Happy New Year!

Ok, I know January is almost over, but blogging hasn't been quite as much of a priority lately (shocking, I know). Life has been busy, what with having a two month old that needs feeding, cleaning and interaction, both of us working (I went back earlier this month) and maintaining a household - or even just getting food cooked, putting dishes away and washing laundry. I seriously am amazed by single moms that are able to do it all, because with two adults we're still working on getting a system down that works.

Every once in a while it's nice to have some time to each do our own things, though. At the moment the baby is napping (I expect she'll wake up and eat some more before going to sleep for the night), the husband is playing video games and I'm spending time playing on the computer. I've found I have a lot of time to browse Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, etc. on my phone, but finding time to sit down at the computer is a lot harder.

All in all, life with a baby is going well. Yes, I need to find time to work at odd hours throughout the week, but my boss is amazing with all the flexibility she's giving me. Our daughter is pretty awesome. She's got the smiling down and has started laughing once in a while. It's super cute! I know, I'm biased, but my baby is so incredible. You have no idea (and I'm sure I'm the only mother that feels that way about her kids - haha).

I have found that with nursing I have a lot more time to watch TV. This means I've gotten into many more shows. In addition to Castle and Bones, I've started watching Ellen and the Price is Right (although it's not the same without Bob Barker). I also went through a few shows on Netflix's Instant Queue (Sherlock, White Collar, Once Upon a Time and Parenthood), but sadly Netflix only goes so far and I don't want to just jump into the current seasons in the middle. Maybe I'll have a chance to catch up at some point...? I am excited I just borrowed the second season of Downton Abbey from a friend; I'm sure I'll enjoy that over the next few weeks.

In addition to watching TV, I've been trying to learn how to be semi-productive during the day. I decided it's a good day if I can get at least one full chore done while the husband is at work, such as folding the laundry or loading the dishwasher. I'm optimistic I'll be able to bump that up as time goes on, but I'm taking the small victories (a month ago, I couldn't even do one chore during the day).

Hmm...I can't really think of much else to write at this point. Obviously my life has become all about the child, which I think is appropriate for me, but probably not quite as fascinating for you. Plus she's starting to stir so she'll probably decided she wants to eat soon (at least, I hope she wakes up soon so we're not up too late tonight!). So on that note, have a good one!

Thankful

I've been meaning to write this post for a couple of weeks, but this is the first chance I've had to sit down and write it out. I've been feeling so thankful lately, not just because of Thanksgiving last week, but also because of the big changes made to my life a couple of weeks ago. Here's what I've been thankful for lately:

1. Our daughter. Despite not having many chances to sleep and moments of feeling like a cow, I am so, so, so grateful for our beautiful baby girl. 
2. Smooth pregnancy/delivery. I'm so thankful the entire pregnancy went smoothly and the delivery was complication-free. On a similar note, I'm also thankful for modern medicine :)
3. An amazing husband and happy marriage. In addition to our daughter's arrival, our 4th wedding anniversary was earlier this month - I'm so happy I get to share my life with my best friend. I can't even begin to describe how great a husband he is, and he's already such a fantastic father.
4. Supportive friends and family. We're so grateful for all the ways family and friends have helped us as we adjust to life with a newborn, especially by providing some meals and helping with housework. I'm also so thankful that both Matt and I have great relationships with our parents, siblings, grandparents and in-laws.
5. My boss. I'm so, so thankful for a boss that's so understanding and encouraging. It's hard to believe I've been with the same company for 6 years, and from the day I told my boss I was pregnant she's been so supportive and excited for me and our expanding family.
6. Matt's job. It's so great he has a job he enjoys and that provides what we need. 
7. Giants winning the World Series again. I love the team the Giants put together this year, and I was so happy they won again this year.
8. Cold, rainy weather. I just love this time of year - whether I'm bundled up inside listening to rain on the skylight or venturing outside to enjoy experiencing it for myself.
9. Our house. I'm so grateful we were able to buy the house we bought. At the moment it's perfect for us and hasn't needed a lot of work done to it.
10. Resources available to us. We live in a time and place with so many resources available to us, and I'm so glad we can use some of them.
11. God's grace. I know I mess up a lot. I'm so grateful for God's grace, and the grace of those that forgive me for my mistakes.
12. My iPhone and its apps. My phone is certainly very handy for connecting online when both hands and lap isn't available.
13. Chocolate chip cookies. C is for cookie, that's good enough for me :)

I know there's a lot more I am thankful for, but that's all I've got right now - my favorite daughter is calling for me :)

Still Waiting...

It seems like the hardest time to wait is right before something big happens. As someone that likes to know the plan, waiting for an indeterminate amount of time is especially hard for me. Despite wanting my daughter to arrive right away, I try to be an optimistic person, so I'm trying to dwell on a few benefits to her not coming yet:

1. More Time With My Mom. Because my mom wants to be here for the delivery, she came up last week so she doesn't miss it. Even though we haven't had anything happen yet, it's been a lot of fun having time with her to talk, go to various stores, walk around, watch various TV shows together, etc.
2. More Time For Organization. The extra time has given us a chance to work on putting things away better and organize more efficiently. A few weeks ago, Matt's parents came up and helped build some really great shelves in our garage. Although I still want to consolidate a bit more, we already have a lot more room and feel much more organized. The extra time has certainly given us more time to put things away and find homes for a few things we never quite got around to unpacking when we moved.
3. More Time For Work. I have a wonderfully flexible boss and a job that doesn't take much physical exertion, so I'm able to continue working and don't need to spend time on leave until the baby's actually born. 
4. More Time For Development. Ultimately, I want our daughter to come when she's ready and fully-developed. So if she's not quite ready to come out yet, I'm trying to remember that she's still got some growing to do in the womb. That and God's timing is better than mine...in my 28 years of experience, His plans have always been better than the ones I come up with.

Despite the benefits, I'm still really excited for our daughter to make her appearance and am tired of waiting. Maybe today will be the day??

Photo Credit: deux-chi

My Own Personal Advent

As I was lying in bed a few minutes ago, I realized I'm kind of in my own personal season of advent. I grew up in a church that followed and celebrated seasons, one of them being advent. The color is blue, and it's a period of time where we're waiting, or anticipating the arrival of Christ. 

As I was thinking about that this morning, I started to realize how different that period of advent would have been for Mary than it ever was for me growing up. We celebrated by using the color blue throughout the sanctuary, and on Sundays we would light one of the candles on the advent wreath and sing a song about hope, love, joy and peace. 

Those four weeks before Jesus was born were probably a little different for Mary. If I feel anything like she did, hope, love and joy were there (although I'm not expecting much peace for at least the first few weeks), but there are a lot of other elements mixed in, too. As much as I wonder if I'll be a good mother and teach my daughter what she needs to know, I can't imagine what it would be like to anticipate raising the son of God.

I also can't imagine what the journey to Bethlehem was like for Mary and Joseph. It must have been long. I've got 7 weeks until my due date, and I'm moving pretty slowly (at least, compared to my normal walking speed). Traveling by car isn't bad, but sitting on a horse or donkey for long periods of time couldn't have been comfortable, and then the extra movement would have forced additional bathroom breaks...crazy.

Regardless of the fears, Matt and I are so excited to meet our daughter. I'm just so glad that, in addition to the support of our family and friends, we have the reassurance that God wouldn't bless us with her if we couldn't handle being parents. I know I haven't been as good about keeping up with my blog in recent months, but I'll keep on sitting down and typing out a post here and there when I can. No promises on how often, though - my world is about to make a big change :)

Photo courtesy of John-Morgan

Guess What! It's A...

For my 100th post, I thought this would be an appropriate subject.

Today was an exciting day; we just got back from an ultrasound where we got to see the baby pretty clearly. We could see the head, spine, heart...plus the legs and arms were moving around, which was pretty cool (and super cute!)

We also found out that we're having a...girl! Although the technician couldn't see extremely clearly (the baby was moving around enough, and kept finding a comfortable spot obstructed by my belly button) there's a 90% chance it's a girl (based on what she saw and also what she didn't see).

Of course, we would be absolutely thrilled with either a boy or a girl. I think my favorite part was just getting to see her move her arms around and kick her little legs :)

Photo courtesy of jmlawlor

Getting Crafty

Looking back on my posts, I guess I never updated my blog with the news that we're expecting...well, good news - we're expecting! I'm due in November, which means I'm solidly in the 2nd trimester, and I'm pretty sure I'm at the beginning stages of what's called "nesting."

For most of the pregnancy, I haven't really felt like doing much (which was great for moving right at the beginning). Although I can't complain (I haven't had any major discomfort yet), I've still been tired and just want to relax by the time I reach the end of the work day. That changed earlier this week. I decided that we need to get better at planning our meals ahead of time. The challenge is that Matt and I both take turns making dinner, but we're wired completely differently, so where I might be happy sitting down and filling out a list of meals and groceries, he's not going to want to take the time. Enter my brand new system: A menu board!

I saw this idea on Pinterest and, although I'm not the craftiest person, it looked like something I could handle. I have to say, I'm very happy with the outcome:

What I like about this menu board is it's very easy for either one of us to pick out the meals and put them up on the board. Then, I can go through and look at the back of each one (which lists the necessary ingredients) to create a shopping list. Here are pictures of the process:

So now I need to type meals & ingredients up and print them out onto cards, but I figure that can be an ongoing process as I find dinners over the years.

I also made a list of everything I want to start working on, and I have a lot of ideas about how to do them so the areas remain easy to maintain. Here's just some of what I want to get to in the next few months:

• Organize the pantry
• Get my bedside table set up and organized
• Re-organize the linens (dining, bedding, towels)
• Go through boxes in the garage
• Organize the closet in the office
• Organize the closet in the master bedroom
• Find homes for everything not baby related that's currently stored in the baby's room
• Rearrange the bookshelf in the office

We'll see how it goes!

Crazy, But Good Crazy

We have now officially moved into our new house! The last several weeks have been crazy, so I'm excited that we've started getting back into our regular rhythm over the last couple of days. But things were crazy a few weeks ago for several reasons (all of them good):

• A lot of paperwork had to be collected and signed to get our house.
• We made time for a quick trip down to Portland to see Wicked!
• Within one weekend (actually, it was Easter weekend) we painted six different rooms in our house and moved everything in (a BIG thanks to everyone that came and helped - we couldn't have done it without them!)
• We hired 3 new people at work and I did training with them last week. I'm super excited the team's expanded, though, and all 3 of them are doing a great job!

It's amazing how much calmer I've felt over the last few days. I mean, I wouldn't say I was exactly stressed a few weeks (or even a week) ago, but more...overwhelmed? That doesn't seem like the right word either. 

I know this is a short update, but I don't really have much else to include at the moment. I'll leave you with the hallway in our master bedroom (perfect for my solo dance parties!):