For me, usually a little messy, slightly imperfect, with a lot of beautiful and sacred moments mixed in. The most important part is noticing those ones.

For me, making everyday prettier starts with cute outfits (for everyone involved), little things that make my life easier, lots of prayer, noticing Creation, and lots of reading.

I am eight months pregnant, celebrated my birthday, and while I am pretty exhausted chasing two toddlers around in the summer heat, I also wish that I could freeze time because this season feels so scared.

For a sweet moment in time, my babies are little, my belly is big, I get to watch the two humans I grew run around before me while feeling the kicks of another inside my belly. My husband is young and the love of my life, my parents are healthy, I’m designing my dream home, and God has blessed me so greatly.

Here are a few favorites from this month including what we wore, things making my life a little easier, and what I bought and loved under $45.

Third Trimester Style Diaries

When creating your own beautiful motherhood, pick things that make you happy.

For me fashion has always been one of those things. As a little girl, I had sketchbooks full of designs. I watched fashion shows, went to fashion design camp, and made my own magazines. Curating outfits for myself and my children has become such a fun way to keep expressing that creativity and bring a little beauty into our everyday.

In the third trimester, dressing cute can get a little tricky, so I am very thankful that babydoll dresses have become so popular. They work perfectly during pregnancy and postpartum, and I can completely see myself wearing both of these after the baby arrives too.

• Dress 1

• Dress 2

Stretchy dresses are also a pregnancy must-have because you can wear your true size and wear them again afterwards. They tend to be the thing that fits best at the very end of pregnancy and I am loving this one with pops of pink!

Nothing brings me more joy than matching my children. Yes, I bought the lobster sweater specifically because my children have matching lobster sweaters, but it is also the perfect cozy beach sweater to have all summer long.

What My Kids are Wearing on Repeat

Baby clothes bring me so much joy, especially when they still keep the innocence of childhood in mind.

My favorites this month included nautical coordinating looks, princess dresses, little boy loafers, lottttts of back-to-school clothing because I cannot resist a theme, and the sweetest little ballerina flats.

The flats are especially good because they look precious enough for church but can also survive the playground and wipe completely clean. I’ve had the pink pair since spring and just ordered two more colors.

Things I’m Loving under $45

Beautiful motherhood can be completely free: sitting in a church, looking at flowers, listening to a beautiful piece of music.

But sometimes a small purchase gives morale a little boost too.

1. Amazon matching set — under $30

I’ve been living in this on days when I basically want to stay in pajamas but would still like to technically be dressed. I got my true size and it is very stretchy. I don’t buy many clothes from Amazon, but this has been on repeat for me.

2. Natural Deodorant that Actually Works

With each pregnancy, I try to swap more of my products for cleaner versions, and deodorant has always been one I struggled with. This one has been saving me this summer because it actually works. I tried a sample set of the scents and honestly loved all of them.

3. My favorite Lip Oil from a Lip Product Junkie

I have had the driest lips all pregnancy. I use the lip oil during the day and the lip mask at night.

OSEA is actually a brand I started using during my first pregnancy because I liked the ingredients, and I’ve continued trying more from them every year. Start with the body oil and thank me later. Under $20 when you use my discount code: ALEXA10

4. Making Everything Fancy Nancy Coded

The cutest brand for your little Fancy Nancy.

My daughter can spend HOURS playing dress-up. I also grabbed the sunglasses and case decorating kit to save as an easy activity we can do together once the new baby is here.

Making Motherhood Magical (Without More Effort)

I am eight months pregnant and exhausted, but I also refuse to let an entire summer of my children’s childhood pass me by.

That being said, I am short of breath and could use a nap, so low-lift magic has been exactly what I’m searching for.

My kids act like these things are absolutely amazing and they require little to no effort or prep on my end:

1. Fruit popsicles

Buy yourself a popsicle mold whether you have children or not and thank me later.

We make a fresh batch almost every week. My kids think they are getting a major treat; meanwhile they are basically just eating fruit.

They love helping too. I let them pick frozen fruit at the grocery store, we mix up whatever concoction they choose in the blender, pour it into the molds, and freeze.

The crowd favorite this summer has been the simplest: watermelon blended with a little ice.

2. Amazon package crafts

We have been trying to reuse the cardboard from our Amazon boxes for crafts rather than immediately throwing it away.

The fish craft was a major hit and required almost zero effort from me. I cut the cardboard into a fish shape, handed over paint, glitter, sparkles, and googly eyes, and let them go crazy.

Another time, we used leftover tissue paper from packaging to make fish scales.

A zero prep activity is also making monsters with play dough, pipe cleaners, and those same googly eyes. My kids LOVE this one and its pretty much mess free if we are staying in doors!

3. Keeping My Kids Engaged During Church

These have been a lifesaver for church.

They give my kids something to do during Mass that still feels connected to where we are. They’re not always perfect, obviously, but having one quiet little activity ready makes such a difference.

We use this one for my two year old.

4. Getting outside and noticing Creation

One of the best things about being a mom is that children force you to slow down.

Sometimes that also feels like one of the worst things about being a mom.

But I’ve noticed that when I’m losing my temper, feeling down, or just generally disconnected from joy, I usually need to get outside.

Looking for flowers, stopping to inspect bugs, watching the ocean, noticing the sky—seeing the beauty of Creation through my children almost always pulls me back into the moment.

Special August Memories

August is my birthday month.

I used to make my husband take me to Europe and plan an entire elaborate day to celebrate, with an equally elaborate outfit to match.

The outfit planning remains.

But this year, I wanted nothing more than a cozy day with my family.

I woke up cuddling my babies and went to sleep cuddling my babies, with lots of sweet little moments in between.

This month has really been about counting my blessings as we prepare for our third baby to join us soon.

And on the afternoons or mornings when I’m simply too pregnant to venture very far, we’ve been settling down together with a good book.

What We’re Reading

Two for me, two for them.

The House of Mirth

My girlfriend described this as the classic-literature version of Gossip Girl, and I would say that is a fully accurate description.

It is high-society gossip, status anxiety, romance, and social maneuvering in another era. I think it is a great “gateway” classic if some classics feel a little intimidating to you.

Made for This

I read Ina May and studied Hypnobirthing in preparation for my first baby, and I still fully recommend both. I credit so much of what I learned with helping me have such an amazing unmedicated birth.

But preparing this time, I realized that I didn’t resonate with some of my old Hypnobirthing meditations in the same way—especially the focus on me and my power—when I now understand so much of birth through God.

Made for This takes so much of what I already learned about birth and puts it through the lens of Scripture and Catholicism.

I also subscribed to the Made for This app, which has recorded prayers and meditations that I’ve been using as I get closer to delivery.

Winnie-the-Pooh

With the kids, I’ve been trying to introduce more chapter books at bedtime, and right now we’re reading Winnie-the-Pooh.

I love having a book we come back to night after night rather than always reading a completely separate story.

Baby Dear

This one has been especially sweet as we get ready for the baby.

The Eloise Wilkins illustrations are beautiful, and it has been such a lovely way to help my second child understand a little more about what it will actually be like when there is a new baby in our house.

And that was August: lots of books, lots of little outfits, lots of very simple summer activities, and a lot of trying to notice how lucky I am while I am still living inside this season.

When I had my first child, I said he would never watch television.

Then, I got pregnant at 9 months postpartum, a joyous blessing after struggling with infertility. I remember feeling almost offended when people suggested that I let my toddler watch television on the days that pregnancy felt too exhausting. I was certain I would be the kind of mother who never needed it.

But alas, baby sister came, and I found myself needing my rambunctious toddler to sit with me while I breastfed, so I resorted to the occasional television show.

So began my very reluctant journey into children’s television.

The first two shows that I chose were very intentional: The original 1980’s version of Thomas the Train, and Mimi Soleil, a YouTube program à la Miss Rachel, but in French, (which I find to be even slower-paced). I felt ok about these two. We would cuddle and watch them together while I fed the baby. We sang the French songs. It felt peaceful, and even a little educational.

As my oldest grew though, he started encountering shows at other people’s houses. Soon he was asking about Paw Patrol, and, just like that, the neat little bubble I had created popped.

I had imagined myself as the perfect mother who never turned on the television and spent every day creating beautiful, Pinterest-worthy activities. Alas, I have fallen short. But that doesn’t mean I’ve accepted how awful the options for children’s television are today.

Now I’m pregnant in my third trimester with two toddlers running around, and our television has been on more than I would ideally like this summer. Many days I manage the outings and projects I picture for us, but there have also been some of hot, tired afternoons when I’ve curled up on the couch with my children, turned something on, and let myself rest while the baby kicks and my two toddlers cuddle against me.

During these afternoons I started to notice something eerie about children’s television.

It felt louder, faster, and more stressful as a viewer compared to what I remember from childhood. And for all the hundreds of options we have to choose from, why do so many of them look exactly the same?

Why does everything look the same?

We were watching an episode of Franklin, a show I remember watching as a little girl in the late 90s. It had cute woodland creature animations, likable and calm characters, and slower pace that felt like I could take a deep breath after a day of running around.

But then a new version of Franklin came on… who was this animated turtle? Surely not the adorable one I was just watching!

He was suddenly three-dimensional and shiny, with bigger expressions and a much more digital world around him. Maybe this is just my frivolous sensitivity to beauty again…but I thought he looked much worse.

Then the same thing happened with Angelina Ballerina. I found the older episodes first and they beautifully mirrored the illustrations that I love from the books. They looked hand-drawn, slightly imperfect, delicate, and so charming.

And then I discovered the 2009 version, where Angelina and her fellow Mouseling dancers had somehow entered a CGI animated hell. And looked eerily similar to this new Franklin.

Once I noticed it, I started seeing it everywhere.

I wracked my brain for more shows that I loved as a child.

Thomas!

The original Thomas the Tank Engine barely feels animated. They build an actual miniature railway and used hand-painted model trains, tiny stations, and little figurines. The engines moved like trains and the story read like a story, narrated by none other than Ringo Starr.

My four-year-old has recently learned to use the voice controls on our remote, much to my chagrin, and one afternoon he managed to find a newer version of Thomas. I wasn’t sure whether it was my pregnant belly crushing my lungs or the speed of the show that was making me feel slightly out of breath.

What happened to good old Thomas?

Even Winnie-the-Pooh seems to have gone through the same transformation. What once felt soft and storybook-like now looks brighter, bigger-eyed, shinier, and strangely interchangeable with so many other contemporary children’s shows.

At this point I started thinking, okay, maybe this isn’t just me being nostalgic and a diva?

When I looked at older shows, they didn’t all look alike because they weren’t trying to look like “children’s television”. They were made in completely different mediums. Some had models, puppets, hand drawn illustrations, others water-color like backgrounds or live action.

Now there are more children’s shows than ever, but they all feel as though they are part of the same digital universe with constant motion and scary enormous eyes.

As I switched from one show to another when searching on Netflix, Prime, or whatever kids platform I found available, they all shared the same visual vocabulary: enormous eyes, exaggerated expressions, simplified backgrounds, bright colors, and constant movement. It felt like you could switch from one completely unrelated show to another and never really leave the visual world. We have more options than ever but a very weird aesthetic sameness.

Why is everything moving so fast?

Outside of the visual changes (which could, sure, be chalked up to aesthetic preference) the speed at which these shows move has changed. There is no pause, no chance to think, and when I say Little Bear is the only thing on TV, my 4 year old groans, because its “boring”. Can I blame him? Compared to a current tv show it feels much slower paced. The screen doesn’t change so often, the colors are slightly more muted, there are less flashing lights and siren sounds. Of course he thinks it's boring. Compared with what else is available to him, Little Bear practically asks him to meditate.

I realized that I strangely noticed this before I had children. Years ago, I remember being over a friend’s house who had the television on for his toddler. We were having a conversation, but I kept realizing that I had stopped listening and was staring at the television. Nothing remotely interesting was happening. Some animated babies were singing “The Wheels on the Bus.” I learned later that this show was Cocomelon, and I, a young 20-something at the time, could not look away. Look on Netflix in the kids section and you’ll find dozens of shows that look and feel just like Cocomelon.

Now that I actually have children of my own, it feels exhausting to navigate the tv. I have seriously told my husband that I would like to get rid of our smart TV and replace it with a VCR to avoid the constant “Wait! I want that one!” debate when trying to find an age-appropriate, low-stimulation show for my toddler, who naturally is drawn to these big-eyed cars and superheroes.

When I’m watching an older show like Thomas, Mr. Rodgers, and Little Bear, I feel like I can take a breath. The characters are walking somewhere. There are moments of silence and the pace feels like real life.

Sometimes I feel like these new shows are terrified my child might look away from the screen. There always has to be something happening… a noise, a reaction, someone flying across the screen. God forbid he looks down at his toys for thirty seconds or hears me calling his name.

The goal can start to feel less like telling a child a good story and more like preventing them from becoming bored. But boredom isn’t necessarily evidence that a show has failed.

Boredom doesn’t mean a show failed

One thing I notice with some older or slower-paced shows we have watched is that they are trying to tell a story. There are longer stretches of dialogue and more complicated vocabulary.

Obviously terrible children’s television existed before too. I’m a 2000s kid. I grew up when SpongeBob was everywhere. I’m certainly not pretending the children’s television of my childhood was all exquisite art.

Sadly, a lot of television made for very young children now reminds me of the books I keep finding on the shelves that have short dialogue, simple language, big reactions, and constant changes. They all seem to be shouting “Please don’t look away!”.

But maybe we are measuring a show’s success in the wrong way?

When I tell my son he can watch Little Bear, he will usually complain first that he wants Blaze and the Monster Truck. Sorry, Blaze. You’re simply too intense for me. He’ll watch Little Bear for a little while, and then something funny happens. He gets up. He finds his Magna-Tiles or Legos and starts building something.

Is that evidence that Little Bear failed? I’m starting to think it might be one of the things I like best about it.

The funny thing is that all of us adults seem to be trying to undo this in our own lives. Every other video on my feed is someone trying a new analog activity, deleting TikTok, or an ad for the Brick. We all know what it feels like to have our attention completely fried. So isn’t it kind of strange that we rarely ask whether children’s media has been moving in the same direction?

I’m still going to turn on the television sometimes.

There will probably be another afternoon this week when I’m too pregnant to construct a woodland craft and we all pile onto the couch together.

Will I occasionally feel guilty about it? Of course. I can find something to feel guilty about on even my best parenting days.

I wish choosing children’s television didn’t require so much discernment.

Jonathan Haidt, author of the Anxious Generation, actually makes me feel a little better about my pregnancy television breaks. He said that watching a movie together is a pretty good use of a screen. Humans have always told stories and watching a beautiful story together as a family is very different from a child alone with an endless stream of short-form content on a personal device.

I love that distinction because some of my own favorite childhood memories involve television and movies. I used to watch the same Christmas movies every year (Do any 90s babies remember this?! It was my favorite, my parents filmed it on VCR so I got to relive the same 90s Christmas shows every year, complete with the Campbell’s soup and McDonalds commercials).

Screens today are complicated, but television and movies do have the potential to create rituals as a family.

I want my kids to have some version of that too, with childhood memories of Christmas movies we always watch, a funny movie we always quote, or a rainy afternoon where we make a pillow fort and cuddle together with snacks and a cozy show.

I’m not getting rid of the television (although I have threatened to a few times this summer). I just wish I didn’t have to wade through so much noise to find the things worthwhile (or at the very least, the things that don’t feel like brain rot for preschoolers).

If we are going to invite these stories into our children’s childhoods, I want to choose ones that are worthy of their attention.

Beautiful Childhood is an ongoing series about the things that shape our children’s attention, taste, imagination, and sense of wonder.
If this resonated, you can subscribe to follow along with the next essay, The Beautiful Childhood Guide to Children’s Television

Read the earlier essays in the series:
Beauty Is Not Wasted on Children
Why Is Everything for Kids So Ugly?
Why Have Children’s Books Become So Ugly?

Why Does Everything Have to Hold their Attention?

I didn't stop using my education when I stopped getting paid for it.

In what now feels like a past life, I had a career in finance, then education. I earned degrees in finance, French, Spanish, and Italian, and later foreign language pedagogy and education.

But it doesn’t feel like I gave up anything. In fact, I think it makes me a better mom.

I have no need to build financial models between nap times or write formal lesson plans anymore but I didn’t lose all that education gave me when I stopped working for someone else. Studying languages changed the way I hear words and think about culture. Teaching made me think more carefully about how children learn, what makes something memorable, and the difference between knowing something and actually understanding it. Finance made me comfortable with numbers, risk, tradeoffs and long-term decisions.

I bring that person into motherhood with me.

And yet we have a very strange way of talking about educated women who stay home with their children.

“Do you think you’ll ever go back?”

“Do you miss using your degree?”

“You went to school for all of that and now you stay home?”

Behind those questions, there seems to be the assumption that education is being wasted whenever it is not producing income. When did employment become the only acceptable proof that an education was worthwhile?

What does it mean to “use” an education ?

We talk about education almost entirely in terms of return on investment. What job did the degree get you? What do you earn? Are you still “using” it?

If I learn exactly the same things and later decide to stay home raising children, suddenly people begin wondering whether all that education was wasted.

I’m thankful for all I learned in the corporate world and in the classroom. I’m proud of all my degrees. And I’m even prouder of the fact that the primary place all that knowledge and experience goes, is into my family.

Our culture can look at that equation and say, essentially, What a waste.

But why?

Studying languages is probably why I care so much about the books we read and the media we consume. It impacts how I speak to my kids, what cultures, languages, history, music, and art I introduce them to. I know there is a difference between communicating an idea and expressing it beautifully.

I may no longer stand in a classroom, but I certainly did not stop thinking about education.

The home has an intellectual life

Children spend years listening to us (even when it doesn’t seem like it).

Mine overhear the conversations I have with my husband. They notice if we have books lying around. Their questions turn into conversations about buildings, words, faith, and France.

Most of this doesn't feel like “education” while it's happening. I'm not sitting at dinner thinking, wonderful, another successful interdisciplinary lesson.

It’s just life.

But then my son repeats something I explained to him weeks ago, or suddenly knows a word I don’t remember teaching him, and I realize how much they’re absorbing all the time.

I know they are because I can see the exact same thing when I look back at my own childhood.

I was being educated long before I had degrees

My parents signed me up for basically every class they could find. Violin, singing, art, fashion design, French, horseback riding, golf. If I showed an interest in something, there was usually some attempt to let me explore it.

What I remember even more clearly are the things that never felt like “education” at the time.

My parents would take me to art museums with a sketchpad and notebook. We would spend hours in beautiful gardens where I could sit and draw my own designs. We talked about people like Anne Frank and Abraham Lincoln. In the car, I heard classical music and Motown.

There was also one rule I remember very clearly from shopping days out: the toy usually had to go back. But I was always allowed to buy as many books as my heart desired.

My mother bought all the Caldecott Medal winners. She brought home a beautiful pop-up book about Monet’s garden that I still have, and now my own children play with it. On our most recent trip to France, we finally took them to Giverny to see the garden in real life.

She also found cassette tapes that taught French words even though she couldn’t speak the language herself. I still remember some of them: hibou for owl, bonbon for candy, canard for duck. My mother would repeat them to me in her very best French accent, with absolutely no idea that years later I would become fluent, study in France, and eventually go with her there almost thirty years later—with my own two children in tow.

I loved Madeline before I knew anything about Paris. Eventually that little girl in the yellow hat became part of a much bigger fascination with France, the language, the art, the architecture and the culture.

My mother cared about the people and stories she put in front of me too. She looked for books and shows with characters who had strong morals, good manners, grace and charm (I was not allowed to watch Spongebob and I think that was for the better). Our tea parties came with lessons from her old copy of White Gloves and Party Manners, an heirloom from her own days in finishing school.

She had no idea what career path I would choose. She just kept putting interesting and beautiful things in front of me.

And now I can see those things everywhere in the person I have become.

My education didn’t begin with my degrees. A huge part of it happened at home.

This Idea Isn’t Actually New

I started to wonder if we have always thought about education this way.

Women were being educated long before most women had access to anything resembling a modern career.

I went down a bit of a rabbit hole on this, because I started wondering: historically, why did anyone bother educating women who were never expected to have careers?

One person I ended up reading about was Margaret More Roper, Thomas More’s daughter. In the early sixteenth century, More educated his daughters alongside his son. Margaret studied Latin and Greek as well as arithmetic, astronomy, philosophy and theology. It was an unusually serious education for a woman at the time.

She was highly educated but the education didn't end with her. She later educated her own children, and her daughter became a scholar and translator too. The knowledge quite literally moved through the family.

I also came across the idea of “Republican Motherhood” after the American Revolution. One of the arguments for educating women was surprisingly straightforward: if mothers were going to help raise and educate the next generation, then mothers themselves needed to be educated.

I’m obviously not arguing that this was a golden age for women, or that women should quit their jobs and stay at home if they don’t want to. My own mother had a career I am enormously proud of, serving children with severe and profound mental and physical disabilities through the Catholic Archdiocese. Her work mattered enormously, and what she learned and experienced through it became part of what she gave me too. I know firsthand how much a child can benefit from having a working, educated mother.

I am simply saying that education has value beyond paid employment. And wondering why we don’t see value in being educated for our children’s sakes (or our own)?

I don’t want my education to be finished

I don’t want my education to end simply because my formal schooling did.

It’s part of why I started making myself a little monthly “curriculum.” I choose a few things I want to read, learn about or get better at.

I’m not trying to make myself more employable. But I am still a woman who enjoys knowing things.

What I Hope They Remember

I don’t know what my children will remember about the degrees somewhere in a box or the jobs I had before they existed.

Maybe they will grow up and think it is funny that their mother once worked in finance or interesting that I can speak three other languages. Maybe none of them will care about the subjects I care about.

But I do want them to remember growing up in a home where knowing things and being interested in the world was exciting.

My mother probably didn’t know that a Madeline book and a French cassette tape would eventually lead to years of studying languages. I doubt my parents knew that afternoons with a sketchpad in a museum would have anything to do with how much I would care about art, homes, clothes and beauty as an adult.

They couldn’t know which things would take root and neither can I.

But I can keep putting things in front of my children that I think are worth knowing, seeing, hearing and loving, just as my parents did for me.

I spent years learning things before my children existed. Now so much of what I learned has simply become part of our home.

And I’m very glad it did.

“But what if your kid likes it?”

Or, slightly more pointedly:

“Is this for you or for them?”

The truth is, I love my children more than anything in the world. Sometimes I look at them and can hardly believe that I get to be the person helping create their childhood.

They are only going to be this little for such a short time. Right now I still get to choose the books beside their beds and make Christmas magical. I still get to hold their hands walking into church and plan their birthday parties.

As much as it hurts, I know this part doesn’t last.

And because I love them so much, I care deeply about what forms them.

When I talk about wanting to give my children a ‘beautiful childhood’, I don’t mean beautiful as in a carefully curated Instagram aesthetic (although I do appreciate this). I don’t mean that every toy has to be wooden, every outfit has to coordinate, or that childhood should be some perfectly curated little world where nothing loud or plastic ever makes it through the front door (although I do appreciate these things as well).

Beauty, at least the way I mean it, is bigger than aesthetics.

I want all of it.

I care about beauty because I care about them, not the other way around.

Which is probably why I push back on the idea that caring about what my children watch, wear, read or play with means I’m somehow making their childhood about me.

Of course my children have preferences that are completely their own. My son loves superheroes, Legos, Magna-Tiles and anything involving good guys and bad guys. My daughter loves princesses, ballerinas and anything pink. (Also pink poodles and bichons, although I may have had a hand in that one.)

Some of that feels completely innate to who they are.

But I also think it’s naive to pretend every preference a young child develops is completely organic.

Children’s media and products are very, very good at making children want them.

A child meets a character on television, and then that same character appears again on a book cover, pajamas, a cereal box, in the toy aisle, on a backpack, on something sitting at eye level in Target.

By the time a four-year-old is begging for it, we say:

He just loves it.

Maybe he does.

We understand perfectly well that Instagram and TikTok are designed to keep us looking. The algorithm notices what makes us pause and shows us more of it. We know that seeing something over and over can make us start to want it.

So I’m not sure why we suddenly treat a preschooler as though he is completely immune to all of it.

“But he chose it.”

Yes.

And I still think it’s worth asking who helped put that choice in front of him in the first place.

When did “it holds their attention” become such a compliment?

One of the things I keep noticing as I write this Beautiful Childhood series is how often we describe something made for children by saying:

“It really holds their attention.”

She’ll sit and watch the whole thing.

This toy keeps him entertained forever.

I am a mother of small children and in my third trimester of pregnancy. I understand the appeal of anything that buys me ten quiet minutes better than almost anyone right now.

But somewhere along the way, holding a child’s attention seems to have become evidence that something is good for them.

There are plenty of things that can hold a child’s attention extremely effectively: flashing lights, constant sound, rapid movement, familiar characters.

A screen can hold a child’s attention so completely that they barely hear you calling their name.

I want my children to grow up in a world that makes them curious and points them toward what is good and true. I want them exposed to art and music and rich language, to nature and stories and things they don’t completely understand yet.

Not everything worth their attention is going to demand it immediately.

I watched this happen with a chapter book

Recently we read Charlotte’s Web together.

It was the first real chapter book I had attempted with my children. There are very few pictures, and the chapters are long compared with the picture books they’re used to.

And there were absolutely moments when they weren’t interested.

They interrupted me. Their minds wandered. I stopped to explain things, did funny voices, and more than once wondered if this was too ambitious.

If my only goal had been to choose the thing that held their attention most effortlessly, I probably would have decided they weren’t ready.

But we kept reading. And gradually, they started to follow the story.

They remembered the characters. They wanted to know what would happen next. Eventually they started asking me to read it. (My son even chose it over getting to watch TV by the end!)

Now I’m reading Winnie-the-Pooh to my son and he is approaching it with so much more enthusiasm.

He wasn’t instantly captivated. But not everything worth giving a child has to win them over immediately.

I’m allowed to shape their childhood

I think this is the part of the conversation that bothers me more than I originally realized.

Sometimes people talk about the choices I make for my children as though I should feel guilty for having any influence over them at all.

Why don’t you just buy the character birthday decorations? What if she wants to wear the character dress?

What are you going to do when they grow up and want completely different things than you?

There is sometimes almost an excitement to it. Like everyone is waiting for the day my children finally reject my taste and I’m forced to admit defeat.

My children are going to grow up. They will make decisions I wouldn’t make. They will develop tastes I don’t share. They are separate people, and I want them to become more and more themselves as they get older.

But right now they are only four and two. I am their mother. It is quite literally my job to guide them.

I don’t think I should feel guilty because I care what their birthday parties look like or what television they watch, because I refuse to give them iPads, because I want them to get dressed nicely and take pride in their appearance, or because I’ve rejected toys that feel loud and overstimulating.

Those choices aren’t evidence that I don’t care what my children like.

I make them because I care very much about the world they are growing up inside.

Of course my tastes and values influence the family I am raising. Why would beauty be the one area where I’m suddenly supposed to become completely neutral?

Maybe I feel comfortable saying that because my parents shaped my taste too.

They gave me hours in beautiful gardens with a sketchbook and paints, music lessons, and french tapes. We had tea parties where I learned how to set a table and use good manners and went to Degas exhibits to see his ballerinas.

This wasn’t some formal childhood enrichment program, it was just my childhood. Looking back, I can see how so much of what I care about now (art, beauty, language, femininity, travel, manners, creating a beautiful home) comes from these little moments.

Children are meant to grow into things

My children like things I would never choose myself, but sometimes those things still come into our house. Sometimes I say yes simply because something delights them.

But I also don’t think loving our children requires treating every desire they express at two or four years old as sacred.

My daughter loves Madeline, Eloise and Angelina Ballerina. We read the books. We have the dolls. They became familiar. And now she genuinely loves them.

The same thing has happened with parts of our family life. My children love reading together at night and saying their prayers before bed. My son takes enormous pride in being the one who leads grace before dinner. My daughter loves getting dressed up whether we are going somewhere nice or, honestly, nowhere at all.

These things became part of their childhood before they became things they loved.

Not everything they love comes from me, obviously. My oldest watches television. He loves Spider-Man (and the day he stops putting on that costume and jumping off the furniture will probably be one of the sadder days of my life). We have plastic toys. He has even asked me to turn off Little Bear because it was boring.

If there is an award for the most perfectly cultivated childhood, I’m afraid I’ve already lost.

But I do think it seems almost everything made for children now seems terrified of losing their attention for even a second. The colors are brighter, the expressions bigger, the stories faster. There is always something new happening.

And then we wonder why a quiet book or a slow walk or dinner at a table struggles to compete.

There should still be room for things that take a little longer to reveal themselves.

There is value in books that aren’t completely obvious the first time they’re read, music that is listened to carefully, a museum where they might be bored before they find that one painting that catches their eye, a church whose meaning unfolds over hundreds of Sundays throughout a lifetime.

I don’t expect my children to appreciate every beautiful thing I put in front of them immediately.

Some things are simply there for them to grow into.

Who gets to decide what our children learn to love?

Maybe this is the question underneath all of it.

Because if parents completely remove themselves from the process, childhood doesn’t become neutral. There are plenty of companies eager to fill that space for us.

That doesn’t mean a Paw Patrol backpack is a moral crisis.

It just means “my child likes it” is not always where I want the conversation to end.

Of course I care what my children like.

One of the great joys of knowing them is discovering the things that are completely, wonderfully theirs. Right now my little boy still spends half his life pretending to be Spider-Man and wants me to slow the car down when we pass an excavator. My daughter wants to put on a princess dress to go to the grocery store. They still want to climb into bed beside me with a book at night. They still take my hand when we walk into church.

And while I’m here, yes, I want to show them beautiful things. Great stories, places that make us quiet for a minute, traditions I hope they remember someday. I want to help them notice what is good in the world because they are the most precious things in my world.

One day they’ll decide for themselves what deserves their attention. And honestly, I’m excited for all the things they will someday introduce me to also.

But for now, I get to help show them where to look.

Beautiful Childhood is an ongoing series about the things that shape our children’s attention, taste, imagination, and sense of wonder.
If this resonated, you can subscribe to follow along with the next essay.

Read the earlier essays in the series:
Beauty Is Not Wasted on Children
Why Is Everything for Kids So Ugly?
Why Have Children’s Books Become So Ugly?

Still, the instinct remains.

I started my Personal Curriculum project last fall, and it has become one of my favorite little rituals. If you’re new here, every month I create a curriculum for myself.

I choose a few subjects that speak to the kind of woman I want to become:

someone cultured, calm, intentional, thoughtful, faithful, and very much alive to beauty, not despite motherhood, but because of it.

August’s theme is Preparing Beautifully.

This is not my most glamorous curriculum. There are no French films, trips to another city just to visit a museum exhibit, or dramatic literary undertakings. It is very much the third trimester syllabus of a woman pregnant with her third baby, parenting two toddlers, getting closer to breaking ground on our new home, and trying to remain calm, serene, and adequately moisturized through it all.

I broke it into five subjects:

🕯 Body, Birth & Prayer
🍦 The Rituals of Late Summer
📚 Fiction Before the Newborn Fog
🏛 The House, Edited
🙏 The Practice of Surrender

Course 1: Body, Birth, & Prayer

Remembering How to Birth

The main focus this month is birth prep.

To many people’s surprise, I have had two really wonderful unmedicated births.

I don’t know if it’s the blonde hair extensions or the fact that I openly admit to applying self tanner during my early contractions, but I suppose I do not think I give off especially crunchy birth-goddess energy.

However, unmedicated birth has been one of the most empowering experiences of my life and I would love to do the same again for baby #3.

Even though I’ve done it twice before, I don’t want to assume I can just wing it. Birth is physical, of course, but for me it is also deeply mental and spiritual.

I want to spend this month practicing the things I hope will feel familiar when labor begins: breathing, prayer, movement, surrender, and trust.

My goal is simple: 15–30 minutes of birth prep most days.

• Reading: Reread the book that convinced me to have an unmedicated birth in the first place.

• Movement: A quick daily walk, hip mobility, or a prenatal yoga video

  • While I walk outside, I am listening to birth affirmations or a birth education podcast. I’ve been enjoying this Catholic birth podcast.

• Christian Birth Meditations: In the past, I used hypno-birthing meditations and found them so helpful. This time, as I’ve returned more deeply to my faith, I would love to find something that feels like a better fit spiritually.

  Instead of only listening to traditional hypno-birthing, I want to mix in Scripture, worship, and Christian birth meditations. I’m still working on finding resources I love, so if you have recommendations, please send them my way.

  • I know many moms repeat one verse for hours during labor, and I love the idea of having a few ready to return to when things feel intense

  • I’m also working on a birth playlist with a mix of calming music and worship music.

• Weekly: Listen to one positive birth story or video

  • Podcasts/videos I may rotate through:

    • Built to Birth

    • Christian Pregnancy Podcast

    • Pregnancy & Birth Made Easy

    • Happy Homebirth

• Nutrition: I’m simply trying my best this pregnancy to stay hydrated, fuel my body, incorporate protein, and will add in these third trimester tricks I tried in the past:

  • dates around 36 weeks

  • red raspberry leaf tea around 32–34

Course 2: The Rituals of Late Summer

I still want August to feel sweet for the kids, but I am very aware that I am in my third trimester and not exactly entering my most energetic era.

Instead of trying to create a perfect end-of-summer bucket list, I want a few simple activities that feel intentional and special as we close out our last summer as a family of 4.

What am I planning?

• One last beach week
  We’re planning to spend time at the beach as one final little family vacation before school starts and baby arrives. Nothing says summer memories like sandy feet, simple lunches, naps (if we’re lucky), and letting the beach do most of the entertaining.

• My favorite toddler date
  A little matcha for me, a muffin or treat for them. It feels special, but it does not require a full day of planning or a trunk full of supplies. Anything framed as a “date” is also much more special - it’s marketing. And yes, it will involve cute outfits. Don’t you know me by now?

• Easy summer crafts
  For days its too hot to be outside, I want to have some fun and easy crafts to add a little whimsy to our simple days at home. Some I have saved or have tried so far are: Craft 1, Craft 2, Craft 3, Craft 4

• Our little back-to-school traditions
  I love making every little moment something to celebrate. Stephen starts school again soon, and while I’m holding back tears, I’m also buying more cute ABC and school bus decor. We do a back-to-school brunch, a gift featuring something special, a new book, and pjs, first-day photos, and my favorite, the back to school interview.

Is my daughter going back to school? No. Does she have 15 back to school outfits? Absolutely.

Does my son wear a uniform? Yes. Does he also have a full school bus and apple-themed wardrobe collection? I just couldn’t resist.

• One-on-one time before the season changes
  I also want to make time for a solo dates with everyone. Ice cream with Stephen, something girly with Seraphina, and a meal with my husband where we try to talk about anything but the kids. I know how much a new baby changes the everyday dynamic of the household, so August feels like a good month to give everyone a little pocket of undivided attention.

Course 3: Fiction for the In-Between Hours

I have always loved settling down with a good, cozy book. I just finished The Correspondent (a 5-star read!)

It is written entirely in letters, and I found it to be such a beautiful reminder of how human we all are, how much we long to be known, how complicated people can be, and how important connection still is in an age where it is so easy to be disconnected.

My next read is going to be The Calamity Club, a historical fiction novel set in 1933 Oxford, Mississippi during the Great Depression.

I love having a good book to read at night, and I especially love having fiction nearby in the postpartum season. There is something comforting about having another world to enter during those quiet, strange hours in the middle of the night, just the two of us. Fiction will be my friend for the next few months, not as an escape from my motherhood, but as a cozy companion through the in-between hours.

Course 4: The House, Edited

For the house, my August goal is less about finding more inspiration and more about organizing the inspiration I already have.

We are hopefully getting closer to breaking ground, and I can feel how many decisions are starting to live in my head at once: facade details, exterior materials, windows, the scullery, the primary closet, the kids’ rooms, the basement, the craft room, and all the little things I do not want to forget.

So for August, my “house curriculum” is really decision organization.

As much as I want to take a course on architecture or study more interior design, I know this season is calling for me to make a clearer system: a place for inspiration images, a place for questions, a place for decisions we’ve already made, and a place for the details I still need to think through.

A few things I want to work on this month:

• organize my exterior inspiration so I can clearly see the details I keep coming back to

• make a running list of questions for our architect and designer

• separate “must-haves” from “would-be-nice” ideas

• revisit the rooms I’m most worried about before things get harder to change

• keep learning the architectural terms for what I instinctively like

I’m realizing that part of building a home is learning how to translate a feeling into actual decisions. It is one thing to know I want the house to feel beautiful, timeless… It is another thing to understand which choices create that feeling.

Bonus: Practicing Surrender

The real course this month is probably surrender, which is inconvenient because I personally prefer a plan, a list, and at least the illusion that I am in charge.

But August is asking for something softer: less leopard print, city wandering, and feather trim; more staying close to home, preparing for birth, and treasuring the sacredness of carrying a baby one more time.

So that is the August syllabus: prepare for birth, make summer simple and sweet for the kids, keep reading, keep learning about the house, and practice trusting God with the season ahead.

That sounds subjective, and perhaps a little dramatic (which I am)… until you begin placing books side by side.

When you look at an older picture book, you will often find illustrations that were treated as real art. They are thoughtfully composed, there is depth, texture, attention to nature, and an individual artistic style. The language was chosen with the same care.

But today, many of the mass-market illustrations are flatter, louder, and more like clip-art. The language is often reductive or full of jokes designed to earn an immediate reaction. Books are increasingly marketed by what they do (press a button, lift a flap, practice a reading level) rather than by the quality of the story or art itself.

There are still plenty of beautiful books being published today. However, the broader change is difficult to ignore.

A few weeks ago, I wrote about the visual world we create for children and why I no longer believe beauty is something frivolous or extra. We are teaching children how to form taste. What surrounds them becomes their normal.

Books deserve their own conversation within that argument.

A picture book is held inches from a child’s face, studied from a parent’s lap, returned to night after night, and often memorized long before the child can read. Its images become familiar rooms, gardens, animals, faces, and landscapes.

So what happens when the quality of those images and sentences changes?

Look at the Page

Consider a spread from Brambly Hedge beside one from How to Catch a Unicorn. Both books create imaginary worlds for children. They both have bright colors and playful animal characters. Yet they use those elements in entirely different ways.

Both books are colorful, whimsical, and intended to delight children. But they ask completely different things of the child’s attention.

In Brambly Hedge, the illustrations feel like works of art in their own right. The rooms are filled with tiny jars, baskets, linens, furniture, food, and a little world that makes me want to discover more. Every detail contributes to the life of the setting, giving the child something new to discover after many readings.

Many mass-market illustrations today look closer to clip art. Figures are built from flat blocks of color, thick outlines, and simplified shapes. The lighting rarely seems to have a source. Objects have little texture or weight, and the same bright digital finish is applied to nearly everything on the page. The image communicates quickly, but it does not always feel as though an artist has truly looked at the world before drawing it.

The unicorn spread is crowded with a rainbow, glitter, giant lettering, exaggerated expressions, speech bubbles, and a joke about farting glitter. Nearly every element competes at the same intensity.

My grandmother recently gave us a children’s book and was shocked to discover there was “a curse word in it.” The word was fart. Her reaction made me realize how much children’s humor has changed. Potty jokes are everywhere now, usually serving as an easy substitute for writing something genuinely funny.

Which brings me to my next point…

The Language Has Changed, Too

The visual difference is the most obvious, but the language has changed too.

The writing in How to Catch a Unicorn is not grammatically incomprehensible. It’s simply very thin. The words identify what is happening, move the rhyme forward, and deliver the joke. There is almost no description of the setting, the animals, or characters. The sentences do not create much of a world beyond what the illustrations have already announced.

Compare that with books like Madeline.

The language in Madeline is also simple. A young child can follow it easily. But its simplicity has cadence, character, and humor.

A Is for Annabelle is an alphabet book. It performs one of the most basic educational functions a children’s book can perform. Yet Tasha Tudor did not appear to believe that teaching letters required her to abandon beauty. The alphabet introduces clothing, fabrics, craftsmanship, and the tiny domestic world surrounding one treasured doll.

Nursery rhymes are simple. Many poems written for children are simple. Simplicity can be musical, strange, funny, tender, and beautifully composed.

However, reductive writing assumes a child should be given only the words, ideas, and sentence patterns he already understands.

One of the great purposes of reading aloud is to give children language they cannot yet produce for themselves.

A child listening to Winnie-the-Pooh will not understand every joke or turn of phrase. She understands enough to enjoy the story. Years later, she discovers more inside the same sentences. (This is one of my favorites to read my children, as I usually am giggling at jokes they don’t yet understand).

A young child may not know every word in A Child’s Garden of Verses, but she can still hear its rhythm, beautiful language, and rich imagery.

The best children’s books give children something to grow into.

Research supports the idea that books provide a kind of language children are unlikely to receive through ordinary conversation alone. One study compared 100 children’s books with an equivalent sample of speech directed toward children and found that the books generally contained more unique words. Other research has found that picture books expose young children to sentence structures that occur less frequently in everyday child-directed speech.

This is precisely why it makes so little sense to restrict read-aloud books to the language a child can already decode independently.

A book for a three-year-old does not need to sound like a three-year-old speaking.

When the Book Becomes the Product

It is not difficult to understand why books like this have become so common. We see it everywhere. Children’s publishing exists within the same attention economy as toys, television, apps, and social media. Bright colors, exaggerated expressions, familiar jokes, and interactive features communicate instantly on a crowded shelf or a tiny online thumbnail.

Walk through the children’s section at Target and much of what you see is built around characters children already know from television, movies, and toys. A Paw Patrol or Bluey book does not have to persuade a child to care about a new story or enter an unfamiliar world. The character on the cover has already done that work.

Character books are not automatically bad. (My next mission is to start collecting vintage Barbie books!) Some are charming and beautifully illustrated. The problem comes when recognition of the character replaces the need for memorable writing, original artwork, or a story capable of standing on its own. The book begins to feel less like an individual work by an author and illustrator and more like one additional product within a larger franchise.

I know this partly because I feel it every time my son brings me one of the Paw Patrol books. I love reading to him. I do not love reading a flat recap of a television episode in which every sentence exists only to move Chase toward the next emergency.

The same thing happens with books marketed primarily by what they promise to do: teach a feeling, practice a sound, master a reading level, press a button, touch a texture, or lift a flap. None of those features is inherently bad. But when the feature becomes the reason for the book, the story, language, and artwork can begin to feel secondary.

Commercially, the appeal is obvious. Familiar characters, loud covers, and easily advertised features are safer and simpler to sell than a quiet, original book that asks a parent or child to stop and look.

Regardless of the cause, the important thing to consider is: How is this impacting our children?

Why It Matters

It would be easy to dismiss all of this as an aesthetic preference.

Perhaps I happen to like watercolor and old-fashioned interiors, whereas another parent prefers bright digital illustration. Children enjoy the unicorn book, so why make something of it? Let kids be kids!

Because the issue is larger than whether a book matches the nursery aesthetic (which I also care about- but thats a topic for another day).

Books teach children how to pay attention

A child is not born knowing what deserves a longer look. Taste is taught, learned, and absorbed in the home.

Some books give them everything immediately. They have loud colors, exaggerated expressions, obvious jokes, and not much to notice or think about.

Other books reward a longer look. A child begins noticing the tiny objects in a room, the way the light falls, what a character might be feeling, or something hidden in the background. The page becomes more interesting the more familiar it becomes.

That matters because attention is a habit. Children are learning what is worth noticing and how long to remain with something before moving on.

So much of what surrounds children now is already loud, cheaply produced, and overstimulating: plastic toys in garish colors, clothing covered in characters and slogans, and television designed to hold their attention every second. Their books do not need to add to that noise. They can be one of the few places where a child is invited to slow down and really look.

Books give children language beyond ordinary speech

Most of our daily conversations with children are practical.

Put on your shoes. Do you need help? Please sit down. Would you like more milk? Where did you put your blue car? 5 more minutes until it is time to leave.

Books open a different register of language.

They provide words for landscapes, motives, emotions, customs, animals, weather, and experiences that we may not encounter in ordinary conversation. They utilize metaphors, different narrative voices, descriptors, and grammatical structures that aren’t typical when we are trying to get everyone out the door.

This is why the simplification of children’s books concerns me so much. When books are reduced to the same short sentences and basic vocabulary children already use, we take away one of their best opportunities to encounter richer language.

This loss of vocabulary appears to be part of a much larger cultural change. A 2019 study examined vocabulary-test results from nearly 30,000 American adults between 1974 and 2016. Vocabulary declined within every level of education, with the largest decline among adults with bachelor’s and graduate degrees.

Children’s books are obviously not responsible for that decline on their own. Still, the study shows that more education has not protected us from a shrinking vocabulary.

That makes the language we give children even more important. If everyday speech has become simpler, adults are reading less, and children’s books are being written with increasingly limited vocabulary, where else are children supposed to encounter beautiful words?

Books form taste before children can name it

Taste is not something that suddenly appears in adulthood when we begin choosing our own clothes, decorating a home, or deciding what art we like. It is being formed from the beginning.

Children are already learning what looks beautiful, what feels cheap, what kind of humor deserves a laugh, and how language should sound. Over time, those early impressions become the standard against which they judge everything else: the media they consume, the things they buy, the spaces they create, and the kind of beauty they recognize in the world.

In my previous essay, I wrote that what repeatedly surrounds a child becomes the background against which she understands the world. Books may be one of the most intimate examples. We worry over the artwork placed on nursery walls, but the pictures a young child studies most often may be the ones held directly in front of her at bedtime.

I can see this in my own life. The “Shoe Diva” artwork that was everywhere when I was growing up (the glamorous women, dresses, handbags, and heels) made a huge impression on me. I did not think of it as forming my taste at the time. I simply loved looking at it. But that feminine, fashion-filled visual world became part of what I still respond to now.

Children may not be able to explain why they are drawn to a certain image, but those images become part of their idea of what is beautiful, exciting, sophisticated, or worth aspiring to.

What I Look for Now

I am not throwing away every silly book in our house. My children like ridiculous things. So do I.

I am simply paying more attention to how much of our library those books occupy. I do not want visually frantic, linguistically empty books, or books built entirely around a familiar character or gimmick, to make up nearly everything my children encounter.

When I choose books now, I look for illustrations that feel as though an artist truly made them. I look for language I enjoy saying aloud, and with at least a few words my children may not know. Bonus points if it can make me laugh like Winnie the Pooh, or cry like Charlotte’s Web.

The question I keep returning to is simple: Does this book give my child anything to grow into?

I gathered the beautiful children’s books we own and love into an Amazon list here.

The goal is not a perfect children’s library. It is simply to make real art, rich language, and books worth lingering over an ordinary part of childhood.

Books Worth Lingering Over

A child’s library does not need to be enormous or perfect.

It can begin with a few books whose pictures become more familiar and more interesting over time. Books containing words the child does not yet know. Books that will introduce them to a new world or interest.

We cannot control everything that will eventually compete for our children’s eyes and ears.

During these early years, we still have the privilege of placing certain things before them again and again.

We can give them pages worth studying, language worth remembering, and stories beautiful enough to become part of their childhood memories.

This is the second essay in my series on beauty in childhood. Next, I want to look at the rest of the visual world being created for children—from toys and clothing to television and animation—and why so much of it has become louder, flatter, and more cheaply made.

July felt like summer in its fullest form. My first baby turned turned four, we celebrated the Fourth at the shore, the children spent hours in the ocean, and our days filled up with the little routines that make this season feel like its own world.

I love creating these monthly roundups because they become part recommendation list, part family record. A place to collect what we wore, read, celebrated and kept returning to before the camera roll moves on to August. And as always, remain a way to recount what makes motherhood (and childhood) feel most magical.

Celebrating summer

Birthday parties are some of my favorite days of the year as a mother, and this one was no exception. We started July by making Spider-Man cute for my newly four-year-old son, then carried the red, white and blue straight into the Fourth of July down the shore. Nothing makes me happier than a coordinated themed wardrobe for the entire family. (See all my boy & girl favorites here)

The days between the bigger celebrations were just as good: children who would happily stay in the ocean until dinner, trips to the farmers market, evening walks, and all the ordinary summer moments I wish I could bottle up.

Beautiful childhood

Earlier this month, I wrote about Why so many things made for children have become so ugly—and why I think it matters. Since then, I’ve been paying even more attention to the things that shape the atmosphere of childhood. I’m finding more joy, for both myself and my children, in stories that spark wonder, toys that help them create their own little worlds, time outside, and places designed with childhood’s innocence in mind.

We started reading Charlotte’s Web together this month, and I loved returning to a book that trusts children to follow a real story and listen to language that hasn’t been overly simplified.

Our visit to Storybook Land felt like a real-life example of everything I’ve been thinking about. Nursery rhymes, old stories, little houses, and familiar characters were brought to life without everything becoming loud or overly commercial.

I’m working on a much longer piece about children’s literature and why the books surrounding our children matter. For anyone who connected with my “Why is everything for kids so ugly now?” video, consider this the next chapter of that conversation.

Favorite children’s outfits

Children’s clothing has always been one of my favorite ways to mark a season.

I know they will not be this little forever, and I genuinely enjoy dressing them while they still let me. July was full of gingham, smocking, patriotic details and the kind of clothes that make even an ordinary summer day feel a little more special.

Shop their July outfits:

• Seashell Dress & Seersucker Short Set (code ALEXAWEATHERS to save)

• All American Swim & Bonnet (code ALEXAWEATHERS to save) - the bonnet window is over so quickly -put the baby in the bonnet, you won’t regret it

• Toddler Boy Summer Outfits

• A little girl's classic east coast summer wardrobe (so many pieces already on sale too!)

What I loved wearing

I feel so grateful for this bump and the baby inside of it that I find such genuine joy in dressing it - especially not knowing if this will be the last time I get to.

I still want to feel comfortable, especially in the summer, but I also want to recognize myself. The pieces I wore most this month worked with the belly instead of trying to disguise it: feminine dresses & flattering shapes.

This has become the entire idea behind my Hot & Chic Pregnant series. Pregnancy is long enough that I refuse to spend it feeling unlike myself.

Shop my July outfits:

• Coverup that makes me feel cute and put together

• The perfect "throw on a go" motherhood dress

• My favorite bump-friendly silhouette & my favorite gold shoes

• More of my non-maternity but bump friendly favorites
  

Dreaming about home

We bought our land almost two years ago and have spent the past year working through the plans. Permits have slowed everything down, so our future home still exists mostly through elevations and an increasingly excessive number of inspiration images sent to our architect. Even so, it is finally beginning to feel real.

Most of my attention this month went toward refining the exterior and finding the details that will make it feel like our house rather than simply a new house. The process is slow, but every revision brings it closer to what I have been imagining.

I’m thinking about turning this into a series and sharing more of what actually goes into creating a custom home: the decisions, revisions, compromises, and details that rarely make it into the final reveal.

I’d love to know what questions you have & what you’d like to see more of!

August, Already?

As a Leo, August is naturally my favorite month of the year. But as a mother, saying goodbye to July feels bittersweet. We start getting ready for back-to-school and all the little traditions that make the shift feel exciting, while I quietly cry inside and try to think of ways to freeze time.

I’m also working on a longer piece about children’s books, and I’m hoping we’ll have something more tangible to share about the house soon.

July felt full and festive, with our family at the center of it all. These are the summers I know I’ll look back on, which is why I keep trying to save as much of them as I can while we’re still living them.

What would you most like me to take you deeper into in August?

I love the planning, the tiny details, the traditions we repeat every year, and the way a birthday party captures exactly who a child is in that particular season.

Their favorite things change so quickly, and a party gives me an excuse to preserve all of it for one day.

My first step is always starting with something the birthday child genuinely loves. That is what makes the party feel magical to them (and creates a special memory of who they were at this age for me).

We have celebrated construction trucks, pink poodles and our all-American boy, but this year my son is fully immersed in his superhero phase. He LOVES Spider-Man.

And so my mission began: How do I make Spider-Man cute?

Creating the vision

I always begin by looking for inspiration, but I was struggling this time. There were a few more “aesthetic Spider-Man” parties online, but they still didn’t really feel like me.

Instead of trying to copy an existing party, I started collecting individual elements I loved: red ricrac, blue gingham, vintage piping, soft baby blue, watercolor details, and superhero decor.

The red, white and baby-blue palette from his all-American birthday party last year happened to work perfectly, so I used photos of our previous decorations along with my new mood board to start imagining the space.

I hate AI art, but I do love using AI to help me plan things.

I uploaded pictures of our rooms, last year’s party and the details from my mood board into ChatGPT and used it to visualize how the party could come together. It was extremely helpful for figuring out scale, placement and what the different rooms might look like before I started ordering anything.

I still needed a way to bring the idea to life without relying on AI-generated artwork (it’s always incredibly obvious!)

I hired an artist, who is my go-to for custom illustrations. She created the sweetest version of my son as a little Spider-Man-inspired superhero, and that illustration became the foundation for the entire party.

I used it to design his invitation and menu in Canva.

The party paper and decorations

I normally love making custom decorations and DIYing as much as possible. I am a bit of a control freak when it comes to these things.

This party, however, came together in about two weeks, so I needed help.

I worked with Festi to create the printed party decorations using the illustration I had purchased, along with a photograph of my son dressed as Spider-Man for Halloween.

They can create practically everything: banners, signs, cupcake wrappers, cupcake toppers, water-bottle labels, candy labels, popcorn boxes, straw tags and party hats.

All I had to do was assemble everything and set it out, and the pieces were genuinely so cute.

You can still create a similar look very affordably as well. Blue gingham popcorn boxes and and favor bags from Amazon can be dressed up with custom stickers designed in Canva. A few personalized paper details make even inexpensive party supplies feel completely custom.

Planning the party room by room

Once I have the overall vision, I make the guest list and plan the menu.

I also go through each room we will use and make a list of:

• What needs to be decorated

• Where each decoration will go

• What I already own

• What still needs to be ordered or made

Sometimes I sketch the rooms, although the ChatGPT visuals made me feel fairly confident about the layout this year.

Our three main decorating areas were the dining room (where we sing happy birthday), the foyer (where everyone enters) and the family room (where we display gifts). I added a few smaller details in the kitchen, but concentrating most of the decorations in three places helped the party feel full without needing to decorate every inch of the house.

I used one large balloon arch behind the dessert table, a smaller balloon installation above the fireplace, and another along the banister.

I assembled the balloons two days before the party. They actually lasted for weeks, so they could probably be done even earlier, but I would rather be safe than sorry. I followed this tutorial for the first time and it was the easiest balloon experience I ever had! Throw away those plastic strips that come with the kits- trust me!

Making the dessert table the center of the party

I always plan the dessert menu as part of the decor.

The dessert table is where we gather to sing “Happy Birthday,” so one of the most special moments of the party happens in this room. I love making it feel like the center stage of the celebration.

We used the same blue gingham tablecloths that appear at almost every party we host—one on the dining table and another on the small table in the foyer. Repeating fabrics and colors throughout the house makes everything feel connected.

The centerpiece was a two-tier red, white and blue vintage-style cake. I reused his embroidered monogram cake topper from last year because it matched perfectly.

My favorite was the custom cookies. I planned the designs beforehand using AI-generated visuals, then worked with a cookie artist to interpret them in her own style and bring them to life.

Trader Joe’s carries red, white and blue macarons every summer, and they are delicious, affordable and perfectly matched the color palette.

I also used simple grocery-store cupcakes. Custom wrappers and toppers dressed them up, and clear acrylic risers added height to the table.

I DIYed chocolate-covered pretzel rods and Rice Krispies treats. I am very much not an expert, so they were a little imperfect, but coordinating sprinkles and striped paper straws helped everything feel intentional.

The week before the party, I laid out everything I could and placed Post-it notes where the remaining items would go. This made it much easier to see where the table needed additional height, color or texture before the day of the party.

The details my children notice most

One thing I have learned is that children are often most excited by the details that involve them personally.

I print new photographs of the birthday child in several sizes and frame them throughout the house. It is simple, but my children LOVE seeing themselves incorporated into their parties.

They also get incredibly excited about the life-size character cutouts I make every year.

My son loved the enormous Spider-Man balloon, but he was even more excited to see himself dressed as a superhero, almost like he had become the character in his own picture book.

I shared the full tutorial for creating the character cutout here.

His custom illustration or photo also appeared on the signs, dessert pieces, party hat and other paper details. Repeating it throughout the party made the entire celebration feel like it belonged to him rather than being a generic superhero party.

What We Wore

Because I am still me, obviously I wanted everyone coordinating with the party.

With only two weeks to plan, I didn’t have time to order anything completely custom, so I worked within the red, white and baby-blue palette and found pieces that felt classic without looking like costumes. The children’s outfits came together fairly easily. Mine involved a very last-minute order of several options, followed by trying everything on and hoping one of them would work.

Everything looked cohesive in the photos and felt like it belonged with the party, which is really all I wanted.

• Stephen’s outfit: [link] & [shoes]

• Seraphina’s outfit: [link] & [shoes]

• What I wore: [link] & [shoes]

Reusing what we already own

I reuse many of the same pieces every year:

• Blue gingham tablecloths

• His personalized name banner

• His embroidered party hat

• Cake stands and acrylic risers

• Frames for photographs

• Reusable gift boxes

The reusable gift boxes save time on wrapping and become part of the decor themselves.

I also love allowing gifts to double as both decorations and activities. This year, he received a Spider-Man bounce house and motorcycle. They matched the party perfectly, looked adorable in the space and gave the children something exciting to do.

I also tried a fabric-covered balloon for the first time, and I will be incorporating one into every future party. It was so easy to make and had such a beautiful impact.

The tradition that matters most to me

My favorite birthday tradition has very little to do with the decorations.

Every year, I create a photo album documenting the birthday child’s previous year.

I use [this exact album]. It is expensive, but the quality is comparable to my wedding album, and I know these are books we will treasure forever.

My children often ask to read their albums as bedtime stories. We sit together and revisit the year through their little world: the places we went, the things they loved, the people who celebrated with them and all the ordinary days I might otherwise forget.

Our family members also love flipping through the album during the party.

I make family albums too, but there is something especially meaningful about giving each child a collection devoted entirely to their own childhood.

My party-preparation timeline

For anyone planning a party at home, this is the general timeline I follow:

A few weeks before

Choose the theme, create the mood board, commission any custom artwork, order paper goods and plan the menu.

One week before

Lay out the decorations, label where everything will go, frame photographs, assemble paper goods and check for anything missing.

Two days before

Assemble the balloon installations and organize the serving pieces.

The day before

Arrange the flowers, decorate the rooms, build the dessert table and finish any DIY treats.

The morning of the party

Add the food, make small adjustments and try very hard not to invent another project at the last minute.

I absolutely love a beautiful party, but the real goal is creating a day that feels completely magical to the child being celebrated.

For my son, that meant Spider-Man, a bounce house, a motorcycle, his favorite people and the extraordinary discovery that he could become the superhero in the decorations himself.

And yes, it also meant that I got to make Spider-Man cute.

Party Resources

• Custom illustration: [Path to Paint]

• Custom party decor: [Festi]

• Character cutout tutorial: [link]

• Photo album: [link]

• Acrylic risers: [link]

• Blue gingham tablecloth: [link]

• Fabric-covered balloon supplies: [link] & [link] (I used spray adhesive to attach)

• Party signage: [link]

• All additional party decor: [link]

Why Beauty Matters for Children

For a long time, I thought my sensitivity to beauty was frivolous.

I’ve always cared deeply about aesthetics: fonts, illustrations, fabrics, architecture, the feeling a space or object gives off. I notice screen printing immediately. I recoil at garish colors and loud visuals. I’ve been called “a bit of a snob” more times than I can count.

Before becoming a mother, I treated that part of myself as a personality quirk. Something indulgent, maybe even a little obnoxious. Once I had children, I assumed I would outgrow it. That I would focus on the “things that matter”. That I would learn to loosen up. That bright plastic toys, flat illustrations, and overstimulating media were just part of childhood.

But the opposite happened.

Motherhood sharpened my instincts. And when I finally began reading about childhood development, education, philosophy, and beauty, I realized something surprising:

I started to see that beauty wasn’t extra. It was shaping us.

C.S. Lewis once wrote that when we encounter beauty, we do not simply want to observe it. We want to enter it and be united with it. That longing begins in childhood.

The Visual World We Give Children

Modern parenting advice is obsessed with optimization. How do we curate better sleep, better literacy, better future outcomes? We speak constantly about skills, milestones, and success.

But we almost never talk about beauty.

We assume that if something is educational, age-appropriate, and marketed to children, it must be fine.

We forget that children are not just developing minds. They are forming tastes, longings, and expectations about what the world is like.

And what surrounds them every day becomes their normal.

Pope John Paul II wrote that the world needs beauty in order not to sink into despair. Children, perhaps more than anyone, need reminders that the world is radiant and meaningful.

And if we want our world to become more beautiful, that requires the next generation to know true beauty exists.

A Visible Cultural Shift

If you place children’s media from fifty or even thirty years ago next to what dominates today, the change is unmistakable.

Children’s television once favored hand-drawn animation, gentle pacing, and warm, natural color palettes. Shows like Franklin or Little Bear still exist, but they are no longer the norm. These shows allow quiet moments. They trust children to observe rather than constantly react.

Today, much of children’s media is digitally rendered, fast-cut, high-contrast, and engineered to capture attention immediately. Characters are exaggerated. Expressions are oversized. Movement is constant.

The same shift appears in toys. Stuffed animals were once softly proportioned and natural in tone. They were objects meant to be held, cherished, and loved over time. Many modern plush toys are wide-eyed, neon-colored, and cartoonish; designed more for shelf-impact than attachment.

Children’s books reveal the change most clearly. Earlier picture books treated illustration as art: careful composition, respect for form and light, attention to nature, and a sense of harmony. Think of Beatrix Potter’s delicate watercolors compared to today’s AI generated art slop.

Many modern books, by contrast, rely on flat digital graphics, visual clutter, gimmicks, and licensed characters. They are optimized for profit and speed rather than beauty or longevity.

This isn’t about just preferring the ‘good old days.’ It’s a shift in our societal values.

What Research and Educators Have Long Known

Educational traditions like Montessori and Waldorf were built on the understanding that children are shaped not just by instruction, but by atmosphere.

Maria Montessori insisted that a child’s environment should be beautiful, not because beauty is decorative, but because it invites engagement, respect, and meaningful work. Rudolf Steiner emphasized that young children’s senses and imaginations are nourished by beauty, and that exposure to ugliness dulls rather than develops the inner life.

Modern developmental psychology echoes this insight. Children are acutely sensitive to sensory input. What they see, hear, and touch repeatedly becomes the background against which their expectations of the world are formed.

Beauty as Orientation, Not Stimulation

I used to think beauty was just about preference. Something that either pleased you or didn’t.

But the more I’ve thought about it, the more I’ve realized beauty does something deeper than entertain. It doesn’t just stimulate the senses. It pulls at something inside us.

Philosopher Dietrich von Hildebrand wrote that the purpose of beauty is not to satisfy appetite, but to orient the soul toward transcendent values. True beauty calls us toward reverence, gratitude, and attentiveness.

There is a reason the most meaningful human creations have always been beautiful. Cathedrals. Sacred music. Classical architecture. We instinctively reach for beauty when we want to express what matters most.

Children are especially open to this. When they encounter something truly beautiful, they respond to it naturally.

When a child grows up surrounded by beauty in books, music, clothing, art, or nature, she learns that the world is worth noticing, caring for, and aspiring toward.

And when beauty is absent, when everything is loud or exaggerated or disposable, there is nothing to rise toward.

Why This Shows Up in Baby Clothes, Too

This understanding has shaped not only the books and toys I choose, but even the clothes I dress my children in.

I’ve always gravitated toward natural fibers, classic silhouettes, embroidery, smocking. Things that feel made with care. Modern baby clothing often favors slogans, screen printing, and synthetic fabrics designed for speed and branding.

This isn’t about status or nostalgia.

It’s about what surrounds a child’s body. What touches their skin. What they learn, unconsciously, about care, softness, and intention. About their innocence.

When something is made beautifully, we treat it beautifully. And children learn that idea long before they can articulate it.

What Children Lose Without Beauty

The absence of beauty doesn’t show up as a deficiency.

It doesn’t prevent literacy. It doesn’t stunt practical skill. It doesn’t make a child incapable.

What it risks dulling is the sense that life is meaningful, that the world is worth reverence.

A Responsibility, Not a Luxury

This is not about creating a perfect aesthetic or rejecting the modern wholesale world.

Children are human beings already forming taste, judgment, reverence, and desire.

They deserve books that are art.
Toys that are made with care.
Stories full of love and meaning.

Beauty teaches, even when we aren’t aware of it.

And when we offer it generously, we give children not just pleasant surroundings but a way of seeing the world that can guide them for a lifetime.

In Part II, I’ll share the specific books, toys, clothing, and media we gravitate toward in our home. My list is not definitive and beauty is never one-size-fits-all. But I do hope that it encourages you to be more thoughtful and intentional when it comes to the visual world we create for our children.

If you’re new here, I write a lot about romanticizing motherhood, which to me, mostly means paying attention.

Paying attention to the little things that make family life feel sweeter, more beautiful, more rooted, and more worth remembering: the books we read, the outfits we reach for, the traditions we repeat, the places we take our children, and the small bits of beauty we add to ordinary days.

June was our first real month of summer after a very full May. We were settling back in after travel, finding our rhythm after Stephen finished his first year of preschool, spending time at the beach and the pool, visiting farms, picking strawberries, reading beautiful books, and slowly learning what summer looks like for our family in this season (our last summer as a family of 4!)

So here is June, collected: a few favorite outfits, children’s pieces, girly finds, books, beauty staples, and simple summer traditions I’d happily carry into July.

Pregnancy Outfits from a Girl Who Refuses to Wear Maternity

I’m six months pregnant with my third baby, and while the bump definitely feels bigger the third time around, I’m still really loving dressing it. I love dressing for pregnancy in the summertime: the bump is obvious, summer dresses, and a little baby accompanying me with every outfit. And just in case this is my last baby, I’m trying to treasure this season as much as I can. Even the part where I put on something I loved two weeks ago and suddenly it no longer fits.

My favorite outfits this month were a mix of old favorites and new pregnancy-friendly finds.

The butterfly dress is a splurge from a few years ago, but I reach for it whenever I want to feel special. Mine is past season, but I found a similar current version here. (I wouldn’t say this is particularly bump friendly- I’m shocked it zipped- but it is in the top 10 of my closet).

I also added two new dresses this month. The nautical one feels so perfect for summer. Nautical and sailor styles are ones I cannot resist - for me or my kids. It would be adorable for matching with a little sailor look for a boy or girl.

This red gingham dress is under $100 and has been such a good pregnancy find. I ordered my true non-pregnant size, and it still has enough stretch to fit me through the rest of pregnancy, which is always a win.

And of course, I have to include the matching pajamas. This brand makes some of my favorites, and they always have so many cute print options. Matching pajamas are one of those tiny motherhood joys that make an ordinary day feel a little more intentional. On the days when I am too tired to plan an outing, set up an activity, or do anything particularly magical, putting us in matching pajamas still makes the morning feel special.

Sometimes that is the whole romanticizing motherhood strategy: lower the lift, keep the sweetness.

Classic Children’s Clothing

June was a very sweet month for children’s clothes: gingham swim, lobster sweaters, matching sibling sets, smocked outfits, and a few pieces that felt like tiny heirlooms. Dressing babies is so much sweeter in the summer time!

The matching gingham swim was an immediate favorite. I love a classic brother-sister moment.

Stephen also wore the sweetest lobster sweater, and both kids have one. I love nautical children’s clothes in the summer- sailor collars, lobsters, stripes, gingham, little red and navy details. Here are my favorites right now for boys and girls that we will wear all summer long.

I also found some boutique-style smocked outfits at discount prices, and they were such a good discovery. I loved them enough to get multiple colors. I will always love a smocked outfit, but I especially love when something sweet and classic is also practical enough for everyday wear. (code ALEXAWEATHERS for the extra discount!)

And finally, I found the most beautiful handmade dresses on Etsy. They are definitely more of a special occasion piece, but they could not be sweeter. My mom saved so many outfits of mine that my daughter now wears and this brand makes those kind of pieces - the kind of dress you tuck away carefully and hope a future granddaughter might wear one day.

That is probably why I love classic children’s clothes so much. They are not just outfits. They become part of the memory of a season.

Favorite Girly Finds

A few little girly finds brought me an unreasonable amount of joy this month.

First: a cover for the kids’ puddle jumper, because apparently I am the kind of person who needs even the pool safety gear to be cute. Is it necessary? Probably not. Did it make me extremely happy? Absolutely.

I also finally found jelly shoes I actually love. I am not usually a practical shoe person, but I have to admit a jelly is nice: easy to rinse, easy to slip on, and perfect for the beach, pool, and backyard. These are the cutest option I’ve found. I also really love these (and they are the easiest to keep clean of all the pairs we’ve tried)!

I’m also so in love with this dress. The smocking, the little details, the matching bows, the full petticoat! The price point is also fabulous for the quality, and I may need it in more colors. I would expect it to be double at other brands.

Lastly, the Venus et Fleur arrangements have been making the nursery feel so sweet and girly. The Petit Bébé Collection has the most beautiful hand-drawn print and as much as I love fresh flowers, I deeply appreciate a floral arrangement that does not ask anything of me.

Small Summer Traditions We’re Loving

June felt like a month of settling back in.

May was full of travel, and then June brought us home again. Back to our own rhythms, our own town, and the strange adjustment period that comes after the school year ends and summer begins.

One thing I really love about motherhood is how it has changed the way I experience my own town. Before kids, I don’t think I would have spent nearly as much time seeking out the simple, seasonal things close to home. But now those little outings shape our weeks in such a meaningful way.

A few close-to-home summer ideas we’ve been loving:

Visit a local farm or nursery.
This is one of my favorite easy outings with little kids. They can look at animals, flowers, plants, fruit, or tractors, and it usually feels like an “activity” without requiring a full day of planning. We’ve been finding fun recipes to try with the fruit they pick out as well - watermelon popsicles and strawberry cobbler have been two hits!

Pick one seasonal activity and make it feel special.
For us this month, that was strawberry picking — which, of course, required an on-theme outfit because obviously I cannot resist dressing for the occasion. It does not have to be elaborate. The magic is really in repeating these things year after year until they become part of childhood.

Let the ordinary things become traditions.
Popsicles outside, playing with the hose, visiting the same little farm stand, stopping for flowers, or ending the day with a simple backyard picnic can become the things they remember.

We still spend plenty of time at the beach, which I love, but I’ve come to really appreciate the quieter, close-to-home traditions too.

And in very bittersweet news, Seraphina moved into her big girl bed.

On Instagram, so many of you gave me tips for how to handle her jumping out of bed, and I truly appreciated all of them. For now, I’m mostly sticking with the very glamorous method of calmly bringing her back to bed over and over again until one of us gives up. Occasionally, I let her snuggle in my bed too… and honestly, I’m okay with that.

It is hard and exhausting and not exactly the dreamy bedtime transition I might have imagined, but it is also very sweet. She looks so tiny and so grown up all at once, and I know this is one of those little motherhood seasons I will miss someday.

What We Are Reading

A few beautiful books made it into our June rotation, partly inspired by my July Curriculum and partly inspired by my son’s current knight-in-shining-armor phase.

I’ve talked before about how so much of what is marketed to children today is, for lack of a better word, ugly. Children’s books used to have careful illustration that felt like baby’s first art collection, stories and themes that taught them something of value, and vocabulary meant to expand theirs.

I’ve been on the hunt to add those types of books to our library.

Two of our favorite children’s books this month fit that theme, and I actually really love it. Knights, bravery, honor, protecting others, and doing what is right give us such a natural way to talk about good manners, treating women kindly, being heroic, and choosing virtue in a way that feels exciting to a little boy.

I also found a beautiful picture book that feels sweet and timeless. The illustrations have that classic, old-fashioned quality I’m always drawn to, and it is exactly the kind of children’s book I love adding to our shelves.

For myself, I’m currently reading When the Day Comes, the first book in the Timeless series. It is Christian historical fiction with a really unique dual-timeline concept, and it has been the perfect kind of summer fiction to read a few pages at a time before bed.

Favorite Beauty

A few beauty favorites I kept reaching for in June:

Eye patches for the mornings when my children and my under-eyes had very different opinions about how much sleep I needed.

A body serum(code ALEXA15) and oil (code ALEXA10) my skin has been loving this pregnancy. My skin gets so dry while pregnant, and these have made my nightly routine feel a little more luxurious.

My ride-or-die lip gloss. It is the one I always come back to, and it somehow works with everything. Shade is gauva.

My red light helmet for hair growth. I’m trying to stay consistent with it now before the postpartum shedding era begins again.

Little Things Worth Repeating

Looking back, June was not especially elaborate… and maybe that is why I loved it.

It was lots of little moments that are the beginning of summer traditions I hope my children remember.

A beautiful family life is usually built in very small pieces.

That is what I’m carrying into July: less pressure to make summer magical in some grand way, and more attention to the little things worth repeating.

Summer has always felt like the season for settling down with a good book.

I’m a library regular, and some of my favorite memories as a little girl are coming home with a stack of books piled high, ready to be read, with absolutely nothing else to do.

That, to me, is still the dream.

Of course, in this stage of life, “settling down with a good book” usually means reading three pages before bed with one eye half closed, or sitting on the deck with my book while the kids play with the sand table and I look up every forty-five seconds to make sure no one is eating kinetic sand.

But still… I love a good fiction book in the summer. There is something about warm weather, slower evenings, and carrying a novel from room to room that feels very necessary to me.

I just finished The Patron Saint of Liars, which was fantastic, and now I’m reading When the Day Comes, the first book in the Timeless series.

The concept is so unique. The main character lives in two different timelines: one in 1914 Gilded Age New York City, and the other in Colonial Williamsburg in 1774. Every time she falls asleep in one life, she wakes up in the other.

America is on the brink of war in both timelines, and the author so skillfully weaves England into the story. It has history, romance, tension, beautiful settings, and a premise that makes me genuinely curious how the author is going to pull it all together.

It’s also Christian fiction, where the main character clearly believes in God, has a moral framework, and is trying to discern what is right. Honestly, I find that refreshing.

On my fiction TBR next: the next book in the Timeless series, The Forgotten Midwife, or The Calamity Club. Let me know if you have read any!

2. Faith

I’m a cradle Catholic, but for many years, I was intermittent about actually practicing my faith. I would go to Mass, then fall out of the habit. I believed in God, but didn’t have a fulfilling prayer life. Faith was always part of my life, but not always the center of the story.

Motherhood has changed that for me.

As a mother, I see it as part of my mission to be an example of faith for my children. There is a small chance they will grow up to be professional athletes someday, but there is a 100% chance they will meet Jesus. It is my job to teach them about Him, to model faith for them, and to build a home where God is at the center of it all.

Motherhood has brought me closer to God in ways I never expected. I truly believe the only way to parent well is on your knees. I rely on Him constantly — for patience, wisdom, humility, strength, forgiveness, and the grace to begin again when I fall short.

So every month, I try to find small ways to strengthen my faith.

This month, I’m continuing with Rediscovering Jesus, the Bible in a Year podcast, and the Hallow app.

My husband and I started Rediscovering Jesus together, and the chapters are short enough that it felt like a very realistic little nighttime ritual. Then Seraphina’s sleep issues entered the chat, and our peaceful evening reading practice became less peaceful. I’d love to get back to it this month and actually finish the book.

I’m also still working through Bible in a Year. Am I on track to finish it in one year? Absolutely not. But I’m enjoying it anyway.

I try to read the Bible sections and then listen to the podcast when I can. I find parts of the Old Testament hard to digest on my own, so having the explanation has been incredibly helpful.

On Hallow, I love the Daily Minute Homily with Father Mike Schmitz. They’re short, but they almost always resonate. I’ll listen in the car with the kids or while I’m getting ready for bed, which feels very much like the current season of my life.

3. Preparing for Birth, Round 3

I also want to re-read this life changing childbirth book in preparation for baby #3.

This book was a game changer for me before my first birth. I was all set to have a epidural and call it a day until I read it. And I’m so glad I did.

I have had two absolutely wonderful unmedicated hospital births, and I’d like to revisit the mindset that “birth is something I can prepare for mentally, spiritually, and physically”.

God designed our bodies to do this, but preparing myself mentally is infitinely helpful and this book is a great starting spot. If you are curious about unmedicated birth, my DMs are always open!

4. Studying Beauty Before We Build

We are in the process of designing our new home and, God willing, hoping to break ground soon. In the meantime, I’m still reading this classic.

We’re starting to get into facade details, and this book has been so helpful as I refine my inspiration and learn the language for what I actually like.

I am obviously not an architect. We have a fabulous architect, thank goodness. But I do like to feel informed, especially when it comes to the little details that make a house feel beautiful, balanced, and timeless.

I’ve also found architecture so much more fascinating than I expected. This whole process has made me want to learn more about it - proportion, symmetry, materials, classical details, and why certain houses feel elegant while others feel slightly off and I can’t explain why.

I feel like so much of what is built today is no longer rooted in traditional architectural principles, and beauty can feel like a lost art form. Learning even a little bit of the language behind it has been genuinely inspiring.

This part of the curriculum feels like taste education in real time.

I do not plan to become a professional, but I do want to become a better student of beauty so I can ask better questions and make more thoughtful decisions.

In Closing: Studying the Life I’m Building

That is the heart of this month’s curriculum: good stories, deeper faith, birth preparation, and learning to recognize beauty before we build.

It is not a particularly glamorous syllabus. It is mostly library books, podcast episodes in the car, a chapter before bed if no one (me included) is crying, and architectural notes squeezed between snacks and nap schedules.

But that feels right for this season.

A personal curriculum does not have to mean disappearing into a quiet study with unlimited time and a fresh notebook, though I would certainly not decline that. Sometimes it looks like reading three pages before bed, listening to a homily while buckling car seats, praying for patience over breakfast, and trying to become a little more thoughtful, a little more faithful, and a little more prepared for the life God is asking you to build.

Some people called me insane for traveling to France with two toddlers while pregnant, but I think it may have been our best vacation yet.

We had jet lag, stroller logistics, snacks everywhere, tired toddlers, and I packed like we were moving abroad…but somehow it all worked. More than worked, honestly. The kids loved it, we loved it, and I came home planning our next trip back (with baby #3 in tow!)

I think the biggest reason it worked is that we didn’t try to travel like we did before kids. We chose space, flexibility, easy transportation, beautiful places where the kids could move around, and a lot of snacks.

Here’s what made the trip feel doable, special, and actually fun.

Where We Stayed

Where we stayed made a huge difference in how doable the trip felt with two toddlers.

In Paris, we booked an Airbnb in the 16th arrondissement, and it ended up being one of the best decisions of the trip. I love a beautiful hotel, but with little kids, space is hard to beat. Our apartment was extremely spacious by Paris standards, had a kitchen for easy dinners at home when the kids were too tired to go back out, and had the most special Eiffel Tower view right outside our door.

The 16th is not always the first neighborhood people recommend for Paris, but my husband actually said it was his favorite location we have ever stayed in. It is often described as the “Upper East Side” of Paris, and that felt very accurate to me: beautiful, clean, safe, residential, and calm.

One of our favorite parts of staying there was doing ordinary little Paris things with the kids. We went to the boulangerie for croissants, the fromagerie for cheese, the pâtisserie, the butcher, the flower shops, and the local markets. It felt less like rushing from attraction to attraction and more like getting to experience a little bit of normal life in Paris.

And then, if we walked a few steps in the other direction, we were at Trocadéro with the most incredible Eiffel Tower views. It gave us the best of both worlds: a quiet, residential home base with easy access to the big Paris moments.

After Paris, we stayed at Château du Grand-Lucé, and that was one of the most special parts of the trip. I expected it to be beautiful. I did not necessarily expect it to work so well with children.

The kids loved the pool, the gardens, the hedges that felt like mazes, the statues, and having so much space to move around. We ate most of our meals on the property, which made everything easier because the kids could run around the gardens while we finished eating.

One of my favorite days was market day in town. The château gave us little market bags, we walked into the village, picked up food, and then had a picnic back on the property.

It was elegant and special, but not stiff in the way I worried it might be. The space, the gardens, the pool, and the fact that everyone was so welcoming made it feel surprisingly family-friendly.

How We Got Around

Everyone says the Metro is easy in Paris, and I’m sure it is.

I still found it intimidating with two toddlers, a stroller, pregnancy, and everything else we had with us. So for any longer planned travel, we hired a driver with car seats through La Joie Way, and they made our life so much easier.

For quick Uber rides in the city, we brought this for the kids. They were easy to use, every driver accepted them, and they gave us another option when everyone was too tired to walk any farther.

Paris is very walkable, but Paris with toddlers also means someone will eventually refuse to walk, and someone will want to be carried while the stroller becomes a holder for the diaper bag and shopping bags.

What Helped the Kids Get Excited

This is one of my biggest tips, especially with young kids: read books about the place you’re visiting before you go.

Before the trip, we read lots of children’s books about Paris and the places we were going to see. I wasn’t sure if my kids were too young to really care that they were in France, but they absolutely did.

They recognized the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre pyramids, and different monuments from their books, and it made everything feel more exciting for them. Now that we are home, they point to those places in their books and say, “I’ve been there,” which makes the whole thing feel even more special.

It turned the trip into something they could understand before, during, and after.

The Kid-Friendly Paris Activities We Loved

With little kids, I think one main activity a day is plenty. We usually had one bigger plan and then left room for walking, pastries, parks, bookstores, shops, and meals.

Giverny

Giverny has been on my wish list since I was a little girl, so this was really special for me. I’ve had this book since I was a little girl, and have loved sharing it with my children. We played with it together in preparation for visiting Monet’s garden.

The Eiffel Tower and Trocadéro

Because we stayed so close, we were able to walk to Trocadéro and see the Eiffel Tower without making it a huge production.

The kids had seen it in so many books, so they were genuinely excited to recognize it in real life. We also loved being able to walk along the Seine from our area, especially when the kids were in the stroller and we just wanted something beautiful and easy to do.

Tuileries and the Louvre

The Tuileries was extra special because it is where my husband and I got engaged.

We walked over to the Louvre, where we had taken a lot of our engagement photos, and the kids loved recognizing the glass pyramids from books and from our pictures. This is one of those activities that worked for everyone: meaningful for us, beautiful for photos, and easy enough with kids because there was space to walk around.

Luxembourg Gardens

Luxembourg Gardens was probably the best classic Paris activity with kids.

There are sailboats, a carousel, pony rides, a playground, and so much space to walk around. It felt beautiful for the adults but still genuinely fun for the children, which is really the ideal combination.

The area around the gardens is also adorable. There are children’s stores, gelato, cafés, and plenty to do without needing the day to feel overly planned.

Ordinary Paris Things

Some of our favorite moments were not big itinerary items.

Walking to get croissants. Picking out cheese. Watching the Eiffel Tower sparkle. Letting the kids run in gardens. Getting gelato. Stopping into children’s stores and bookstores. Eating dinner at home when everyone was tired.

I think this is the key to traveling with toddlers: ordinary things count.

Some of those slower, less planned moments were the ones that made the trip feel most like us.

Everything about the Chateau

I am now firmly team “châteaux are actually the most child-friendly vacation.” Especially if you are open to a slower, more relaxed itinerary. And really, what better place to slow down than a neoclassical 18th-century château?

I was nervous the château would be a little too “precious” for my children, but it ended up being our favorite part of the trip. We were able to really soak in the french countryside life, surrounded by unparalleled beauty, while the children were able to run around, explore, and appreciate the beauty too.

Book a cooking class, spend an afternoon playing games, have a “treasure hunt” searching for all the statues in the gardens, have a picnic with the food you purchase from the local market. I tend to be someone who likes to fit in as much as I can in a day, but the French countryside was the perfect complement to the hustle and bustle of Paris.

How I Packed

I know the usual travel advice is to pack less, but that is just not how I travel.

I like outfit changes: dinner outfits, matching moments, and having the right thing for the right setting. The clothes are part of the fun for me, and we honestly wore almost everything we brought.

What helps me is not packing minimally, but packing intentionally.

I plan the kids’ outfits by day and by moment: travel outfits, play outfits, dinner outfits, nicer outfits, pajamas, shoes, bows, sweaters, all of it. It makes getting dressed on the trip so much easier because I am not digging through a suitcase trying to make decisions.

I do the same for myself, especially while pregnant. I think through what I’ll actually want to wear for walking, dinners, travel days, and photos.

For me, overpacking is only a problem if it’s random. If the outfits have a purpose, it makes the trip easier… and prettier.

I may need to do a separate post on exactly how I pack the kids’ outfits by day because that system deserves its own breakdown. Let me know if you want to see!

What I Would Do Again

• Stay somewhere spacious and walkable

• Hire a driver with car seats for airport transfers and day trips

• Plan one main activity per day

• Read books about the destination with my kids beforehand

• Choose gardens, parks, markets, and walks over trying to cram in too many museums or reservations.

• Prioritize family restaurant meals for breakfast and lunch and have simpler meals at home for dinner with tired toddlers

• Choose beauty over entertainment again and again

The thing that surprised me most was that my kids did not just tolerate France. They loved it. They loved the croissants, the gardens, the boats, the Eiffel Tower, the markets, the pool, the château, and recognizing places they had seen in their books.

My three year old said his favorite part of the trip was his daily pain au chocolat (which we agreed to beforehand), and climbing to the top of the Eiffel Tower.

It reminded me that children do not need every experience to be loud, bright, or built specifically for them in order for it to be meaningful.

Sometimes they just need space to run, something beautiful to notice, a snack in hand, and parents willing to move a little more slowly.

What I Would Do Differently

I actually liked getting out early. With little kids, it helped to start the day before everyone was overtired and before places felt too hot or too chaotic.

What I would do differently is leave even more open time to explore and wander.

Some of my favorite parts of the trip were the little in-between moments: walking into local shops, finding a boulangerie, stopping for flowers, practicing our French with locals, letting the kids notice things, and feeling like we were experiencing a bit of ordinary life in Paris.

I was sad we never made it to the bouquinistes along the Seine, and I would have loved more time for vintage shopping too. Those are the kinds of things that are hard to squeeze in when you have little kids, but they’re also exactly the kind of wandering that makes Paris feel like Paris.

I really had high hopes to do some vintage furniture shopping for our new home, but I felt overwhelmed with the kids and didn’t plan it well enough beforehand. There are so many amazing options, but if you have something you really want to shop for, definitely plan out where you want to go beforehand!

I would also remind myself that some places are just crowded, even when you do the “right” thing. We went to Giverny early, and it was still very crowded. It was still beautiful and absolutely worth going, but I would go in with the expectation that you may not have it to yourself, even first thing in the morning.

France with toddlers while pregnant was one of the most memorable, beautiful, worthwhile trips we have ever taken.

I would do it again in a heartbeat.

If you’re planning Paris or France with little kids, leave any questions in the comments. I’m happy to share more - especially on the things I probably overthought, like outfits, car seats, and whether toddlers would care about Monet.

I love knowing what people are actually wearing, reading, using, rewearing, buying, and loving in the way you’d tell a friend what was genuinely worth it.

May was a mix of second trimester outfits, sharing our time in Paris and the French countryside, and the unofficial start of summer down the beach. So this month’s favorites are part style notes, part motherhood diary, part shopping guide, and part little time capsule.

Inside: the fashion pieces I keep rewearing, the kids’ outfits everyone asked about, beauty favorites I actually used, books on my nightstand, favorite home moments, and a few purchases that immediately earned their keep.

Bring back outfit repeating, especially when the outfits are this good.

This month’s outfits were a mix of pregnancy problem-solving, pieces I’ve loved for years, and a few things I already know I’ll be reaching for all summer.

I rented this Zimmermann set from Pickle because I wanted to size up for pregnancy without committing to the wrong size forever …but now, naturally, I’m on the hunt for it in my true size postpartum because I loved it that much.

The other Zimmermann set is one I bought a few years ago and still absolutely adore. The print feels like a Renaissance painting in the best possible way, and it’s exactly why I love collecting pieces I’ll rewear for years instead of constantly starting over.

I also loved this long white Arakii dress, which would be so beautiful for newborn photos, and a fabulous cardigan that somehow makes even the most everyday outfit feel more intentional.

Favorite Kids’ Outfits

The kids’ Paris wardrobes fully stole the show this month, which should surprise absolutely no one.

Stephen had two outfits on repeat in France that have quickly become some of my favorites: this short set and this knit top and pants (not an affiliate link - I truly just love this brand!). The only shoes he wore the entire trip were these loafers (also in brown), and the item I got the most messages about was this sweater.

The green sweater and tan pants are also such classic little boy staples from a brand I absolutely love. I bought multiple colors because when I find something that works, I simply do not pretend to have restraint.

For little girls, Seraphina wore a lot of my vintage dresses, which always feels so special. She also wore this fabulous tulle bubble that gave very much tiny Marie Antoinette, which is obviously exactly the energy I want from toddler vacation dressing.

I’ll never get over classic children’s clothes. They make every ordinary moment feel a little sweeter, and I love that so many of these pieces can be saved, passed down, and loved again.

Best of Beauty

A few beauty things really earned their keep this month:

First, the two body products I’ve loved through all three pregnancies. The lotion (discount code ALEXA15) sinks into my skin beautifully, and the oil (discount code ALEXA10) layered on top locks everything in and gives the prettiest glow. I’ve used this combination every pregnancy, and it is truly the best.

I also finally replaced my old Laneige lip mask. I used to love it, but the ingredient list was not exactly inspiring, so I switched to this cleaner option and now I can’t be without it. It’s less sticky, still super hydrating, and just much better overall.

This face mask is another regular favorite: affordable, hydrating, and easy to keep on hand for when my skin needs a little reset.

My hair had a major glow-up thanks to my hairdresser. I got hand-tied extensions, finally nailed down the warm honey blonde color I’ve been trying to get to, and she gave me an actual lesson on how to style my hair, which is apparently what I needed all along.

The products that finally made me feel like I wasn’t wasting hours doing my hair were this spray, this brush, and this curling iron - which is basically dummy-proof and does all the work for you.

Favorite Purchases

I fully loaded up on patriotic pieces for the kids this month, which is one of my favorite summer themes. Most of what you see here is from this store, and my code ALEXAWEATHERS works for all the extras on their website. I love anything red, white, blue, smocked, classic, and festive for summer!

These sandals have also become one of my most-worn purchases. I’ve been wearing them almost every day and now clearly need them in pink. They’re rubber, so I can wear them everywhere without worrying about ruining them, but they’re still cute enough that they actually make the outfit.

Seraphina’s favorites were this adorable pink smocked dress from My Dainty Darling, her new pink sparkly high heels we found in Paris, and her baby carriage as she prepares for her very important role as a big sister. (The one we have is vintage but I think these are beautiful options as well!)

I’ve also been loving my Vivrelle subscription. It’s such a fun way to try new bags and add a little variety to my collection without committing to every single piece. You can try a month for free with the code ALEXAWEATHERS. And peep the ring in this shot — I just had it custom made and I am obsessed. Pink diamonds and all!

The Sweetest Moments

Matching pajamas have been bringing me so much joy lately … both matching with my daughter and finding sweet brother-sister sets for the kids. These gingham ones are so comfortable I’ve been reaching for them all month, and I cannot resist the little matching golf pajamas for the kids. They would be perfect for Father’s Day if you have a golf-loving dad in your life.

Memorial Day marks the unofficial start of summer in my book, and we’ve been spending lots of time down the beach with family, which always feels nostalgic and special.

After lots of traveling, I’ve also been happy to be home again. The sweet little corners of my children’s nurseries always make me smile, and this frame from Venus et Fleur is especially fabulous. It’s such a beautiful way to make a favorite photo feel a little more special.

Currently Reading

I’m currently reading The Patron Saint of Liars by Ann Patchett. I’ve read a lot of her books, and this was her debut novel. So far, it has been an absolute page-turner.

My husband and I have also been reading a chapter of this book together each night, and it has been such a nice way to spark conversation about our relationship with Jesus. The chapters are short, so it doesn’t feel intimidating to add to our nighttime routine, but it still gives us something meaningful to talk about before bed.

I also added some French books to our collection for the kids after our trip. I love having books that connect to the places we’ve visited, and it makes me so happy that they can start recognizing pieces of France through stories, illustrations, and language. Here are some of my favorites you can order without the trip to Paris.

And as we continue working through house plans, this architecture book has been really helpful for understanding architectural concepts and thinking through façade decisions. I still have plenty to learn, but it’s made the process feel a little less overwhelming and a lot more fun.

It reminded me of something I keep coming back to in motherhood:

Children do not need every experience to be turned into entertainment in order for it to be meaningful.

Before you roll your eyes, I don’t believe that children need a perfectly curated life, or that every moment of childhood needs to be beautiful in some cinematic way.

Children are children. They need mud, noise, snacks, imagination, silliness, and the freedom to be little.

But I also think they are absorbing far more than we realize:

The books we read. The music we play. The churches we enter. The clothes we choose for special days (and everday). The way we set a table. The traditions we repeat. The places we bring them. The way we speak about beauty, manners, faith, art, family, and home.

The more I think about it, the more I wonder if we’ve started confusing entertainment with enrichment.

We’ve Confused Entertainment With Enrichment

Somewhere along the way, it feels like parenthood became a job that requires us to moonlight as entertainment coordinators on a cruise ship.

Every restaurant needs an iPad. Every errand needs a bribe. Every store visit needs a new toy. Every children’s space needs to be bright, loud, plastic, musical, fast, and slightly overstimulating.

And listen, I am not above a cartoon. I am not above snacks. I am not above doing whatever needs to be done in an airport, a doctor’s office, or a long car ride in order for everyone to survive with some level of dignity.

But I do think we have made entertainment the default. And when entertainment becomes the default, ordinary life starts to look boring.

Real Life Is Already Interesting

Real life is full of things worth noticing, but they don’t always announce themselves with flashing lights and theme music.

A church asks a child to look up. To whisper. To notice the candles, the stained glass, the silence, the people kneeling in prayer.

A garden asks a child to observe. To look at flowers, insects, water, seasons, and the miracle of things growing.

A farmers market teaches language, exchange, manners, food, conversation, patience.

A beautiful table teaches that a meal is not just something to get through.

A well-illustrated book represents a child’s first art collection.

A special outfit teaches that some moments deserve a little effort and how we present ourselves matters.

None of this is flashy or trying desperately to hold their attention; and maybe that’s exactly the point. These things invite children to participate in the world rather than simply be amused by it.

Children Belong in Beautiful Places

That is what I kept thinking about in France.

Of course, there were moments that were very obviously for the children: Sailing the little boats in the Luxembourg Gardens. Swimming at the château pool. Pony rides. Playgrounds. Daily pain au chocolat (because my son decided that was simply part of his Parisian lifestyle).

But some of my favorite moments were not “kid activities” in the modern sense. They were wandering through Monet’s garden after years of reading about it in a little pop-up book from my own childhood, walking into an old church in a tiny French village, letting my son practice French with vendors at a farmers market, recognizing monuments they had only previously seen in books.

I was pleasantly surprised to see the joy on my children’s faces as they recognized the Eiffel Tower for the first time. I thought it would be lost on them, but it far exceeded the excitement I ever saw them get at the flashing lights and overstimulating music of an indoor playground.

And I kept thinking: Children belong in beautiful places.

Not because they will behave perfectly. They won’t. Not because every beautiful space needs to revolve around them. It doesn’t. But because beauty is not wasted on them.

They have not yet learned to dismiss something as too touristy or too cliché. We stayed to watch the Eiffel Tower sparkle more than once. Yes, it is touristy and cliché, but I hope I never become the kind of person who stops appreciating something beautiful simply because everyone else appreciates it too.

I want my children to keep that kind of wonder in a world that keeps trying to make everyone too cool to care.

Beauty Teaches Us to Notice

Beauty can pull children out of constant entertainment and invite them into attention. It teaches them to look up, ask questions, notice, admire, and to understand that the world does not need to be loud or fast or designed specifically for them in order to be worth their wonder.

And as a Catholic mother, I can’t really separate beauty from God. Beauty points back to Him. We can see it in a church, a song, a garden, a sunset, a child’s face…all these things that awaken gratitude.

This does not mean children need luxury. It does not mean they need expensive clothes, grand homes, or trips to France. Some of the most beautiful things in childhood are free: a library card, a walk in the woods, a candle lit at dinner, a song sung at bedtime, a church visited in the middle of the day, a garden tended in the backyard, a mother who still stops to admire the sunrise.

Beauty does not have to be extravagant to be formative. It simply has to be noticed.

And maybe that is part of romanticizing motherhood.

Not manufacturing perfect, cinematic childhood memories. Not turning every day into a production. But gently training our children (and ourselves even more so) to see the beauty already in front of us.

Because children are not merely meant to be entertained.

They are meant to be formed. And beauty, when we let it, helps form them.

February often feels more like a reset than January.

January is about clarity. Deciding what we want to change, pursue, or leave behind. February is about settling in to those new goals and making them livable.

I think of this month the way I think of finishing school: cultivation. Learning how to move through daily life with more intention. More care. Better taste.

This month’s curriculum isn’t ambitious in the obvious sense.
It’s about strengthening the fundamentals: health, culture, beauty, rhythm, and allowing them to quietly shape the way life feels.

📚 Literature: Ancient Wisdom, Modern Motherhood

I’m currently reading Lady Tan’s Circle of Women, and it has become my favorite book I’ve read in a long time.

I’ve also somehow simultaneously landed on “Chinese baddie” TikTok: where our Chinese big sisters are teaching us all the tips and tricks on ancient practices, glow-up rituals, and traditional wisdom.

What’s striking is how consistent the message is across centuries:
health for women was never meant to be aggressive, extreme, or isolating.

That perspective has deeply shaped how I’m approaching everything else this month: less force, more cultivation and care.

Table for Two
I don’t usually gravitate toward short stories, but Amor Towles is an exception. These stories all take place in New York, and center on small social encounters that seem ordinary on the surface but quietly reveal ambition, class, longing, and restraint.

Amor Towles creates characters that are deeply human and stories that always make me chuckle. These are stories about how people present themselves, what they conceal, and the subtle ways lives intersect.

I think fiction is an ideal companion to every month’s curriculum as the perfect form of escapism (let this replace your doom scrolling!)

🇫🇷 French & Culture: Cinema

As I shared last month, we are heading to Paris in the spring. While I am fluent in French, I don’t have the opportunity to practice it regularly. Instead of formal lessons, I’m immersing myself in French through film.

This month, I’m watching The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (Les Parapluies de Cherbourg) -en français bien sûr!

In addition to immersing myself in the language, Jacques Demy takes that dizzy rush of first love and traps it inside an absolutely gorgeous world of color and music. There is a shameless romanticism to it (and we all know I love romanticizing).

Language absorbed through beauty tends to linger.

And if the fun & girly desire to watch a movie together and chat about it doesn’t make you want to watch it, this video will!

🥗 Health & Energy: A Month of Inputs

Rather than chasing outcomes, I’m using a daily habit tracker. January was about implementing and focusing on habits that are important to me and February is about making them a true part of my lifestyle. We hope that we will be blessed with another pregnancy in 2026 so health will be a main goal for me.

What I’m tracking:

• diet

• steps

• movement

• meditation or breath work

• water

• supplements

I’m not trying to change my body this month.
I’m changing my inputs and trusting the rest to follow.

Make your own copy of my tracker here!

🌸 Beauty as Practice: Floral Arranging

February felt like the right time to add something purely beautiful. This past month I have had some very special celebrations that I created florals for and both times I learned something new, but also noticed how incredibly at peace I felt during the process.

While a more formal class is on my agenda, I am going to practice some floral arranging through youtube videos and trader joes’s florals.

While this is a skill I absolutely would love to master, this month my goal is really just to focus on:

• slowing down

• using my hands

• bringing beauty into ordinary days

There’s something quite lovely about choosing beauty for no reason other than joy.

Closing

This month is about doing a few things well & and doing them gently.

As we pray God blesses us with the ability to grow our family, my focus in going to be primarily on my health, but a big part of that, I have learned, is finding happiness and joy in the everyday.

We don’t always need every month to be reinvention.
Sometimes we just need rhythm.

Favorite Outfits

I wanted something sparkly, pink, and feathered for Seraphina’s birthday. I loved the idea of the Taller Marmo dresses, but not the $2,000 price tag, so I had this nearly identical version made- completely custom for a fraction of the cost. I’m not sure how many feather dresses one person truly needs, but I certainly wouldn’t mind adding a few more to my collection.

This Zimmermann dress was originally what I wore for Seraphina’s newborn photos. I’m a huge fan of outfit repeating and love seeing how special pieces show up again in different seasons and memories. Wearing it this month brought back so many sweet moments from that time.

Speaking of repeating, this fur cuff sweater has been the MVP of my winter wardrobe. I have it in multiple colors and wear it constantly. I posted about them so much they finally gave me a discount code (ALEXA15).

And this coat and hat combination looks incredibly expensive but was actually a bargain compared to similar styles- I reach for them almost daily in these freezing temps.

Favorite Baby Clothes

Baby clothes will always be my favorite, even though neither of my children are technically babies anymore.

This sweater (and matching coat) has been a staple in my three-year-old’s “big boy” winter wardrobe. It’s our first year moving away from smocking and Peter Pan collars, which has been a bit of an adjustment, but brands like this make beautiful, versatile staples that work for so many occasions.

Seraphina’s custom birthday outfit was one of my favorite pieces this month. I shared more about it here, and I’ll be sharing the full party soon. (If you want to shop with her my discount code is ALEXAWEATHERS)

This little set and the pajamas are from a new mom-owned brand I’m currently obsessed with.

Favorite Celebrations

We’ve been in full planning mode for Seraphina’s second birthday, which is going to be a pink poodle theme. I couldn’t be more obsessed with it - and neither could she.

We also celebrated my sister-in-law’s bridal shower, which was such a beautiful and special day.

On Seraphina’s actual birthday morning, I set up some of her presents, special stuffed animals, and lots of balloons. This is my go-to for celebrations - I love using it to display gifts and toys. We use it every birthday, for her Christmas basket, etc.

This is also perfect for showcasing special outfits, like her custom birthday dress. I keep it in her closet to display meaningful pieces. It’s beautiful for baby showers or first birthdays.

Favorite Moments at Home

As I shared in my February Curriculum, health is a big focus for me right now. I try to start my mornings with at least 30 grams of protein and avoid flour, sugar, and seed oils.

When I get the egg “ick” (which is often), cauliflower fried rice is one of my favorite options: cauliflower rice, eggs, egg whites, peas, and scallions. Here I had it with smoked salmon and asparagus.

This beauty tool has also been a favorite. I started using it in December and have been loving it. There’s a monthly treatment plan you can follow, which is great because I don’t have to make any decisions- but you can also customize treatments based on your goals. If you decide to give it a try, you can use code AWEATHERS for a discount!

And of course, lots of girly pink books as we gear up for Valentine’s Day. The one in the middle is guaranteed to make you cry (& there’s a boy-mom version too).

Favorite Activities

Ladies (and babies) who lunch will always be a favorite. I love bringing the kids out to practice their restaurant manners.

I’ve also been doing a lot of floral arranging for loved ones. A cart full of flowers always makes me happy.

Movement feels more fun when you’re wearing cute pink leggings.

I am so tired of the snow and freezing temperatures here in the Northeast, but sledding with the kids is something I haven’t done in years—and it was such a sweet reminder of how fun winter can be.

Favorite Books & Beauty

I read both of these books as part of my January Curriculum, and neither disappointed. The Diane von Furstenberg memoir is a wonderful read for women at any stage of life, and one I plan to revisit.

These hair products were recommended by my hairdresser when my ends were feeling dry, dull, and full of split ends.

I’ve also always used the Elemis cleansing balm, but recently switched to this one. It’s less expensive, the ingredients are cleaner, and it works just as well, if not better. I actually discovered the brand through their organic period products. (And a gentle but important reminder: if you’re not using organic tampons or pads, consider making the switch. It’s one of those small changes that can make a meaningful difference.)

For the past few months, I’ve been giving myself a personal curriculum: a quiet structure for staying curious, and intentional in this season of life. January felt like the right moment to share this one in more detail, both as a record for myself and as an invitation for anyone who wants to borrow pieces of it.

This Month’s Theme: Health, Identity, Fluency, and Building a Life with Intention

January always feels like a natural pause point for me to get clear.

A personal curriculum isn’t about productivity for productivity’s sake, and it’s not about fixing anything that’s broken. It’s simply a way of being intentional about what I’m learning, focusing on, and building in this season of life.

Motherhood has been the most meaningful chapter of my life…and also the one that requires the most structure if I want to continue growing alongside it. This curriculum is how I do that.

Course 1: Health, Energy & the Nervous System

Health is the primary focus this month.

I recently signed up for Function Health and had comprehensive bloodwork done. Having clear, objective data has been incredibly empowering.

To build on that foundation:

• I’m finishing Young Forever by Dr. Mark Hyman

• I’m listening to one episode of The Doctor’s Farmacy podcast each week

• I’m repeating the Lean Energy program with Becker Health, a program I’ve done before and loved for its science-based, practical approach

Repeating it now feels even more effective, because I can tailor everything to my actual lab results instead of general recommendations.

I’m also addressing stress directly. My cortisol levels are high, so I signed up for a 30-day breath-work challenge and committed to a daily mindset activation. This isn’t about discipline or pushing harder…it’s about regulating my nervous system so everything else (energy, focus, consistency) actually works.

Health for me is a non-negotiable and as much as I love my bags and shoes, this is the most worthy investment of all.

Course 2: Literature & Identity

For reading, I’m focusing on two books:

• The Woman I Wanted to Be by Diane von Furstenberg

• Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Truman Capote

DVF’s memoir, recommended to me by my fabulous friend Kaitlin, is deeply rooted in intention. It’s about deciding who you want to be early on and then shaping your life around that decision - even when it’s uncomfortable or unconventional. I find it motivating without being prescriptive. She was a young mother and really didn’t launch her career until after becoming a mom.

Breakfast at Tiffany’s is a book I love for its wit and elegance. It’s a book whose film is just as iconic as the text, shaping how we think about style, city life, and femininity decades later.

Course 3: Thinking, Strategy & Positioning

This month I’m also reading Positioning, a book recommended by Jensen Huang, the CEO of NVIDIA, in multiple interviews. I’m endlessly impressed by what he’s built and how clearly he thinks, so it felt like a natural addition to my reading list.

The core idea of the book is simple: perception often matters more than performance. It’s not just what you do - it’s how clearly people understand what you do.

The biggest takeaway so far: clarity wins. Focus and consistency create authority - in work, in motherhood, and in life.

Course 4: French: Reclaiming Fluency

We’ve officially booked our trip to Paris this spring, so French is becoming a more intentional part of my routine.

I’m fluent, but like any language, fluency fades if it isn’t used regularly. Right now, my goal is consistency rather than intensity.

I’m aiming for about twenty minutes a day, rotating between:

• listening (podcasts, videos, interviews),

• speaking out loud,

• reading or writing short passages.

On busy days, even just speaking French while playing with my kids counts. As we get closer to the trip, I’ll likely add a more structured intermediate or advanced program (DuoLingo is just not cutting it) but for now, this is about keeping the language active and natural.

Course 5: Home & Architecture

We’re currently in the early stages of building our dream home. I haven’t shared much of the process yet, largely because the past six months have been devoted almost entirely to layout and flow, working closely with our architect to get the bones exactly right. It’s been slow, thoughtful work.

As I’ve been refining my mood boards, though, there has been one image I kept returning to: a staircase that felt both grand, architectural, and romantic. It became a quiet constant in my planning.

Months later, while planning our spring trip to Paris, we found a château in the Loire Valley and booked a stay. As I was looking more closely at the property, its rooms, details, and photographs, I had a moment of total disbelief. The staircase was the same one I had saved to my home vision board months earlier.

We are quite literally staying in the home that helped shape the vision for the one we’re building.

So for Christmas, my mom gifted me At Home in France with Timothy Corrigan, which suddenly felt especially meaningful. There is an out of print book that is JUST about the chateau we are staying at that I am on the hunt for now! What a special addition to have in the library of our new home.

A Closing Thought

This is my January curriculum.

I believe growth and curiosity deserve structure even (and especially) inside motherhood.

I share more detailed breakdowns like this -along with past curriculums, reflections, and inspiration - here on Substack. If you’re building something intentional alongside motherhood, you’re very welcome here.

Because if no one’s sending us to finishing school, we can always design our own.

Not because it was over-the-top, but in a way that felt familiar and deeply comforting. There were certain traditions that came back year after year, so reliably that they became part of how I understood December itself.

Looking back now, I realize how intentional it all was. And even more surprisingly, how much of it I’ve carried into my own motherhood.

The Traditions I Grew Up With

There are a few things from my childhood Christmases that I will always remember.

We went to the same Santa every single year. (He even legally changed his name, lived on a reindeer farm, and passed away recently at 12:25)

We decorated the Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving, every year without fail. It felt like the official start of the season. My mom would go out shopping and my dad and I watched a movie together.

Each year, I received one new ornament: something that represented who I was or something memorable that happened that year. Saved carefully by my mom, I now have started to share some of those ornaments with my daughter.

There was always an advent calendar, and opening it each morning made December feel long in the best way. Like something special was happening every single day.

On Christmas Eve, I wore a new dress to church.

None of it felt rushed.
None of it felt random.

It felt magical.

What I’m Doing Now

Now that I’m a mom, I find myself recreating that same feeling. Because Christmas magic is really just a mom who loved you so much.

December in our house starts with a Christmas breakfast on December 1st.
There’s a decorated table, a holiday basket, new pajamas, Christmas books. Our way of officially opening the season.

We do an advent calendar filled with activities, not candy. Little moments to look forward to each day. Things like:

• Riding on the polar express

• Reading Christmas books in mommy and daddy’s bed

• Baking Cookies

• “Look for a surprise under your bed” (we’ll play the hot and cold game to find a little surprise like new crayons and a Christmas coloring book")

This year, we added a Book Advent: one wrapped Christmas story to open and read together every night. We use the books that we have collected so far and add a few new ones every year.

We still do a new ornament every year. When my mom gave me my ornament each year, she hid it and we played hot and cold until I found it, which was always my favorite part.

I do the same thing now with my son. I hide his ornament, guide him closer, and watch him light up when he finds it. Some traditions really do carry themselves forward.

The Christmas dresses I remember so dearly have now turned into quite the collection for my own children.

We visit Santa.
We ride Christmas trains.
We take photos I know I’ll look back on someday and feel all of this again.

What I’ve Learned

Christmas magic doesn’t happen by accident. It’s created through repetition.
Through choosing a few things and doing them again and again.
Through caring about how a season feels, not just how it looks.

I think that’s how parents live on. Not in the big moments, but in the traditions we repeat so often they feel ordinary. And one day, without even realizing it, our children will carry them forward too.

You can see these traditions come to life in this week’s Romanticizing Motherhood.

As a stay-at-home mom, I’ve realized that my days feel richer when I make space for curiosity and style alongside the routines of motherhood. So November’s curriculum is about living beautifully in the everyday: combining practicality with a touch of glamour. The kind that makes even a school drop-off or grocery run feel like a cinematic moment.

Course 1: Film & Visual Culture: Funny Face

This month, I watched Funny Face: Audrey Hepburn, set against the backdrop of 1950s Paris. What struck me wasn’t just the wardrobe (although this pink gown by Edith Head deserves its own syllabus), but the way the film celebrates transformation.

As a Francophile and forever lover of Paris (it was even the name of my childhood dog -I’d use it as a baby name if my husband would ever get on board!), the colors, choreography, and the city all just felt dreamy! It’s a reminder that beauty and intellect aren’t opposites: You can be both clever and captivating. You can (and should!) love books and lipstick equally. And while I’ve always known these things, I’m discovering now that you can be absolutely intelligent in matters of frivolity.

Course 2: Literature:

I finished reading the book, The Debutante Divorce, a follow-up to Bergdorf Blondes (which should honestly be required reading). Completely early-2000s, delightfully unserious, and deeply nostalgic. It felt like revisiting my 13-year-old self: lip gloss, fashion sketches, daydreams of New York or Paris, and an unembarrassed love for glamour.

And in a strange way, reading something so playful made me feel connected to the girl I used to be.

Course 3: Fashion & Personal Style: Everyday Glamour

I continued The Power of Style this month. Reading about women like Pauline de Rothschild and the Duchess of Windsor. They all understood that style is about how you move through the world, not just how you dress for it.

“These women spoke several languages, translated poetry, made themselves into mistresses of conversation. They spied for their country, championed causes, and ran businesses. And they adored beautiful dresses, entertained fops, and married the wrong man time and time again.”

Inspired by them, my goal this month was: wear the clothes I love, every day.

No more “saving things.” I wanted to bring back a little ceremony to the ordinary! Joy is in the details- and more often than not, the details for me look like feathers, a fur cuff, and 3d floral applique, and a heel.

Course 4: Interior Design & Architecture — Corey Damen Jenkins + Domino

This month, my design education came from two sources: Corey Damen Jenkins and Domino: The Book of Decorating.

I loved Corey Damen Jenkins room at the Kipp’s Bay Show House so much that I needed more of his work and decided to watch his youtube channel, Design Reimagined.

My “homework” for this course was the most fun:
To go room-by-room through the house we’re building and make a list of everything I envision- both aesthetically and practically.

A few examples on my list:

• Foyer: flared staircase, marble floors, beautiful lighting

• Closets: thoughtful storage, size considerations, finishes

• Living spaces: where fireplaces will go, architectural details

• Seasonal storage: especially Christmas decorations and trees (plural, of course)

• Kitchen: functional zones, hidden storage, and the mood I want the space to evoke

It felt so productive to put everything on paper: not just the pretty parts, but the practical details that make a house feel complete for our busy family.

On Returning to Myself

November taught me that elegance isn’t about things. It’s how you move through your day, how you notice beauty, how you care for what you already have.

As a stay-at-home mom, this project continues to be my way of staying curious, creative, and connected to the woman I was - and the one I’m becoming. The girl who used to scrapbook Vogue pages would be proud.

Next month, I’ll be continuing this series, but for now, I’m just grateful to be living a life that feels beautiful.

Because if no one’s sending me to finishing school, I’ll keep designing my own.

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If no one’s sending me to finishing school, I’ll simply make my own.

This month, somewhere between preschool drop-offs, grocery runs, and the constant background noise of family life, I decided to start what I’m calling my personal curriculum- a way to study beauty, culture, and design alongside motherhood. Not for self-improvement, but for self-enrichment. For remembering that I’m allowed to have interests, fascinations, and ambitions that exist outside the logistics of daily life.

My goal was to make room for the parts of myself that motherhood sometimes quiets: the curious, the aesthetic, the playful girl who once made fashion scrapbooks and daydreamed about architecture.

The Concept — Building a Personal Curriculum

A personal curriculum is exactly what it sounds like: a syllabus for your own curiosity.
Each month, I choose subjects that speak to the kind of woman I want to become: cultured, calm, intentional, and full of life. I got the idea after my girlfriend Kaitlin sent me a Tiktok video about the idea of a September curriculum. In true motherhood fashion, it took me a month to get started, but once I did I was hooked!

October’s theme was The Study of Beauty.
I broke it into five subjects:
🎞 Film & Aesthetic Study
📚 Literature & Reflection
👗 Fashion & Style
🏛 Interior Design & Architecture
📸 Photography

It gave me a structure to explore beauty and things I love, like I used to do as a little girl.

Course 1: Film & Aesthetic Study — Marie Antoinette

For my film and visual culture study, I watched Marie Antoinette by Sofia Coppola.

The film’s pastel world of pastries, silks, and chandeliers is pure escapism. Every shot, filmed inside the Palace of Versailles, feels like stepping into a Rococo painting come alive.

It reminded me that femininity and fantasy can be art forms too.

Course 2: Literature & Reflection — The Fountainhead

I finished The Fountainhead, which I originally picked up for its focus on architecture.
But what stayed with me were its themes of integrity, self-reliance, and the courage to build according to your own vision.

There’s a line that resonated deeply with me as we design our new home: “We want to have to live up to this house.”
That’s what this curriculum is for: to live up to the life I’m building.

To fill it with thought, taste, and meaning - not just décor.

Course 3: Fashion & Style — Everyday Glamour

This month, I rediscovered the joy of getting dressed. I found the book The Power of Style. I read about Rita Lydig and Elsie de Wolfe, women who treated style as self-expression, not vanity. I will continue this book into next month and the read the profiles of other fabulous women. How could I not, with women who were described as “only being at peace in the presence of beauty” ?

I played with themes in my own wardrobe — “academia fall” one week, “shoe diva” the next (a nod to those glossy early-2000s fashion illustrations I grew up loving).

And most importantly, I stopped saving beautiful things for special occasions.
Even school drop-off deserves a little glamour.

Style, I’m realizing, isn’t about where you’re going but about how you show up for your own life.

Course 4: Interior Design & Architecture — Studying Taste

I am in the process of building my dream home with my husband so I spent much of October studying spaces that felt timeless. (Stayed tuned for more updates!)

At the Kips Bay Show House, designers transformed blank rooms into something that looked centuries old (in the best way). Proof that craftsmanship and molding can build soul into new walls.
At the Morgan Library, I found myself mesmerized by the Gilded Age architecture: coffered ceilings, marble columns, and murals that made every inch feel intentional.

I also visited Longwood Gardens, which I often take for granted being a native of southern Pennsylvania.

Course 5: Photography

I finished my first photography class this month, which taught me all the basics- aperture, ISO, shutter speed. More than anything, I loved that this class was in person and I got to feel like a true student again! If you are looking for a gift for a mom in your life, I think a course on something she loves (fashion, floral arranging, photography) is a great start!

On Returning to Myself

October taught me that the things some may find frivolous, to me, are completely restorative. Curiosity, craftsmanship, and aesthetics don’t compete with motherhood; they enrich it.

As a stay-at-home mom, this curriculum has become my way of finding myself inside motherhood. I lost myself in those early years, yet I wouldn’t change a thing about that. But rediscovering this new version of me has been such a fun, fulfilling journey. It’s reminded me that the more I nurture my own sense of identity, creativity, and wonder, the more present and content I am in every other part of life.

When you become a mom, you realize there’s a version of you that no longer exists - and you never really got to say goodbye to her. I’ve been so inspired by the younger version of myself who was passionate, imaginative, and endlessly curious; a girl who made fashion magazine scrapbooks, dreamed of living in Paris, and couldn’t wait to be a mommy. Doing things like this makes me feel connected to her again- and to the woman I’m still becoming.

Next month, I’ll be continuing this series with my November Curriculum - focused on practical elegance and playful glamour.

Because if no one’s sending me to finishing school, I’ll keep designing my own.