash symbolizes some hope for me that some day I will get to leave the house for more than a grocery run.

JULY WEEKLY GOALS:
*Yogax2: My main focus for the month is mental health- and I know yoga is an important part of that equation. 
*Budget Check in and Family Meeting: Planning to focus on including the kids this month and adding some new responsibilities for them.
*Date Night: My hubby and I are in a great place and spending a lot of time together but we both agreed we want to do something a little more formal this month.
*Sabbath and REST time: Again, this one is just vital for my mental health… even though our sabbath still looks like watching mass on youtube while eating pancakes…
*Middle Child’s Baby Book: For some reason catching up is SO much harder than just doing it as that first year rolls along…
*Project Life Pages/Legacy Journals: Getting into the swing of this documenting and hoping it feels like a habit soon!

JULY DAILY GOALS:
*Hydrate/move my body: Not setting a step count for this month but hoping for some mini-at home workouts (aka squats with my four month old in her carrier) and dance parties and hoping setting a limit on my coffee and a goal for my water gets me back to optimal hydration!
*Write the Word Journaling: I’ve changed the wording from “coffee and Jesus” to just Write the Word because mornings are crazy right now and it’s more like coffee & nursing…. so any Bible time happens during naps or in the evenings now.
*Sleep Hygiene: My sleep levels are AWFUL right now. and it is majorly taking a toll on my physical and emotional and mental health. This is one of my top priorities for the month.
*Read Aloud: My favorite bonding time with the kids right now, and they are loving it too!

So that’s my tending list for the month… I’ll tell you how it went when I get back from my blog break!

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