Lately, I’ve been living in that soft in-between, where something beautiful is coming, and yet everything already here feels impossibly tender and fleeting.

I’m roughly two months away from meeting our second daughter, and while I’m filled with so much excitement, there’s also a quiet ache in my chest. These final days of having just one little girl by my side, my toddler, my first, my shadow, feel precious in a way that’s hard to describe. It’s not just that she’s still small, or that she mispronounces words in a way that melts my heart (“computer,” “birdie”). It’s the knowing that this chapter of it being just us is about to shift. And I’m holding onto it tightly.

At the same time, My Neighbor’s is growing faster than ever. What began as a balm in my kitchen is now on shelves in over 162 stores, with new products and projects blossoming daily. It’s thrilling and sometimes overwhelming. The business baby and the real baby are both demanding my heart, my hands, and my time. And this time around, there won’t be an extended maternity leave. There’s no pause button. But there is flexibility. I’ll be bringing our newborn into the warehouse and lab during those first few months, wrapped against my chest while my small but mighty team pours, labels, ships, and grows. A different kind of postpartum, one that’s a little scrappier but just as full of love. At least this time there won’t be a career pivot, selling our primary home, and a full-blown Saturn return happening all at once.

With my first daughter, I nursed for two years. I’m proud of that (so are my nipples), but if I’m honest, I stayed in that stage too long. By the end, she saw me mostly as a source of comfort and milk, not quite as a full person. We have so much more fun now that we’re buddies. And I think her relationship with my husband deepened once I was no longer synonymous with milk.

Don’t get me wrong, at 28 months, she still says things like “I try?” while pointing at my boobs, or “milk is coming with the baby, Momma,” and “goodbye boobies” when I put on my bra. But she sees me in a new light now, and I get to show up for her in different ways. I’m learning that motherhood is full of these little transformations. It’s never static. We’re always becoming. We’re always workshopping things, making adjustments. Each season helps us all evolve.

In the spirit of what’s coming, we’ve been formulating a belly oil, nipple butter, and postpartum hair oil, products that feel like love letters to this next chapter. My future self in October is already thankful. These new formulas carry the same nourishing ingredients we trust in everything we make, but they’re tailored for the soft, stretched, sacred parts of the postpartum journey.

We’ll be sharing more soon, but for now, they’re simmering quietly behind the scenes, just like this baby, making gentle kicks. I’m so excited to show you the designs in the next few weeks.

Fall is coming, and with it, a season of change I can already feel in my bones. I’m nervous, and I’m ready. And like most mothers, I’m trying to hold all of it with grace, even if I haven’t washed my hair this week and I’m still wearing the same stained linen pants for the third day in a row.

Get ready for some raw honesty around postpartum recovery and self-care, because truly, your well-being is the beginning of theirs.

—Harri