An Autumn Update
And just like that, another summer has come and gone.
The asters are in bloom, pumpkins are on the porch, and for the second year in a row we have two little ones gearing up for another season of festivities and fun.
As autumn has settled in this year, I’ve found myself reflecting on the past few months––especially the wonderful summer memories from traveling for work and visiting with family. We’ve also taken lots of time to slow down after our youngest spent some time in the hospital a few months back, and we’re so grateful that he’s making progress and doing well after months of followups and specialist visits.
When I’m not behind the camera or baking in the kitchen (the stand mixer is officially living on the counter for the fall!), more and more these days I’ve been taking time for writing and have been so grateful to explore some incredible topics through my work with Parents, The Everymom and Motherly this year.
One of these days I’ll share a bit more broadly about this conscious shift as our family works towards finding a little bit of balance, but for now I’ll say this: more than anything, writing has brought me so much joy in this stage of motherhood, whether I’m reflecting on a personal essay, or researching a topic new to me. I’ll always be a storyteller at heart, whether I’m using a camera or a keyboard, and it’s been incredibly refreshing to explore these worlds in between portrait sessions and wedding days.
Writing has also connected me with some incredible teams through the work I’ve done. Most recently for example, we had the opportunity to ramp up playtime in the best way possible. With more days spent close to home this fall as we juggled our youngest’s followup care, I realized that we needed to make some small tweaks to our living space to make things more functional for our two kiddos. Evelyn is getting more and more imaginative with her play, and Oliver at the same time is getting more and more mobile (and wants so much to keep up with his big sister!). And so when a sweet email from the Nugget Play Couch team landed in my inbox a couple of weeks ago, offering to send us a sample to try for ourselves, it felt like absolutely perfect timing.
It was love at first sight for the whole family, and it has quickly become the new favorite place to snuggle and read, listen to audio books, create new forts, play peek-a-boo and tumble and climb. I thought at first that our oldest would get the most use out of it, but I quickly saw that it was exactly what was missing for our 1-year-old’s exploration too! When set up as a couch, it’s the perfect hight for him to carefully climb up and down, and his sweet little grin when he’s able to do that *all on his own!* is such a gift. He’ll gladly toddle around the cushions in other configurations too, while Evie’s favorite set up is anything that resembles a fort!
I was on the fence for ages about adding a play couch to our home, so if you’re on the fence like I was, here are my key takeaways from our experience with the Nugget:
It is so well made! I was anticipating the foam inserts would be somewhat floppy and soft, and perhaps not hold up to vigorous play, but there’s just the right amount of give/support and sturdiness to every piece (even the smaller triangles!)
I love that there are two thicknesses of foam so that you can mix and match with your builds (P.S. they have a lovely “library” of build ideas for tired parents who help their kiddos set up different configurations!)
The bigger cushions are a little heavy for smaller kiddos to manipulate on their own, so definitely be ready to help!
The fabric of the cushions is lovely. We have a very fluffy Aussie dog and I was worried that his hair would be everywhere on the fabric from picking it up off the floor when we move the couch around, but the velour finish almost seems to repel pet hair, and very little dust etc. sticks to it. It also feels very plush and comfy when you’re sitting on it (I would argue the finish is nicer than some of our “grownup” upholstery haha)
It’s a larger piece of furniture, so it requires some planning when you’re getting set up and finding it’s home in your living space. Not pictured here are the three times I rearranged our living room furniture (including a piano!) to find the perfect combination that felt just right––but now that we have it in place, I can’t imagine our home without it! We moved here during the height of the pandemic from a small apartment, meaning that we didn’t have lots of additional living room furniture beyond a sofa and a couple of hand-me-down end tables. As our family grew and as quarantine restrictions lifted, we eventually added a handful of new pieces to our arrangement, but it always felt incomplete, until now.
For me, part of the magic of the Nugget Couch is the simple fact that a piece of furniture made for children finally transformed our living room into a space for us all, and moved imagination from the playroom to the heart of our home.
