Monday, September 26, 2011

7 Whole Years

The husband and I celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary yesterday.

7 whole years.

For us, that equals:

a 3 month engagement, a one year deployment (4 months after our wedding day), Jeremy's 1st year of teaching, graduate school for me, another job change for Jeremy, losing my Dad, moving to STL, the house debacle in GA, two babies, and lots of stuff in between.

There is no one else I would have wanted to go through all of that with other than Jeremy Martin.

We celebrated last night by getting carry out from our favorite restaurant (LoRusso's) and ate dinner after the kiddos went to bed. We both agreed that it solidified feeling like parents by enjoying our date night in.

It was perfect.

Here's to many more, husband!!

Friday, September 16, 2011

Two things

Two things I want to remember about today:

MJ ducking her head when I tried feeding her. As soon as I would put the spoon to her mouth, she would duck. Mashed sweet potatoes covered her forehead and hair.

Claire saying, "When you were little like MJ, you were born."

Friday, September 9, 2011

Pensieve: September 9, 2011

*I eat entirely too much Nutella.
*I'm pretty sure I'm more productive throughout the day when I shower in the morning.
*I. Love. My. Job. It's a privilege.
*I love that I love my job so much and still get to be with my girls the majority of the time. HUGE blessing. I wouldn't do it if it weren't for that. And if it weren't for Jill.
*I love it when the windows are open and a breeze is going through our house.
*C's train table has GOT to leave our sunroom. I'm tired of it being there.
*The only reason the train table hasn't moved is because I can't move it myself.
*Yes, I've tried to move it myself.
*Claire had better fall asleep before 10pm tonight. Seriously, child.
*Claire would eat her weight in black olives if I let her.
*I'm grateful for friends who watch my kiddos to help me out. (thanks, again, Greta)
*I have to fold 6 loads of laundry at some point today. Ugh.
*I've been daydreaming about owning a minivan. How the heck did this happen?
*I miss living in the South this time of year. College football season just isn't the same.
*MJ's very first tooth emerged on my birthday this week.
*MJ's preferred mode of movement is rolling. It's awesome.
*Is there anything greater than hearing your kiddos laugh? Like REALLY laugh?
*MJ has the best belly laugh.
*I definitely just dated this post as 2009, posted it, and then came back and changed it.

Sunday, September 4, 2011

A Great Weekend

This has been a great weekend.

**Disclaimer: I do not have perfect children. They are wonderful, beautiful, funny, and sweet but they also whine, yell, spend time in time out, and beg for crazy things. All of which happened in the midst of this weekend. Oh, and I did my fair share of losing my patience as well.**

Back to this weekend.

I suppose I want to write about it so that I remember it.

So that when I get overwhelmed on the weekends, when they go by too fast, or they don't seem all that fun and relaxing... I can stop and see what needs to change or happen so that I enjoy the two days of the week that are supposed to be different from the other five.

We haven't done anything spectacular. We haven't even had a babysitter. And my baby girl even woke up for an hour at 5am on Friday night. (I just listened to her talk for an hour before she went back too sleep.)

Here's what we've done:
*I got to take an hour long nap Saturday morning.
*While the baby napped in the morning, C and I went on a long walk and then played at a park while the husband had some quiet time at the house.
*We had Saturday lunch at ChickFila. (This is becoming a tradition for us.)
*We ran into friends from church at lunch. So fun and a blessing.
*I went to Sams alone in the afternoon, and I got to wander around and compare prices without anyone whining or asking for things.
*We watched a late afternoon movie and played.
*Ate leftovers.
*The Schawacker's came over to play Ticket to Ride when the girls went to sleep. (They had to arrive after Claire went to bed because she NEVER would have gone to bed with her crush here.)
*Went to church Sunday morning. Claire ran into nursery without even saying bye to me, MJ played happily on the ground in the back of church during the sermon, and Jeremy served communion. I love our church. It was a peaceful morning seeing familiar faces and feeling at home. AND we walked in to the Wilson's leading worship and singing "Thy Mercy My God" which I've sung to my girls since they were born.)
*Now we're at home with the windows open.

So looking at this, I know it doesn't seem like the most stellar weekend.

But here's what I notice: I actually RELAXED. The husband and I got to do things we wanted and we still played with the girls. I didn't have an agenda or an expectation that didn't get fulfilled.

Seriously. What more can you ask out of this stage of life except to enjoy the downtime and rest when you can. And play when you can as well. Sometimes I just need to get out of the way and appreciate the here and now.

(And, as a side note, I'm even more grateful for a good weekend since my birthday is tomorrow!)