On the mend.

  I've been using the fun 1SE app for the last year-ish- it's so cool to mash together small parts of our days and see a little yearbook video of our family. I'll spare you the clips from January/February- they're still a little hard to watch. But when I put together the clips from March, phew. I could literally see a shift. We're on the mend and it shows! More normal. Better health. Less trauma. I mean, I know that things have leveled off and we are tapering from doctor appointments, but it was really good to see it, too.

  I know I've been a bit vague when I talk about Caleb's health on this blog or on Instagram, and that's ok. His bacterial pneumonia (turned whole body infection) was just really really awful and left a couple of permanent side effects. It just feels odd for me go into specifics or details in these general places, when it isn't my story to tell. He'll likely have lifelong impacts from the infection and while he's only a toddler now, he'll be a adult one day and we want to give him a chance to talk about it however he wants. Justin and I have a feeling that, as he gets older, some of these things will end up being funny stories he tells or party tricks to shock people. But overall, we're thankful he's 3 and will hopefully have so few memories of these surgeries or how his little body worked before he got sick. Kids are crazy resilient and, to look at him, you would NEVER know how sick he was just a few weeks ago or that the infection caused some serious damage. And every doctor has agreed on one big thing- it is a real life miracle that he is here and thriving today!

  Ok, that got dramatic and I didn't intend for it too. The whole point of this post was to mark the change and shift back to normal around our house! We're seeing less doctors (I quit Caleb's OT/PT this week! One doctor doesn't need to see us again until June!) and Caleb has been back at school for a few weeks. I'm thinking he'll have another minor surgery soon-ish and he has a big-ish appointment next week at the children's hospital, but those are all scheduled and predictable things that seem manageable. Outside of his anxious attachment to me (to be expected) and his feelings of being entitled to endless 'treats and presents' (hey, we've been indulgent lately)- he's pretty much back to his old self. Three weeks straight without surgery or anesthesia is good for a kid!

  We're still pretty paranoid about him catching any viruses while his lungs recoup and until we find out what immune system issue is going on, so we're avoiding the germiest places (aka everywhere fun). Which makes waiting for warmer weather feel extra hard- why is it still snowing in Indiana in April?!?! So of course we're counting down the days until we can simply be outside. It honestly feels as if these past three months were just skipped over (because we haven't done a ton of life outside of our little family) so I'm hoping spring doesn't happen and we just go right to summer. Anyone else with me?

  But this video. Such a good reminder to me that season change (they really do!), that even the hardest things can have bright spots, and that these little normal days add up to something really sweet!

1SE in 2017. (our yearly video)

  One of the best projects I started in 2017 was using the 1SE app. If you haven't heard of it, google it. If you want a fun way to document your year and your family, it's worth downloading and starting today! The one second clips seem insignificant at first but (like all good things) they add up and make a really fun video.

  2017 was a steady year for us and I love how the video is mostly full with clips of the boys in their highchairs or playing around the house. Add in some beach vacations, a hospital stay, a ton of park dates, lots of family and friend time, and lots of birthday celebrations- it all made for a full year. The best things outweighed the hard (don't they usually?) and it was just a good 2017.

  Here is how we spent our 2017!

1SE (Summer)

1SE of Summer from katie rush on Vimeo.

It's been awhile since I've done an update on our 1SE adventure, so here is our summer so far in one-second clips!

Our fav summer highlights:

a weekend in Chicago with college friends (and ALL of our kiddos)
Caleb's birthday
our first Playdate with a Purpose
lots (and lots) of ice cream
annual trip to Stone Harbor
visiting new parks
playdates with friends and cousins
family breakfast dates
Grace Kids Camp
catching lightening bugs
meeting our newest cousin
visiting our neighborhood pool
sunset boat date with Justin
visiting Grandma at Columbian Park
first First Friday at our house
visiting the fire station

Our summer in seconds.

  It seems as if Labor Day weekend and the first of September mark the unofficial end of summer. And man, was it a good summer for us. We were busy and not busy and did fun things and normal things. I set out to make it an intentional summer (we even made a bucket list!), and I can officially say that happened. Here are some fun clips of our summer!

1SE of Summer from katie rush on Vimeo.

Summer '17 highlights:

visiting friends

taking advantage of our neighborhood pool

a trip to the beach

ice cream (so much ice cream!)

date nights
celebrating birthdays 

visiting a fire station

exploring new parks

spending time with family

soaking up time outdoors
catching lightening bugs

ps. If you aren't using the 1SE app, you're missing out! 

On giving up Instagram.

  I thought I'd give a little recap of how lent went- you may remember that I stepped away from Instagram and attempted to spend more time in intentional prayer. Or you may not, because I'm sure you aren't keeping tabs on my life 😂 Either way, here's how it went and where I'll go from here (now that Lent is over)! And just for fun, at the end you'll find our 1 Second Everyday video from the days I went social media free!

  So technically, I didn't give up Instagram for Lent. I should start off with that. I'm actually on IG every single day for my part time job, but I'm on my clients' accounts working on growth. I wish I could have deleted the app from my phone and simply put my phone down more. Even still, it was wonderful to not know/care what 300 other people were up to. I spent a lot more time picking up my prayer journal, talking to my kids, reading real books, or getting things done in my real life than living virtually. It was great! I noticed immediately how much less mental clutter I had rolling around in my head.

  This Lent season was also just a long one personally. I've mentioned it half a dozen times, but we were all just constantly sick this winter. With minor things like sinus infections or influenza, but it sort of left us drained. We capped it off with a short hospital stay for Tyler (weird bacterial infection in his glute muscle). We walked into Good Friday and Easter weekend feeling as if the fog of winter was finally lifting! So while I did lean more into prayer this season, it wasn't as structured and routine as I had hoped. That bugged me and left me feeling guilty most weeks, but in retrospect I see that it doesn't matter so much. Drawing near to God is drawing near to God, however it looks!

  So, what happens now? I don't hate social media. In fact, I firmly believe it can be used for so much good! But stepping back for a couple of months did leave me feeling as if something needed to change. I don't plan on quitting Instagram for good. Honestly, I am intentional about who I follow on social media and try to fill up my feed with only things that encourage and inspire me. It turns out though, that you can have too much of a good thing. My biggest takeaway is that IG can be source of mental clutter for me. Does that even make sense?

  I had too much inspiration and encouragement in my feed. So many healthy things I wanted to try or incorporate. So many great tips and ideas for decorating my home. Endless encouragement for my relationship with Jesus. And, of course, a hundred life updates from people I haven't seen in years/may never see again. Nothing inherently negative, but when I logged in yesterday for the first real time in months, I was overwhelmed. (and there are ads now? And you can post multiple image?) It instantly felt like too much. Too much to catch up on. Too much to sort through. Too much in all the ways.

  So this morning, I unfollowed about 200 accounts. Its amazing! I don't have 30 instastories waiting for me when I log in (I hate the impending red circles making me feel like I have to zoom through them just to make them go away!!). And if I log in only a couple times each day, I can easily scroll through for 5ish minutes and feel like I'm caught up on the important things I want to see. I kept a good mix of design inspiration, friends and family, faith inspiration, and shops I love. But the bare minimum! I'm sure it'll get away from me and I'll pare down again. That's ok! It's stuff like this that I think is important to always be reevaluating- what do you need more of in your life? Less of? There are seasons for different things, and Lent taught me that I can focus so much more on Jesus when I have less clutter and am always thinking of ways make room for Him.

And now- what we've really been up to for the past few weeks! Spoiler: I spent lots of time with my kids😂

March/April 1SE from katie rush on Vimeo.