On the building side, July kept moving. Both BloombHealthServices.com and TalkToBloomb.com got real updates this month. We signed an official partnership with Phoenix Health for perinatal counseling referrals. And we applied for two RFPs that pushed us somewhere I am genuinely excited about: extending our "care for the caregiver" work to reach caregivers of autistic children, not only new mothers.

This month also put a hard question in front of the entire perinatal community, as a Massachusetts jury began hearing the case of Lindsay Clancy. A quick note on that is below.

And then, in the middle of all of it, I turned a year older on Sanibel Island, and it turned into more than a birthday trip. I went there on the edge of burnout, brought only my daughter, and came home having relearned something about rest, attention, and what this whole village is actually for. More on that below too, because it is the part I most want to share this month.

My trip to Sanibel Island was a desperate attempt to avoid burnout. Like a lot of moms, I had pushed past the point where I should have stopped and asked for a break, so I demanded one instead. Sanibel obliged: the whole island is built from thousands of years of shells 🐚 the tide never took back, and my daughter and I spent hours combing the beach for them, abundance everywhere, a dolphin 🐬 even cruised by to say hello, insects included.

I brought only her, and left my boys home. Somewhere between two brothers and a newborn, she had quietly been getting less of me, so this trip was hers. I invited my mother-in-law along too, for real "nana time," and watching the two of them make memories turned out to be more fulfilling than anything I did for myself. That is the spirit behind Bloomb too.

A few days of real stillness, no plans, no schedule, and something clicked: I love what I do. I didn't need to escape my life, only to rest inside it, and I came home certain I am exactly where I'm supposed to be. My husband needs this too, so we've started planning one-day getaways close to home, just enough quiet for each of us to recharge.