Now that we still have some sunlight hanging aroun Now that we still have some sunlight hanging around after the kids go to bed, my new thing is sipping a glass of wine on the back patio while making small talk with Josh and praying the kids stay in bed.
 
I've been obsessed with cleaning our house recently but I've been so good about it, I have nothing left to clean or tidy right now and I'm left to face the things I don't really want to think about like the fact that I miss my kids when they're at school or how I really want to fill this house up with some more of them 😅 

At any rate, one of my simple pleasures in life is decluttering and purging unused things and I feel like I've accomplished a lot!! What about you?
Being a mom has always meant so much to me. Growin Being a mom has always meant so much to me. Growing up, I thought it was pretty much all I was cut out to do, which ended up being false. But even though I've learned that I'm capable of so many other things, being a mom is still one of my highest aspirations. As we're getting our home ready for fostering, I can't help but think of how the little one(s) entering our home will feel but also how David and Evy will feel. How will they react if we parent slightly differently? Will they understand that we're working to build trust and connection or will they feel indignant? These are the things I pray about and also speak to the kids about in the days leading up. We're all excited but I have the feeling of heaviness that we don't and won't understand the burden until we're all already carrying it together.
Doing my gosh darned best to manifest spring over Doing my gosh darned best to manifest spring over here and I think it might be working 😉 Today the kids had TWOsday at school and they were so sweet. David wore a tie (I don't exactly get how it tirles in to Twosday but the kids were happy so..) and Evy "twinned" with a couple of sweet friends in her class. It's so sweet when you see your own kids building their own friendships. It just loosens a little piece of anxiety I've had about parenthood since David was still in my tummy. How did you spend your TWOsday??

Sandals @naotfootwear 💕
Today was a sweet day. Woke up at 8:30 next to Jos Today was a sweet day. Woke up at 8:30 next to Josh in a quiet house - the kids slept over my parent's last night. Got up, raced to clean the kitchen as fast as I could while my coffee was brewing. The coffee won this time. 

I recorded a Reel while getting ready. Went to the place where we were going to meet my fam a bit early so Josh and I could get in a walk. Then we got coffee, went to a huge antique store (sadly left with nothing but took pictures of my faves so I can remember to come back) and went to lunch with the kids and my parents. Love easy-going and fun days like these 🖤
Back in the day,I was talking with someone about m Back in the day,I was talking with someone about marriage.Josh and I had been married for a few years at that point but this guy was still single. ..

He told me he was studying to get his masters in counseling and he wanted to be a marriage counselor one day.I thought "Hey that's pretty cool" but, curious,because,you know, he was single. 

Anyway, after we'd been talking a few minutes about our interest in helping married couples, he leaned in and said, "You know, I have this theory on marriage.." "Oh yeah?" I said (pretty curious to hear what theories this guy had for all of marriage for everyone everywhere). 

He said, "I believe that every single problem in marriage boils down to communication."

At the time, I didn't really know what to say. I'm more of a *reflector* and then I come up with what I wish I had said later.

Here's what I wish I had said: "Um. Yeah I don't think so. I mean sure, communication helps with a lot of issues. But what about selfishness,⠀addiction,⠀past hurt and trauma, etc? Communication will help people work through those issues but they're connected to much deeper issues that concern the heart--not just your communication skills."

We are all broken, very human, beings and when left to our own devices,⠀we don't have all the tools necessary to "fix" ourselves or our spouse's problems. We can talk until we're blue in the face but we just can't fix ourselves. 

What we do need, is to lean on the Creator who made all things good and makes all things new. To understand that we are not the main characters here. The whole world and everything in it points to Christ and His redeeming power. And yes, he often works that out through us and often through communication. But it's not communication that saves marriages. It's Jesus.

I was just thinking about that today and wanted to get it off my chest. What role do you think communication plays?
Merry Christmas from the Damons! 🎁 Merry Christmas from the Damons! 🎁
So much joy in one photo! Ok, maybe 4 photos 😜 So much joy in one photo! Ok, maybe 4 photos 😜 Love my littlest niece, Eva ❤️
Let's hash something out together: what's somethin Let's hash something out together: what's something you do or used to fight about in your marriage/relationship regularly?

Do you feel like the issue is/was pretty cut and dry? 

Or was there an underlying issue that bubbled up in different ways?

Curious to know your thoughts. 

When Josh and I were first married, we fought a lot. We were pretty low-income, didn't have great jobs, and had a wee baby. While our fights were often about the grocery list, the real issue was that we were SCARED. 

Scared of the adult life we had just stepped into. It was kind of like jumping into a puddle you don't think is that deep until after it's too late and now your socks are completely drowning 🚣🏼‍♀️ 

Luckily, though, they dry off over time, don't they?

After lots of learning and working really hard (both at our jobs and relationship) things started to ease up. We started to see that there was a light at the end of the tunnel and even though we weren't there yet, it gave up hope to carry on together ❤️
Go on a walk with your spouse before Netflixing. O Go on a walk with your spouse before Netflixing. Or if you can't leave the house, sit in the kitchen with a glass of wine. Make time to talk. And make it easier by doing things together. It's so so important ❤️
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Blogging, Family · September 25, 2015

The Leibster Award!

Leibster Award Living the Sweet Wife

Hey everybody! So something cool happened the other day! I’ve recently (as in the last 3 days) been working to get LTSW “out there” a bit more and in doing so, the blog was noticed by a fellow blogger, Lanna Tsimberg Barrison, of WakeUpDylan! Lanna writes about being the mother of a child who suffers from the neurological disorders of narcolepsy and cataplexy. Seriously, check out her blog- you’ll learn a lot.

Anyway, Lanna recently nominated Living the Sweet Wife for the Leibster award! Basically, the Leibster Award helps to promote baby blogs, like this one, and encourages networking with other bloggers. In doing so, to accept the nomination, nominees are asked to answer a list of questions written by your nominator (that would be Lanna for me). I’ll then make my own set of questions and ask 10 bloggers to answer those while mentioning Living the Sweet Wife in their post. I’m so excited to get to learn a little more about some of my blogging friends!

Here are my questions from Lanna:

What do you know about narcolepsy and cataplexy?

I didn’t know a lot before reading your blog! I knew narcolepsy was a sleep disorder (almost everyone knows that much). I really appreciated how you went into depth and defined the two disorders on this page.

Why do you blog?

I write for Living the Sweet Wife in order to bring encouragement and community to stressed out moms! I’ve been there and I want to help moms avoid  feeling burnt-out, insecure, and emotionally exhausted.

Tell me the most random piece of trivia you have sitting in your head at this moment.

Dark roasted coffee is less bitter than a light roast. I learned that from my friend who is a coffee snob from Indonesia.

Toilet paper: over or under?

Over, gosh darnit! I have been known to switch around the toilet paper rolls in other people’s homes.

What is your favourite Beatles song and why?

Tough one, but I’d have to say “I’ve Just Seen a Face.” Great- now it’s stuck in my head, ha! Give it a listen, it’ll make you smile.

Assuming price is no object, what car would you buy?

I have to say 2:

An old VW bus, you know the kind… in a beautiful blue!

OR an awesome off-roading range rover!!

If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life, what would it be?

Greek yogurt. I have it about 3 times a day anyway. Protein, vitamins, numminess. Sounds good to me.

What is your favourite funny/humourous book?

I honestly don’t think I’ve ready any humorous books!! Now I’m sad and I wish I have. I read fiction novels like Twilight or Divergent or self-help-ish books like For Women Only (one of the best things I did for my marriage) or Crazy Love (one of the best things I have done for my faith and relationship with God).

How do you plan on further growing your blog following?

Well I’ve been learning a lot about networking just recently so… there’s that. Two days ago I participated in my very first twitter chat with Melyssa from The Nectar Collective! She gives crazy good blog advice. I also have a rockin’ blogging Pinterest board where I collect tons of good articles about blog promotion, writing tips, SEO, the works! Check it out and give it a follow, quality stuff on there, people!

If you answered “not much” or something similar to questions 1 and 2, will you take the time to Google and/or read my blog to learn more about narcolepsy & cataplexy?

Yes, yes yes! I’ve subscribed and look forward to learning more!!

Here’s the list of MY awesome nominees!

  • Chelsea from Inspiration Indulgence
  • Sheena Neil from SheenaNeil.com
  • Sam from DIY Just Cuz
  • Ann from Cooking Maniac
  • Sam from Grapefruit & Granola
  • Lindsey from Hazel Haven
  • Chayleen from Cheyleen.com
  • Holli from Gloryful Life
  • Laura from Our Day Out Blog
  • Dree from Excuse me, Coming Through!

Hey Girls! Take time to check out each others’ blogs and encourage them as new bloggers like you and me!

Ok so here are the questions that I’ve assembled for my nominees:

  • How long have you been blogging?
  • Why do you blog?
  • If you could describe the theme (essence, appearance) of your blog in one or two words, what would they be?
  • What is your favorite drink of choice?
  • If you could ask me to write one post (in my particular niche) what would it be?
  • If you had time to write a second blog (in another niche) what would that be about?
  • What has been your favorite place you’ve ever visited?
  • If you had to/wanted to make a midnight run somewhere, where would it be?
  • (i.e. it would probably be down the road to Kroger to get a pint of ice cream).
  • What shoes are you wearing right now?
  • What is one social media page you would like a few more likes/follows in?

Thanks so much for participating in this Leibster Award nomination! I hope you have as much fun with this as I did!

Chels

 

In: Blogging, Family · Tagged: blogging, Leibster Award, networking, thank you, writing

join the club

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If you’re nervous about starting a blog, you’ll probably be able to come up with a million reasons why not to. Well, that’s ok. I mean, no one’s forcing you to start blogging. But, if you care to find out, I’ve compiled a few reasons why I’m so glad I started blogging, and why I really think you should create a blog, too.7 Reasons Why You Should Create a Blog
Now, some of you have probably heard of Pinterest scheduling apps like Buffer or Tailwind and I’ll tell you that I’ve tried them both. After testing them each out for a few weeks I kept hoping for something better. I finally came across Viraltag after a desperate Google search and gave it a whirl. It was exactly how I wanted a Pinterest scheduler to work.How I grew my pinterest monthly audience to 900,000 with Viraltag
How to Balance Life as a Work From Home Mom!

Comments

  1. Chelsea says

    September 25, 2015 at 3:25 pm

    Aw I love the Beatles! My favorite song is “Let it Be.”

    Thank you so much for including me! I feel so honored and blessed! xo

  2. Holli Bennett says

    September 25, 2015 at 3:37 pm

    This is so cool! Thank you so much for
    Including me! I most definitely fall into the “baby blog” category. Now to just keep this baby in my tummy long enough to keep up my end of the deal! 🙂

  3. Joscelyn | Wifemamafoodie says

    September 25, 2015 at 10:11 pm

    We have the same taste in books 😉 So nice to learn a little about you! I thank you for subscribing to my blog and just wanted you to know that I returned the favor! I also liked your page on Facebook 🙂 Looking forward to following along!

    • Chelsea says

      September 29, 2015 at 3:30 am

      Thanks so much Joscelyn!

  4. Lindsey says

    October 6, 2015 at 4:10 pm

    Thank you SO much Chelsea! Here are my answers to your post! You are right it definitely took longer than I thought that it would! http://www.hazelhaven.com/blog1/2015/10/6/liebster-award-nomination

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Hi! I'm Chelsea and we're the Damon's. We spent the last two years in WA state paying off student loans and just bought our first house in SC! I love a smooth black coffee, Josh's first love is the Seattle Sounders. Our kids are huge dorks and constantly make us laugh and we all love spending as much time outside as possible.

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Now that we still have some sunlight hanging aroun Now that we still have some sunlight hanging around after the kids go to bed, my new thing is sipping a glass of wine on the back patio while making small talk with Josh and praying the kids stay in bed.
 
I've been obsessed with cleaning our house recently but I've been so good about it, I have nothing left to clean or tidy right now and I'm left to face the things I don't really want to think about like the fact that I miss my kids when they're at school or how I really want to fill this house up with some more of them 😅 

At any rate, one of my simple pleasures in life is decluttering and purging unused things and I feel like I've accomplished a lot!! What about you?
Being a mom has always meant so much to me. Growin Being a mom has always meant so much to me. Growing up, I thought it was pretty much all I was cut out to do, which ended up being false. But even though I've learned that I'm capable of so many other things, being a mom is still one of my highest aspirations. As we're getting our home ready for fostering, I can't help but think of how the little one(s) entering our home will feel but also how David and Evy will feel. How will they react if we parent slightly differently? Will they understand that we're working to build trust and connection or will they feel indignant? These are the things I pray about and also speak to the kids about in the days leading up. We're all excited but I have the feeling of heaviness that we don't and won't understand the burden until we're all already carrying it together.
Doing my gosh darned best to manifest spring over Doing my gosh darned best to manifest spring over here and I think it might be working 😉 Today the kids had TWOsday at school and they were so sweet. David wore a tie (I don't exactly get how it tirles in to Twosday but the kids were happy so..) and Evy "twinned" with a couple of sweet friends in her class. It's so sweet when you see your own kids building their own friendships. It just loosens a little piece of anxiety I've had about parenthood since David was still in my tummy. How did you spend your TWOsday??

Sandals @naotfootwear 💕
Today was a sweet day. Woke up at 8:30 next to Jos Today was a sweet day. Woke up at 8:30 next to Josh in a quiet house - the kids slept over my parent's last night. Got up, raced to clean the kitchen as fast as I could while my coffee was brewing. The coffee won this time. 

I recorded a Reel while getting ready. Went to the place where we were going to meet my fam a bit early so Josh and I could get in a walk. Then we got coffee, went to a huge antique store (sadly left with nothing but took pictures of my faves so I can remember to come back) and went to lunch with the kids and my parents. Love easy-going and fun days like these 🖤

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Follow @chelsealeighdamon

Now that we still have some sunlight hanging aroun Now that we still have some sunlight hanging around after the kids go to bed, my new thing is sipping a glass of wine on the back patio while making small talk with Josh and praying the kids stay in bed.
 
I've been obsessed with cleaning our house recently but I've been so good about it, I have nothing left to clean or tidy right now and I'm left to face the things I don't really want to think about like the fact that I miss my kids when they're at school or how I really want to fill this house up with some more of them 😅 

At any rate, one of my simple pleasures in life is decluttering and purging unused things and I feel like I've accomplished a lot!! What about you?
Being a mom has always meant so much to me. Growin Being a mom has always meant so much to me. Growing up, I thought it was pretty much all I was cut out to do, which ended up being false. But even though I've learned that I'm capable of so many other things, being a mom is still one of my highest aspirations. As we're getting our home ready for fostering, I can't help but think of how the little one(s) entering our home will feel but also how David and Evy will feel. How will they react if we parent slightly differently? Will they understand that we're working to build trust and connection or will they feel indignant? These are the things I pray about and also speak to the kids about in the days leading up. We're all excited but I have the feeling of heaviness that we don't and won't understand the burden until we're all already carrying it together.
Doing my gosh darned best to manifest spring over Doing my gosh darned best to manifest spring over here and I think it might be working 😉 Today the kids had TWOsday at school and they were so sweet. David wore a tie (I don't exactly get how it tirles in to Twosday but the kids were happy so..) and Evy "twinned" with a couple of sweet friends in her class. It's so sweet when you see your own kids building their own friendships. It just loosens a little piece of anxiety I've had about parenthood since David was still in my tummy. How did you spend your TWOsday??

Sandals @naotfootwear 💕
Today was a sweet day. Woke up at 8:30 next to Jos Today was a sweet day. Woke up at 8:30 next to Josh in a quiet house - the kids slept over my parent's last night. Got up, raced to clean the kitchen as fast as I could while my coffee was brewing. The coffee won this time. 

I recorded a Reel while getting ready. Went to the place where we were going to meet my fam a bit early so Josh and I could get in a walk. Then we got coffee, went to a huge antique store (sadly left with nothing but took pictures of my faves so I can remember to come back) and went to lunch with the kids and my parents. Love easy-going and fun days like these 🖤
Back in the day,I was talking with someone about m Back in the day,I was talking with someone about marriage.Josh and I had been married for a few years at that point but this guy was still single. ..

He told me he was studying to get his masters in counseling and he wanted to be a marriage counselor one day.I thought "Hey that's pretty cool" but, curious,because,you know, he was single. 

Anyway, after we'd been talking a few minutes about our interest in helping married couples, he leaned in and said, "You know, I have this theory on marriage.." "Oh yeah?" I said (pretty curious to hear what theories this guy had for all of marriage for everyone everywhere). 

He said, "I believe that every single problem in marriage boils down to communication."

At the time, I didn't really know what to say. I'm more of a *reflector* and then I come up with what I wish I had said later.

Here's what I wish I had said: "Um. Yeah I don't think so. I mean sure, communication helps with a lot of issues. But what about selfishness,⠀addiction,⠀past hurt and trauma, etc? Communication will help people work through those issues but they're connected to much deeper issues that concern the heart--not just your communication skills."

We are all broken, very human, beings and when left to our own devices,⠀we don't have all the tools necessary to "fix" ourselves or our spouse's problems. We can talk until we're blue in the face but we just can't fix ourselves. 

What we do need, is to lean on the Creator who made all things good and makes all things new. To understand that we are not the main characters here. The whole world and everything in it points to Christ and His redeeming power. And yes, he often works that out through us and often through communication. But it's not communication that saves marriages. It's Jesus.

I was just thinking about that today and wanted to get it off my chest. What role do you think communication plays?
Merry Christmas from the Damons! 🎁 Merry Christmas from the Damons! 🎁
So much joy in one photo! Ok, maybe 4 photos 😜 So much joy in one photo! Ok, maybe 4 photos 😜 Love my littlest niece, Eva ❤️
Let's hash something out together: what's somethin Let's hash something out together: what's something you do or used to fight about in your marriage/relationship regularly?

Do you feel like the issue is/was pretty cut and dry? 

Or was there an underlying issue that bubbled up in different ways?

Curious to know your thoughts. 

When Josh and I were first married, we fought a lot. We were pretty low-income, didn't have great jobs, and had a wee baby. While our fights were often about the grocery list, the real issue was that we were SCARED. 

Scared of the adult life we had just stepped into. It was kind of like jumping into a puddle you don't think is that deep until after it's too late and now your socks are completely drowning 🚣🏼‍♀️ 

Luckily, though, they dry off over time, don't they?

After lots of learning and working really hard (both at our jobs and relationship) things started to ease up. We started to see that there was a light at the end of the tunnel and even though we weren't there yet, it gave up hope to carry on together ❤️
Go on a walk with your spouse before Netflixing. O Go on a walk with your spouse before Netflixing. Or if you can't leave the house, sit in the kitchen with a glass of wine. Make time to talk. And make it easier by doing things together. It's so so important ❤️
Top knots over crop tops 😜 Top knots over crop tops 😜

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