Friday Five (On A Thursday) - Veronika's Blushing

The Sephora sale starts tomorrow so we’re doing Friday Five a day early 😉

ONE
It was/is the week of sickness in our household starting with Lincoln testing positive for the flu on Monday and Harper coming home from school early yesterday with headache, sore throat and chills.

It was the first time the kids have been really sick in two years (other than Lincoln having a sinus infection a few months ago), so everyone was pretty miserable. Somehow Kevin and I have (thus far) escaped it, but the flu shot was fairly ineffective this year at preventing infection, so we either got lucky or it’s coming for us soon. I had my doctor call in Tamiflu just in case we start to become symptomatic.

The kids being sick made me have the amazing realization that I’m coping so well on my medication especially when it comes to my medical anxiety. I’m able to be calm, present, not constantly worried/anxious about their symptoms. I even slept well at night – whereas pre-meds I’d be totally on edge and unable to settle, my heart racing all night. It’s such a relief that I can really be my best self now, especially when the kids need me most. Going through things like this, while challenging, also shows me how immensely I’ve been helped by my medication. I don’t feel paralyzed, crippled and full of fear like I used to when my kids got sick. It’s not that I have zero worries, it’s that my emotions are more regulated so I don’t go into fight or flight mode and go down the rabbit holes I used to.

I’ll also re-share our Kinsa thermometers because so many of y’all have asked about them and they’ve been a life-saver during all of this. They’re so accurate and their app tracks everything, has really good information and is NOT annoying or overwhelming. You can save your children’s temperatures, symptoms, when you administered medication and more. It takes the stress away because everything is stored in the app. I recommend getting the set that has the ear and oral thermometer, but you can also purchase just the ear or just the oral thermometer.

TWO

LISTENING TO:
Book two of The Miles High Club series and love it so far!

WATCHING:
We finished watching Dopesick on Hulu and wow…I highly recommend watching it if you haven’t already. It’s tragic, gripping and eye opening. We’re also watching The Dropout on Hulu and it’s great so far.

I started to watch season 2 of Bridgerton and if I’m being honest I just can’t get into it. I find my attention drifting – maybe this season isn’t as exciting as the first? I remember even with the first season, the later episodes were better.

I also started watching Euphoria…(yes, I know I’m way behind) and what a show. I have no words, but can’t stop watching – it’s like I’m both mesmerized and traumatized. Surely this cannot be what high school is like these days…right? Going to cry in a corner now. But seriously, as a parent I do think it’s important to watch these shows even if they’re dramatizations – pre teens and teens are growing up in a totally different world than we did with access to so much more (internet, phones, social media) so we can’t possibly fully grasp the unique challenges they face that we never had to.

STREAMING:
I’ve been consistently doing Melissa Wood Health workouts and I’m so proud of how much stronger I’m getting. This level of consistency also has to be in part attributed to my medication. Prior to taking it, I hadn’t worked out in about 7 months. My first week on the meds, I worked out 4 times and have been consistently moving my body since then. I used to struggle so much with motivation and the desire to move consistently and from day one of being on meds, it’s like a switch went off where I crave moment again. I’ve even started thinking about taking some local classes again to mix things up!

THREE
I’ve purchased a few really cute finds lately and wanted to share them here:

this purple tank
these navy amazon leggings (size small)
A dress and kids clothes from H&M

SHOP H&M FINDS:

FOUR
Found some really cute new home decor finds – shop them here!

and while we’re talking home decor, I found these affordable cane dining chairs and had to share because they’re all such a good deal! Shop them here.

And how pretty are these affordable art prints? Shop them here.

FIVE
Our scalloped Matouk bedding is part of the friends & family sale at Bloomingdales – I can’t recommend our duvet cover enough! I got mine during a 25% off sale and the savings are nice because Matouk is definitely an investment!

SHOP MATOUK SCALLOPED BEDDING ON SALE: