In June, our family grew by one very sweet little boy.

We welcomed Beau into the world, and while it feels strange to finally share this chapter here, it also feels right. If you’ve followed Love of Luverne for any amount of time, you know I typically share a lot of what is happening in our lives. The projects around our home, what we’re cooking, what we’re growing in the garden, and the seasons our family is walking through have always been a big part of this space.

This pregnancy, however, felt different from the beginning.

There was something about it that felt especially precious, something I wanted to hold close and protect for a little while. Maybe it’s because having a second baby is so different than having your first. The first time around, so much is unknown. You’re stepping into motherhood without fully understanding how much your life is about to change. With a second baby, you know exactly how much love is waiting for you on the other side, but you also know the vulnerability that comes with it.

As the months passed, I found myself becoming fiercely protective of Beau, but also of myself. The emotional toll leading up to and during this pregnancy was unlike anything I had experienced before. There were moments when I felt like a version of myself I didn’t always recognize and didn’t always trust. I was carrying so much gratitude, excitement, anxiety, hope, and fear all at once, and it often felt impossible to separate one emotion from another.

For the first time in a long time, I felt a strong need to keep my energy turned inward. Rather than sharing every update, I focused on taking care of myself, this little life growing inside me, and the family we already had. Looking back now, I think that’s exactly what I needed. It wasn’t about secrecy as much as it was about creating space to move through this season privately and without expectation.

That shift led me back to the place I always seem to return to when life feels overwhelming: home.

The nesting during this pregnancy was intense. I don’t know if there’s another way to describe it. I became convinced that every room in our house needed attention, every closet needed reorganizing, and every drawer needed a better system. I am fairly certain I mentally redesigned this entire house at least three times over.

What I realize now is that I wasn’t really searching for new projects. I was searching for a sense of peace. I needed our home to feel like a sanctuary. I needed it to feel safe, calm, and ready for the season ahead. If that meant reorganizing kitchen drawers for the third time or obsessing over storage solutions, so be it.

Some of those projects found their way onto Love of Luverne over the past year, and some quietly happened behind the scenes. One of the most meaningful was redesigning the boys’ rooms so each of them would have a space that felt entirely their own. As we prepared to welcome Beau, it became important to me that both boys had rooms that reflected who they are and gave them a place to land within our home.

I’ll be sharing links to those room projects here because they became such a special part of this season for me. In many ways, they were my love letters to both of my boys as our family prepared to grow.

As I sit here now with Beau finally in my arms, I feel incredibly grateful – not only for him, but for all of you.

Thank you for allowing me the grace to navigate this season in the way I needed to. Thank you for embracing the projects, recipes, garden updates, and room makeovers while I kept some of the more personal parts of our family’s story tucked away for a little while. Thank you for continuing to show up here, even when I wasn’t sharing every detail.

At its heart, Love of Luverne has never really been about decorating, renovating, or collecting beautiful things for our home. Those things are certainly part of the story, but they aren’t the reason this space exists.

From the beginning, Love of Luverne has been about creating a home where life happens. A home that honors the past while making room for the future. A home filled with good meals, meaningful conversations, traditions, celebrations, and the people we love most.

I believe our homes are the backdrop to our family stories. They’re where children grow up, where memories are made, where friends gather around the table, and where ordinary days become meaningful over time.

Everything I share here – from thrifted finds and room makeovers to gardening projects and family recipes – comes back to that belief.

And now, our home holds one more story.

I’m so grateful that our world grew by one more, and I’m even more grateful to share this season with all of you.

Welcome to the family, Beau.