Currently is about a snapshot of everyday life. The ordinary answers, the ones that show up week in and week out, month in and month out. It’s a glimpse into what’s going on, your routines, and the day-to-day living of right now.
This week, I wanted to take some time to share a little more of the stories behind my answers. I’ve been slowly getting back into the swing of things after an extended maternity leave. Baby is amazing. She’s best baby. I love hanging out with her and playing during the day. We are taking tons of photos, and I’ll get around to scrapbooking them eventually.
The weather is changing, football is in full swing, and the walnuts are dropping from the tree outside our kitchen. Once or twice a day, they’ll fall and directly hit the metal roof on our three-season room, which makes a super loud (and scary) banging noise; which TBH, Charlie is handling better than me. Here’s what life looks like around here right now.
Watching
Football, obviously. We are sharing our Sunday football and food tradition with Charlie. She’s got the cutest football outfits—from long-sleeve anthropomorphic football onesies to a shirt and skirt that is half Eagles/half Giants. It’s been a delight finding her a football outfit every week and having her sit on the couch and watch the games with us.
Jeff takes Charlie overnight on the weekends so it’s easier for me to pump and get a full night’s rest. I usually sleep in and wake up to them on the couch playing video games or doing tummy time on the floor. We have breakfast and start watching football around noon ET, then hang out on the couch for Red Zone. One of my favorite things is when she and Jeff fall asleep around the same time for a Sunday afternoon nap. I usually get in a solid writing block.
We’re also watching Slow Horses on Tuesday nights. It’s a great show. I love that they can get it out every single year. We did a rewatch before this season came out, and it really holds up.
Reading
I’m still delightfully obsessed with the Empyrean series by Rebecca Yarros, aka Fourth Wing. I’ve got the books on Kindle, where I’ve been highlighting my favorite passages and the lines that I think confirm something we already theorized on are in one color, and then in another color, I’m highlighting things that start a brand-new theory or open up a new question. I’ve also got them all on audiobook (and full cast graphic-audiobook), and I’ve been loving listening for things that I missed on my previous read-through.
I’ve been looking at Reddit threads and the different reels being posted on Instagram every few days. I’m still waiting for Jeff to finish up the book, because he’s always my favorite person to discuss media with. I haven’t been this excited about a series and the releases since the Harry Potter books came out when I was in high school. I love having a series that I can reread, listen to, and find different Easter eggs in each time.
Listening
We’re listening to a lot of Vulfpeck, like usual. We’ve been literally putting their YouTube channel on shuffle and playing it during the day, including a few older songs that could easily be mistaken for kids’ music, like “Back Pocket” and “It Feels Good to Write a Song.”
The baby also loves Lawrence. We always put them on when Charlie is upset in the car. There’s something about Gracie’s voice that calms her down, so we’ll put on “The Weather,” or any of their acoustic-ish versions.
Making
Chicken pot pie, flautas, arepas, cookies from Trader Joe’s, and really great burgers with beef from a new-to-us local-ish meat market.
We found the meat market through Lansing’s restaurant week. It’s a little different from the restaurant week I grew up with in NYC. Instead of a full meal with an appetizer, entree, and dessert, participating places offer a $7 menu item, with optional $17 items and $5 drinks. That way you’re not locked into anything, and restaurants at different price points can opt in where it makes sense for them.
We drove down for their $7 whole smoked chicken. It was one of the best chickens I’ve ever had. We ate every single last bit that we could off that chicken, and we can’t wait to go back. We also picked up ground beef and bacon, which were excellent. Jeff made us some of the best burgers we’ve ever had, and I think that’s probably going to be where we get our Thanksgiving turkey.
Feeling
My headaches suck lately. The change of seasons is always a hard time. Rapid changes in pressure are one of my worst headache triggers, and it’s made even worse when paired with any type of precipitation.
I’m not taking a bunch of the medications I was on before trying to get pregnant (because of breastfeeding), so I’m just kinda dealing with the pain while I continue to pump half a dozen times a day to feed Charlie. It’s a big part of my life right now.
Planning
I’m excited for baby’s first holiday season and participating in Ali Edwards’ December Daily. I chose this year’s 10x8 striped album. I really love the color combination, and I’m most excited for full-page photos of the baby.
My physical paper supplies arrived, and I’m putting together a Raskog cart with all the holiday stuff and basic supplies I’m gonna need. That way I can work on my book wherever I need. I also went through my older holiday supplies and pulled out stickers, a few stamp sets, and a bunch of 3x4 journaling prompt cards to make the day-to-day journaling a little easier.
I’m excited to participate in the December Daily weekend event next month with Ali and Amanda. It was so amazing to meet Amanda in person this summer at Awesome Ladies Live! I’m hoping to get a bunch of pages premade so I can come back to them during December.
Loving
The baby. Always the baby. She literally changes every day. Right now she loves standing up if you hold her hands. She’s very vocal and loves saying mamamama. She’ll lift her arms if she wants uppies, and if you hold your hands out, she’ll grab them so you can stand with her or pick her up.
She got this great ball pit from my parents for Jeff’s birthday and she loves hiding and playing “Where’s the baby”? She’s the most delightful tiny human.
She started moving a lot this past week. She can pull herself across the room now, especially in service of finding a toy—or, much to my chagrin, a cord of some sort. She has favorite toys and does really well with independent play. I can sit her near me and chop veggies for dinner, or get some writing done on my iPad. Granted, it’s only in 10–15 minute intervals, but it’s crazy to see how much you can actually get done in those 10–15 minutes.
Your Turn
What are you watching, reading, listening to, making, feeling, planning, and loving right now? Fill out a Currently List this week, or pick one answer and tell a little more of the story behind it. The ordinary answers belong here.
P.S. The toy catalogs arrived, and I’ve started marking down things Santa is gonna get for Charlie. She’ll be nine months at Christmas, so we’re looking for toys she can use in 2027. Hit reply and tell me what your one-year-old loved!