Letter from TeriLyn – October 2023

Hi friends! It’s time for another monthly Letter! If you’re new here, I share personal updates once a month, kind of like old-school blogging I used to do way back in the day. (I started my first blog in 2004!) You can read previous Letters here.

LIFE

October was a month of celebrations! Right after I got home from Dallas for LTK Con, we celebrated our wedding anniversary… but we were both so sick we didn’t do anything! (You can see our wedding video in this blog post if you’re interested! Or a condensed version here.) We did get to have a date night a few weeks later, so that was nice!

A few days later, we celebrated Thomas’ 3rd birthday with a lowkey pizza party with family and friends! And then we also took him for his first haircut. And it’s nuts, but he seems like he already needs another haircut!!

Mid-month, Hannah came into town to take our maternity photos/family photos and I can’t wait to see more of them! (You can see a sneak peek here.) Thomas was NOT in the mood and he refused to release his vise grip on his Nerf gun, so the photos definitely captured this current stage of life.

Then, at the end of the month, we went to Boone for Tommy’s 20th high school reunion. I knew some people there and met lots of other really love people so that was fun. We had a super short trip, but packed in a lot in less than 48 hours. I shared in August that we are no longer looking at moving to Boone (after working towards that goal for over a year) and I was really content with being in Winston once we made the decision to be HERE and was enjoying it more.

But… everytime I go back to Boone, I want to live there. We looked at a lot and a house and loved both, so maybe if the Lord opens the door on either one (both of which would be long shots), we’ll reconsider. We really do feel like the Lord has repeatedly closed the door to moving there and brought things into our life in Winston to help us enjoy it more here, so if that ever changes, I think we’ll know. And, in the meantime, I’ll enjoy the warmer weather in Winston! (It’s in the 20s in Boone today vs 50s here!)

We wrapped up the month with trick-or-treating and it was seriously the cutest thing. I wasn’t sure Thomas would really get it but he did 100% and had the time of his life. And we love our neighborhood – it was just the sweetest, most perfect night.

Pregnancy

I cannot believe I’m over 6 months along! I entered my 3rd trimester this week and am currently 27 weeks along. I have dealt with crushing fatigue the entire pregnancy, which was made worse by being on progesterone shots the entire time.

Every time they’ve tried to take me off PIO, my levels dropped so I’ve had to go back on it. I’ve been off it for two weeks and it’s crazy how much more energy I have. I’m so thankful. But, as soon as I went off it, my all-day nausea returned and I was throwing up daily for two weeks. So… I traded fatigue for nausea. But I think I’d still choose the nausea over the fatigue.

I got bloodwork done again on Monday so I’m anxiously waiting to see if I get to stay off the PIO shots or if I’ll need to resume them.

I finally found the newborn diapers I had purchased for the Target nursery campaign earlier in the summer and Bree has been helping me dig the newborn clothes out of our storage bins. So now I just need to get a bassinet. I would like to have the nursery cleaned out (it’s currently a dumping ground for art we haven’t hung and items I need to consign) and I’d like to have a new glider but we’ll be fine if that’s not all done by the time the baby comes.

Yes, I have three more months but I have travel in November and then am hosting family for a week… and then December is always craziness, as we all know. Then, the baby could actually come early in January. So I’m trying to knock out little things each week. I definitely have had spurts of nesting where I’ve been organizing like crazy (I started an Amazon list all my favorites for cleaning and organizing!).

WORK

The first week of October wrapped up two weeks of work travel and the first four days of October, I was in Dallas for LTK Con. This year I actually knew some people going into it (last year, I knew NO ONE) and it was fun to see friends and talk business with people who understand my job. Unfortunately, I was sick the whole time I was traveling (or maybe allergies or pregnancy congestion? I don’t know) but when I came home, Thomas gave me whatever sickness HE had and I had an awful cough for another week and a half. But, I’m finally on the mend!

October is typically one of my busiest month’s work-wise, but this year, it seems like September and November are busier, at least in terms of sponsored content. But the fun part about that is that I was finally able to work on a project I’d wanted to for a long time – teaching people how to grow and monetize their online presence.

At least 3-4 times a month for the last 10 years, I get asked if I can meet someone (sometimes a friend, sometimes a random stranger) so they could “pick my brain” about blogging/influencing/making money online. While it’s flattering that people want to learn from me, I simply don’t have enough time or bandwidth in my week to meet everyone who asks for an hour or two to share what I’ve learned over the last two decades.

And I’ve always felt like I could provide more value in a conversation vs. a course that’s recorded in advance since things change rapidly in the online world and everyone’s situation is different. So, I decided to host live zoom calls and I’ve LOVED it. I’ve done two of the three calls and based on the post-call surveys, 100% of participants are learning and finding value in what I’m sharing, which is fantastic.

I’ve learned over the last couple of years that I do my business differently from almost any other influencer you follow; attending the Amazon Creator Summit and LTK Con and talking with dozens of women about how they monetize their business confirmed that. My approach to making money is more sustainable for the long-term and more passive.

I’ve been blogging and an influencer for almost 20 years, which is so hard to believe. I also managed social media strategy for two of the largest banks in the country (including Wells Fargo) for over a decade. I know how to build a strategy vs. getting lucky and blowing up on tiktok. My approach is something you can learn and implement and that’s what I’ve been sharing in the live classes. I may do another round of classes before the baby comes if there is enough interest, so get on the waitlist if you’d like me to host these again.

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Alright, I’ve got to run to relieve our babysitter! I hired someone to come on an afternoon that our nanny doesn’t work so I could get a little caught up on work. So naturally, I ignored all my emails and worked on this instead. 🙂