Social Media Who?

As some of you may have noticed, my footprint on social media has disappeared the past few weeks.  I've decided to give it all up entirely for Lent and deleted it off my phone.  I wanted to share this with you all before I left but I felt that was even defeating my purpose for doing it.  I did it for clarity of mind, for myself.  To reconnect with silence, boredom, and my kids.  To show them that when I have a free second, it's not sucked up by the brightness of a phone screen.  I didn't want to broadcast it to the world.  I didn't feel the need to.  But here's a few things I've noticed so far, and it's only been a few weeks.

1.  I still find myself staying close to my phone.  Even with it stripped of it's "scrolling endlessly" functions, I still find myself checking my email more, looking online for recipes and communicating/ texting with people.  I still feel the need to have it close by.  Hopefully this detachment will happen over these next 40 days and I can go without needing it on my person.

2.  My battery life lasts longer.  I used to have to charge my phone halfway through the day.  Now, I'm not using it near as much as I used to and saving battery life.  It's a small plus but still noticeable.

3.  I notice more people sucked into their phones.  With the more "free time" I have without mindlessly being on my phone, I notice the world around me on theirs.  It honestly doesn't bother me, it just seems so robotic and it takes human experience out of things.  The first time I felt awkward without having the media on my phone was in the doctor's office waiting room.  Every single person waiting was on their phone, busying themselves with the apps I'd given up.  I was left with my email and the unread magazines on the tables.  And guess what?  I survived.  Would you believe it?  I won't say that it's been easy.  I know I'm missing some announcements (babies, birthdays, engagements, etc)... but I know what's going on in my best friend's lives and I'm more than okay with that.

That being said, I'm planning on doing a couple "invisible posts" on the blog.  Hinting at the fact that they won't be shared to social media and all who stumble upon them, just stumble upon them.

Life update:  I am about 30 weeks along with Maggie Jo and she's getting so big!  We are MORE than ready for her and so excited to be a family of 5.  I know our biggest challenges in life have yet to come but I am ready for them and can't wait to tackle them head on.  B & E are super excited too.  They will be 2.5 when she's born and they already know her by name.  Potty training has taken a backseat for now.  We don't want to push anything too fast.  We will be ready when they are.

Hoping everyone has a happy end of February!  This month can be a hard one.  But we are almost done and on to March!  Spring, basketball tournaments and St. Pat's!  Some of our faves.

See you soon!
Lauren, E & B (and MJ)

We had the most snow we've had in a few years and naturally we wanted to introduce E and B to it.  They were pretty skeptical at first.  In fact, Bennett hated it.  But after a little time, they warmed up to the freezing, powdery fun and helped Dad shovel the driveway.

We are almost finished with our first 8 week stretch of swim lessons at the Rec Center.  The twins LOVED it.  Besides the timing (8:50 AM Saturdays) I am so glad we did it.  So worth it.  They are already way more comfortable in the water than they were 2 months ago.  Making me that more excited for sweet sweet summatime.