🌿✨ From the Haven — August ✨🌿
Hi, friend.
I’m late.
Which, honestly, shouldn’t surprise anyone.
I haven’t been early since ’88. 😂
From the Haven always comes after the month wraps up, usually sometime within the first week or so of the next month.
This one took me a little longer.
August came and went, school started, sports took over our calendar, summer wrapped up…
and then we brought home an eight-week-old German Shepherd.
So while being late is very much on brand for me, being this late?
I’m blaming the puppy. 😂
It’s basically like having a newborn again, except this one has teeth, runs really fast, and keeps trying to eat my landscaping.
But we’ll get to Miss Freyja.
First…
August.
⸻
🌻 In the Garden
August was HOTTTT.
Colorado was in a drought, we were dealing with water restrictions, and after an almost $500 water bill in July, we had to make some choices.
Pretty much, if you weren’t coming back next year…
good luck, babe. 😂
The established gardens, trees, perennials, and pumpkins got priority.
The annuals?
Watching all that money I spent at the nursery slowly crisp up hurt my soul a little, but I couldn’t justify pouring hundreds of dollars worth of water into plants that weren’t coming back next year anyway.
We also cut way back on the front lawn because honestly, we’re never out there. The backyard is where we LIVE, so that’s where the water went.
We’ve also started collecting rainwater whenever Mother Nature decides to actually give us some. We’ve been using that to water the trees and hit the extra-dry spots in the lawn.
Luckily, we didn’t lose anything important, and somehow through the ridiculous heat and drought, the garden still showed off.
My sunflowers were absolutely GORGEOUS this year. 🌻 I had planted them in different areas this year and I loved seeing them directly out the back door.
A little crispy around the edges?
Sure.
But honestly…
so was I. 😂
⸻
🎒 Back to School
And just like that…
Summer break was over.
This year hit a little differently because somehow my oldest started his senior year while my youngest started kindergarten.
Excuse me??? What?!?!?
Aiden’s last first day of school and Cade’s very first one.
Apparently I blinked somewhere along the way and went from taking Aiden to kindergarten to watching him start his senior year, and quite frankly, I did not authorize any of this. I swear I was just walking the halls of that highschool🫠
And if you’d like to see exactly how well I emotionally handled dropping my first baby off for his last first day of schol and my last baby for his first day of school….
I documented the crashout. 😂
→ Watch my post-senior-drop-off emotional breakdown on TikTok
Spoiler alert: I was doing GREAT.
(I was not doing great.)
Then there’s Adrien and Camden right there in the middle, growing up just as fast. Adrien starting his 7th grade year at the same middle school Tyler and I attended & Camden started 3rd grade, he was so happy to be back to seeing his buddies again.
Four boys.
Three different schools.
And approximately 47 places everyone needs to be at the exact same time.
We’re doing great. 😂
But really, watching them all start another school year was one of those weird motherhood moments where I’m so proud of the people they’re becoming while simultaneously wanting time to chill the hell out for a minute.
⸻
⚾🏈 Sports Mom Season
School starting also means one thing around here…
I live at a field again..
Football started back up for Camden, and he also made the competitive 8U baseball team!
Watching him work for something and then make the team was such a proud mom moment.
So now we’re back to practices, games, cleats everywhere, folding chairs permanently living in the car, snacks, water bottles, and me trying to remember which field we’re supposed to be at and when.
Sports mom season is officially back.
⸻
🤍 Around the Haven
Somewhere in between school starting, sports, trying to keep the garden alive, and regular life with four kids, The Tailored Haven kept moving too.
There was sourdough on the counter, orders going out, photos being taken, and about 97 things on my to-do list at any given moment.
August wasn’t really a month of huge projects.
It was more of a…
“Keep all the plates spinning and try not to drop one.”
kind of month.
And honestly?
Sometimes that’s just life.
⸻
🐾 And Then Came Freyja…
Okay, technically this is where August spills into September… but considering she’s the main reason this post is this late, she gets a section. 😂
We had actually been talking about getting a puppy for a while. Since May, we’d slowly started opening our hearts to the idea. Nothing was decided, but the conversation kept coming up with the boys.
Then one night, Tyler was tucking the boys into bed for approximately the 16th time because apparently “goodnight” is just the beginning of a 45-minute negotiation in our house.
The puppy conversation came up again, and Tyler told them, “If you guys want a puppy, you have to keep your rooms clean. You can’t leave toys all over the floor. The puppy could even sleep right in here with you guys.”
He finally escaped bedtime, came back out to the living room, and we were talking and watching TV
Literally TWO MINUTES later, I got a message from my friend.
Two German Shepherd puppies had just been born.
A boy and a girl.
And the little girl was available if we wanted her.
Umm………………..
Talk about timing.
Tyler had JUST finished telling the boys what life would look like if we got a puppy.
We looked at each other like…
Well, shit. 😂
And just like that, there she was.
At the time, she was tiny little Rose.
Rose and her brother Jack were the only two puppies in the litter, and they were also the breeder’s final GSD litter, which somehow made the whole thing feel even more serendipitous.
Then came the longest eight weeks ever.
We watched her grow through pictures, got updates, went to visit her, and basically counted down the days until we could finally bring her home.
And somewhere along the way, little Rose became
Freyja Rose. 🤍
Our girl.
→ Meet Freyja 🐾
And now that we’ve waited eight weeks to bring her home?
I spend approximately 97% of my day following her around like Drew, Taylor Swift’s security guard.
Where Freyja goes…
I go.
She’s in the backyard?
I’m there.
She walks around the corner?
So do I.
She’s suspiciously quiet for four seconds?
“FREYJA. WHAT’S IN YOUR MOUTH?!”
It’s basically like having a newborn again, except this one can sprint, bite, and would happily eat our entire landscaping one piece of mulch at a time.
So yes…
August’s blog is really late.
I have a German Shepherd now.
I feel like that’s a valid excuse. 😂
⸻
🌼 Looking Ahead
August felt like one giant transition.
Summer break ended.
School started.
Football started.
Baseball started.
The garden survived.
And somehow we’re already heading into fall.
September is already shaping up to be a whole different kind of chaos. It’s my birthday month, the garden is starting to change, fall is coming, and apparently I’m now raising a tiny velociraptor.
So…
we’ll see how this goes. 😂
Thanks for sitting with me for a little while.
And if September’s From the Haven is still sitting in my drafts halfway through October…
you know who to blame. 🐾😂
Until next month…
Little rascals, wave. 👋
xo, Jess
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