200th blog post. In the last almost 5 years (!!) I’ve tried to share all sorts of information, experience, insights, and joy through this blog in the same way I do with my friends irl. And I really, really hope that this space has been a reference guide, aide, and just fun and enjoyable place for you to visit!
When I started this blog, I was 5 years younger with just one child, and only 2 cats. Needless to say: a lot has changed. So, I wanted to reintroduce myself, so you can get to know me a little bit better, and 5 things that are new in my life from the last 5 years (aside from the aforementioned second child + third cat, obviously).
• our little family has a strong bike-loving culture now. Since having kids, I had wanted to get a bike so I could go out for rides with them. After my second was born, I insisted we save up. The first cargo bike was unfortunately incompatible with the location of our home. So I conceded to Todd’s bike suggestion, and it’s p e r f e c t for where we are right now. Todd also got a bike, and fell head-over-heels in love with it. Our house currently has 8 bikes in it. Our oldest got a balance bike the year before we did, and loved it; and my mother-in-law gifted our son a tiny baby bike when he turned 1, so biking has just been the thing to do for the last several years in our family.
• all of us are into city planning in a big way. To really get into this would require its own post. Suffice it to say that learning about urbanism and walkable cities gave me vocabulary and shape to ideas I’d held dear most of my life. And then the kids started watching videos with us, of their own accord. And now they constantly complain about roads being widened, and parking lots.
• we’re homeschoolers! I was homeschooled from middle school through high school, and so I always planned on homeschooling our kids. Back in 2021, we started with our oldest, and now we’re in our third year. We love the flexibility it lends our schedule to have the kids get more free time, time to play with friends, do other extracurriculars, and choose to study things they’re interested in.
• we’ve starting learning a second language. Back in the day, before kids, Todd and I talked about how we’d like to tach a second language to our children. When our daughter was around 1.5, Duolingo released its Korean language program, and I bought a couple of baby books in Korean. Aside from listening to music, that’s pretty much all we did, though she did learn the word for ‘friend’, 친구. Then, in 2021, I decided that, if we were serious about being serious, it was time to get on it, as our daughter was approaching 5 years old. We did, and now it’s one of the biggest parts of our lives.
• I’ve killed almost all my houseplants. I really, really loved the feel our house had when it was more jungly. We lost a couple at the hands of our plant sitters while we were on trips, and some to my own poor plant-tending. But Blythe had also taken out at least 4 himself (he’s currently trying to Kill Jon Hamm IIII in the living room, which really peeves me)! I’d like to restock, but, ya’ know.
That’s some of what’s totally new with me in the last 5 years! Everything on this list feels like such a natural trajectory, but, at the same time, it’s really crazy and empowering to look back and see how much of the goodness and priorities in my life now are things I sought out and worked for. If you’re new here, I hope you find lots of posts useful; and if you’re a long-time reader, THANK YOU for spending your time here over the years!
