Letter from TeriLyn – June 2024

I’m sitting in bed at 6:30 a.m. after only getting about 4.5 hours of sleep. I have a hard time falling back to sleep if Charles wakes up around 5:30 a.m. even if he goes back down easily. And that’s where I am today. But, I love sitting in bed working and drinking coffee before everyone else is up.

Life

June was a hard month. My postpartum depression and anxiety has started flaring pretty badly. I think it kicked off when we started sleep training Charles, even though “training” ended up being mostly timing tweaks and not a lot of crying. Given what happened after my birth and then being separated from Charles a lot the first two days after he was born, I have a very hard time when he is upset so I think just the idea of sleep training stressed me out. But, not sleeping also makes my PPDA worse and Charles was definitely going through the 4 month sleep regression in a major way.

So, I reached out to Molly from Sleep Shore and we we did gentle training through June and his overnights are MUCH better now. We’re still working on his naps but she suspected he might do better around 5 months with those and that is turning out to be the case. It always amazes me what small tweaks Molly makes that make such a big difference.

On top of that, we were just VERY busy in June. We went to Boone two weekends to escape the heat and while it was lovely, it also felt hard since we were in the middle of figuring out timing for naps and I constantly felt rushed wherever I was. Then we had a super busy last weekend of June – all good things but I really need down time lately and I didn’t feel like I was getting any. And July is one of my busiest work months all year, so I’m a little nervous about my anxiety getting worse in the next month.

I talked to my counselor at my last appointment about upping my Zoloft medication which I really don’t want to do (but I’m also trying to figure out why I’m so opposed to it if it’d help me feel better… classic sign of anxiety, ha). So I’m going to take a week or two and see if the things she suggested help and if not, I’ll call my doctor. But by then, I’ll be knee deep into the July craziness. Ugh I don’t know what to do. But I bet you can sense my anxiety in this post, right? Sheesh, I can.

Okay, let’s move on to a different category. This started off kind of heavy. Thanks for letting me process on the page.

Work

In June, I made the decision to no longer show the boys faces online and shared that on Instagram. Or to at least do it a LOT less. I already had really been minimizing Thomas on Instagram, and I kept telling myself it was okay with Charles since he was so young, but I just couldn’t get comfortable with that rationale. I fully realize that this decision came up during a PPDA flare, but it’s also something that had been on my mind pretty constantly the last few months. And I am at such peace about it.

I didn’t realize that sometimes I felt like I had to post them just to prove that they were a big part of my life and that I was an involved mom. When I have my busy work months, I hate that I get to spend less time with the boys but showing them online is really not the answer. Thank you so much for all the supportive comments and messages. It’s always scary to talk about parenting decisions online because people can be pretty harsh, but y’all showed up with kindness (per usual!).

July is an insane work month but it’s also SO fun. I honestly LOVE the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale and all the prep that leads up to it and the work that goes into it during the sale. (Btw, don’t miss this giveaway I’m doing before the Nordstrom sale!) Prime Day is also happening mid-July, which is another big sale I promote. I don’t run marathons anymore so all these sales are my new marathons.

There’s also the Target Circle Deals and Walmart sale but I don’t plan to focus on those since Nordstrom and Prime Day are much more my focus. And there is one other brand having a sale that IS my focus that I can’t share yet but you will want to shop it, so make sure you’re on my email list. I’ll post on IG for sure, and maybe the blog but it’s hard to make sure you see those vs. an email goes right to your inbox. (It’s a huge reason why I focus so much on newsletters in my making-money-online course. Speaking of… I miiiight have a sale on that in July too.)

Another fun thing with work is that I’ve been getting partnerships with very cool brands through ShopMy. I shared here about branching into that affiliate program vs. LTK alone and it’s been a good decision. While none of the partnerships have been paid, it’s always good to be on the radar of brands I like since that can lead to conversations down the road (and the affiliate income is good too.) And to actually get gifted products from companies I regularly shop with anyway, like Tuckernuck, is just plain fun. And I discovered some GOOD jeans that Pistola gifted me.

Another big work change was Oliveda. I shared why I switched in the last letter and I’m continually blown away by how good my skin looks and feels. It feels firmer, looks better and it’s just so soft! And from a business perspective, it’s been just as good. It was scary to lose the Beautycounter income, but Oliveda has been selling even better, which blows my mind. And rightfully so – the products are better. It’s weird to say that since I used and loved Beautycounter for years, but my skin is noticeably different since switching. And I’m hearing the same thing from friends and previous BC clients.

And, in June — when most Oliveda products were out of stock — I sold more Oliveda than I did during my biggest month with Beautycounter in 2023 (which was during Black Friday with a promo). It’s been shocking but so fun. So thank you.

And the company just feels different… I didn’t realize the pressure I often felt with Beautycounter that I don’t feel with Oliveda at all. I think there are a few reasons for that (how the company started, the people involved, the fact that it truly can be affiliate so it feels like the rest of my income streams), but whatever it is, it’s nice.

Health

I touched upon my mental health at the beginning of the most, but physically I’m doing a lot better. I no longer have pelvic floor PT every week but have spread my visits out to every 3 weeks. We did some pretty intense scar massage at my last appointment and it has made a HUGE difference.

I also have figured out that a lot of my joint pain was inflammation related and I’ve been taking this and this which really help. (I didn’t take them to Boone for either trips in June and my joint pain came back within a couple days so I know it was that). I’ve turned into the person who takes inflammation supplements… this is what being almost 40 with an infant is I suppose.

I’m still not running a ton but maybe I’ll want to when it cools down. But I’m loving pilates, both at the studio and on the mat at home with these classes, strength training and the occasional peloton ride.

Okay, that’s probably enough for today! I hope you have a lovely 4th of July and I’m so thankful you’re here.

Favorite Links in June