amber fillerup clark Archives

Whew, August was a doozy. This whole summer has been…well let’s just say it’s been a summer. August had its ups and downs like any month, but there was certainly a lot of turbulence.

I am %100 solidified in my opinion that summer is the worst season. The bugs, the heat, the expectations of fun, fun, fun. It’s not for me. I think I’m just conditioned from childhood to believe that summer is a break.

Well, there are very few breaks in adulthood and there are *checks notes* zero breaks in parenthood. I know, I know, I’m complaining. This is my site, right? I’ve been complaining all month. It’s cute to quantify the gripes with a word count.

Okay, so August. Let’s start with good. Let me try to squeeze a drop of gratitude or delight out of the last 31 days.

The Good

The month started on a Monday. That’s cool, am I right? The simple pleasures.

I stopped reading a book. Truly Madly Guilty by Liane Moriarty. If you’ve read my other monthly recaps, you know that I love her books. I got about 100 pages in and realized they’re all the same books? They’re all so formulaic (this is not a term I would use in my everyday-life, but I would imagine people who read, like really read, would use this word). Why is this on the good section? Well, I only have so much free time and it felt kind of…empowering?…to say no. To a book.

My baby is cute-cute. She started to say “wuv yew”. She has been watching Trash Truck on Netflix and now she calls me mom (cue sobbing). Seeing a little toddler waddle into the room saying “hey mom” is absolutely adorable. She’s just the cutest and smartest and sweetest.

I got some part time work. It’s been exciting to make some more money and sit down at my computer and really did my teeth into something, other than blogging. I also got a new computer (the Air), which I love!

The Not-So-Great

Oh boy, are you ready?

Can I preface? I’m going to preface.

I don’t follow a lot of influencers on social media, but one that I continue to follow is Amber Fillerup Clark. I feel like the things she shares inspire me to be better. She’s always making these cute snacks for her kids or suggesting books or doing these sweet little doodle-dos at night. I started doing cute little doodle lists at night.

You know, like making a checklist for the week or content calendar- whatever, but using it as time to unwind at the end of the night and using pretty colored markers. I think I’m making it sound weird but it’s fun.

ANYWAYS, I want you all to know that I sat down on July 31st and I wrote the cutest damn goal list for August. I was going to read 5 books, walk the dog everyday, publish blog posts left and right, drink water. The month was starting on a Monday. What could go wrong?

We all got Covid. The bad kind. Vaxxed, boosted, ready for anything, right? So, so wrong. My husband got it first, on August 2nd, followed by myself a day later, and then my daughter a few days after that. I won’t go into details but we all got very sick and my poor daughter got it the worst and it was all very scary. We are all healthy and take good care of ourselves, it was definitely a reality check that you never know who’s going to get a worse case. It took about a week and a half for us to feel better and two weeks before all the symptoms cleared up.

We all got poison ivy. I would like to thank my dog for this. He probably rubbed against it in the backyard and spread it to us. It has since been cleared.

I got poison ivy. The bad kind. I had to go on antibiotics and steroids for the 3rd time this summer (the other times were from bee stings). You might hear bee stings and poison ivy and think that I’m this Subaru-driving, Hydro-Flask drinking outdoor girl, but I go outside maybe twice a day and only in my backyard and I’m just convinced at this point that I’m allergic to nature in general.

The dog got sick. Yup, him too. The cat is the last one standing. He got some little bacterial infection and was coughing constantly. Luckily the meds they put him on got it cleared up within a few days.

Everything is just a very human mess. I worked during all my free time the last week and a half of August, which was great. But, since I’m home with my daughter all day it’s been a lot and I haven’t really had any time to myself. Factor in laundry, cooking, and making time for this blog and my other projects has been, well, an adjustment.

My post originally ended there.

That’s how I was going to file “August 2022” away in my brain and on this blog.

Well, after I finished writing this post I went to my phone to gather photos to add in.

I was surprised to see all that happened during the month.

I had a great month. I thought I spent it all inside, suffering (not like suffering, but you know what I mean). That couldn’t be further from the truth.

I went so many places this month. I saw my family. I got the baby and the dog out of the house. We went to the beach, the splash park, friend’s houses. I laughed, I was present, I had fun.

What an important lesson in perspective.

Some other little high points:

I got to see a cousin that I haven’t seen in years.

Pumpkin Spice coffee creamer hit the stores.

Baby M and I baked her first pie (it was delicious). We also baked her first pizza (“ew gross” were her exact words). She also had her first trip to McDonald’s which was surprisingly overwhelming, I kept telling her “this is America this is just part of it” and I think she knew what I meant.

Our local animal sanctuary opened back up. They were closed for months (?) due to avian flu. We were so happy to see “our” chickens again!

…and so, so much more.

How was your August? Have any complaints?

Did you try anything new? Are you as excited as I am for a new month and a fresh start?

Let me know below!

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If your Instagram feed has become dull and boring, try following some of these mom influencers for inspiration!

I limit my Instagram use to maybe 10 minutes a day, if that. That’s 10 minutes a day of looking at other people’s lives (and inadvertently comparing myself to others).

For me, having social media on my laptop and not installed on my phone drastically cut down on how much I was on the site.

I used to have the app on my phone and would scroll constantly until I realized that it just didn’t make me feel good. All the “connecting” and peering into friends or strangers lives felt really weird.

It’s still super weird, if you think about it! We post carefully curated pictures of our lives in hopes that others will literally “like” us.

A few months ago I had that revelation that social media wasn’t doing it for me. I would much rather be here, blogging and being honest, than posting photos trying to make other people feel some type of way.

Especially since becoming a mom, I felt like there was so much comparing on the app. Everyone had expensive baby gear or was down to their pre-pregnancy weight after like two days and it just didn’t make me feel good.

I hate to admit that, but it’s true.

I wasn’t feeling connected or inspired, which I consider the point of Instagram.

It was making me feel like a worse mother, wife, and woman.

That’s when I knew I needed a change.

One of the best things I did was a massive unfollow of any account that did not feed me.

More important than who I kept on my feed was who I left behind. I wrote about my experience with the dark world of baby sleep pages below. I’m so glad that I was able to see what was going on with me when I was constantly viewing those pages.

Your Baby Doesn’t Need to Sleep Through the Night

So, I did this massive unfollow and I muted dozens of friends or acquaintances that weren’t bringing me joy.

My feed is pretty sparse now, and I like it that way.

There are a few influencers I did end up keeping.

And I’ll tell you why.

I was craving honesty after my baby was born. I had such a great group of friends who gently told me hard truths of parenting. I wanted more. I wanted to see other moms who didn’t have their life together, ones that didn’t have it all figured out yet. I wanted to see other people standing up for what they believed in when it came to motherhood, not just women desperate to make a quick buck off of exploiting their kids or dragging out a gender reveal (what even are those) for a week in a half to boost engagement.

The mothers on this list aren’t constantly shilling unethical companies or just trying on clothes in front of a mirror. They are honestly sharing their stories of motherhood or doing so with style and letting you in on the behind the scenes of those perfect photo shoots.

They aren’t doing the most snarkable influencer move – making you feel inadequate so that you spend money and they get rich.

I wanted to see pictures of authentic motherhood without bounds.

I hope you check out the following accounts and let me know what you think! I think we could all use some inspiration and connection in these cold winter months!

Here are 10 mom-influencers that you can follow for some carefree parenting inspiration!

Amber Fillerup Clark (@amberfillerup)

Bekah Martinez (@bekah)
Juila Dzafic (@lemonstripes)
Steffy (@steffy)

Kristen Lemmon (@kristen.lemmon)
Taylor Giavasis (@g1avasis)
Marissa the Milk Mom (@marissathemilkmom)

Krystal Duhaney (@krystalduhaney)
Aspyn Ovard Ferris (@aspynovard)
Ashley Stock (@littlemissmomma)

Do you have social media? Who do you follow for inspiration? Are you familiar with any o f the accounts above?