It's been frighteningly long since I've taken the time to write, especially considering that I love doing it. I'm back! Life has changed so much since some of my last posts and in the very best ways. In June of last year, I married my dear husband. After saying "I do", we took a wonderful trip around the Pacific Northwest and then returned home to squeeze all of my belongings into his one bedroom apartment. It's exactly as you'd imagine.....the dining area turned into storage area for stacks of lovely wedding gifts and Rubbermaid containers stuffed in corners holding my clothes and one too many pairs of shoes. Nice and very cozy. Fast forward a few months. After countless open houses and rushing to see the latest listings with our realtor before a sold sign was staked in the front yard, we purchased our first home. Push the fast forward button once more, and we arrive at this summer. On June 14th, we welcomed our beautiful baby girl into the world. Nearly every parent has told us to enjoy every moment and that the years fly by. They aren't kidding. Yesterday, Elisabeth turned two months old, and we've been loving to watch her change and grow by the day. She's such a joyful baby who loves to smile and make her mom and dad smile even bigger. So that's essentially the past year or so in a really small nutshell. I don't glaze over it quickly because I take these blessings lightly nor do I want to minimize how grateful I am for each part of it. I'm well aware of so many others who are waiting, praying for, and hoping for marriage and parenthood. I always wanted to be a wife and mama when I grew up, and I know that God has been so generous to gift me with these responsibilities in life. It's just that there isn't enough room to tell you everything I'd love to share about this goodness; you'll just have to wait for future posts. It's life right now for me, so it's going to be the meat and bones that my writing is made of for quite some time. Here's a little appetizer; more to come.
Mommying, Breathing, and Such
Mommying isn't a verb. It should be. It didn't take me but about a few hours after Elisabeth's birth to quickly see that being a mother was going to be one of the hardest yet most rewarding jobs I have taken on yet in my life. It makes some of the Olympic sports look like child's play. Oh, you just competed in the pentathlon? Me too. I just finished feeding, diapering, rocking, singing, and bathing the baby. While standing on one foot. And talking baby talk. And trying to come up with something for dinner. 10.0. Moms are heroes. I now look at the moms around me everywhere I go and want to tell them, "Well done. You're rocking this. You got your kids out of bed, fed, dressed, and out the door in one piece today. And you look presentable too. You are mommying like a champ. You go girl!" Mommying is really hard work, and don't let anyone try to convince you that it's not. It's awesome work, and I wouldn't trade it for a million. So to all you moms out there who are mommying 24/7, especially those who are doing it so well by not only physically caring for their children but spiritually discipling them to follow hard after Christ as their supreme treasure as well, step up on the podium. Gold medals for you. You're my role models. Keep on keeping on ladies!
Being a mom is a huge task, but it's also been such a breath of fresh air in my life. It's probably just part of the way I'm wired, but it feels like for such a long time I've been running life at a fast tempo trying to complete countless tasks at a breakneck speed so as not to fall behind. Being at home with my sweet baby girl has totally reoriented my days in such a good way. It's taken me back to the basics. Sometimes when Patrick gets home in the evenings and asks me about what we did today, I realize it was nothing monumental or all that exciting. I tell him, "Well, we read some books, looked at some toys, did some tummy time, tried to get Elisabeth to take some good naps, and things like that. Basically the same as yesterday." Being with a baby really takes you back to the littlest of things. It slows you down in the right kind of way and makes you realize that the little things are oh so good. Today Elisabeth and I looked out the window together and I told her about rain. That it's a gift God gives us that helps things to grow. When would I have otherwise slowed down enough to think about that? Being at home is sometimes really repetitive, filled with the dirty work of laundry/diapers/spit up/etc, but the cherry on top of it is the chance to take a nice, deep breath that I haven't had in so long.
What did I do today? Mommying, breathing, and such. The good stuff.
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