It’s halfway through the year and I started this post in January. #threekids.

The photo above is from the Christmas card we sent out this year. You’ll notice a few things… the most obvious being that there’s an extra child in it. Maybe the next being that not a single soul is looking at the camera. Because that’s my life now. When you have 3 children, 2 things will happen. Never again will all the people in your home be healthy at the same time, and you will never.ever.ever get a photo of your whole family looking at the camera at the same time… until all of them are old enough to understand what a bribe is, and that it should be taken.

So, what’s been going on with Pretty Little Plates this year? If I remembered anything of the last year I would tell you, but it’s been a total blur. Just over a year ago we welcomed Madeline Elise into our home, officially making us a family of 5. I heard my husband say often during the last year, “3 is a game changer,” or “3 is wayyyyyy harder than 2.” I honestly didn’t know what he was talking about. It seemed the same to me. Young kids are hard. 2 is hard, 3 is hard, 1 being extremely hyperactive is hard, it’s all just hard. So I kept my head down and just got through it. Fast forward to this year when our oldest son started full time pre-kindergarten, and our youngest two started 2 days a week at day school. Um…HOLY CRAP. I had NO idea what type of stress I had been under the last year until it was lifted from me. Having 2 kids at home during the day rather than 3, and then getting those 2 short work days back….changing my life over here. I think about the last year and I know I worked. I had weddings, I did some styled shoots, got a few things published. But I couldn’t tell you what any of those things were. I made exactly ZERO blog posts, I did nothing to my website, attended NO networking events. I basically kept the business on life support.

A few things did have to change based on our new family situation. Sadly, I moved out of my space on Camp Bowie with Grit & Gold. I loved my time there, I really loved the ladies who worked there, and enjoyed the sharing of creative minds. It became too complicated to pack for events when I had to visit 2 different locations to get what I needed. Finding childcare for 3, or lugging them all with me, it didn’t make sense anymore. So, we made the decision to move all of the rentals close by the house and now I meet clients at my home or up at We Works Fort Worth. I miss the studio but I must admit… We Works is an exciting and creative space to work as well, when I actually make it up there.

I also cleaned out my inventory this year. I was hoarding some plates that just weren’t up to my expectations in case I had a large wedding pop up, but I Marie Kondoed everything and I’m left with only what I love, and a commitment to myself to just say no to giant weddings.

Other than that, not much has changed. I’m still here, still doing weddings and other events and still loving every minute of it…there are just fewer minutes of it. A few years ago I would have sworn to you that my kids were going to need less of my time pretty soon and I’d be back taking on more and more weddings, but that’s just not what God had planned for us and that’s ok.