A Day in the Life...

I got a request to do one of these "Day in the Life" posts. My initial thought was "no." I [still] feel like we're in transition. We don't live in a home that's "ours." We live at my mom's. This isn't the "normal" life of our little family yet. But then I thought...you know what, I am so darn grateful that we've gotten to spend these past several months at my mom's house. Rent is free, the food is delectable, the help is endless, and my mommy is just the greatest. She really is. We are extremely fortunate to be around family -- that's why we moved back in the first place. :) With that said, here is "a day in the life" while we live in Nancy's Mimi's house. Nancy will have spent the first three (maybe 4? Hopefully 3!) months of her life here. It's absolutely worth documenting. 
I wanted to document our day in an unfancy way: just my iPhone, no fancy camera, no tidying things before a picture, no major editing, no trying to find the best lighting...just "regular" life. These days aren't glamorous, but they full of grace, love, and family. Most of all, these days are ours...so that makes them pretty special to me. I hope to look back on posts like this one years from now and remember this season. Between moving and becoming parents, it's a season full of transition. Aaand I'm pretty sure as we add more little Houstons to the mix down the road, these days will only get harder, louder, more tiring, and crazier. I'm smiling as I look forward to those regular days too. Cheers to this life, to our families, and to good ol' regular days.

4:00 AM
I suppose my day technically started at this hour. Nancy's last feeding began at 10:30 the night before, so she went about a 5.5 hour stretch between feedings. Pretty good. So up at 4 to feed the little baby girl, then we both go right back to sleep.

7:30 Nancy wakes up and is ready to eat. I nurse her in bed, and Mark gets his day started as well.

7:55 Nancy and I head downstairs. I put her in her Snugapuppy and face her towards the sliding glass doors. This baby loves to look outside. It's hilariously amazing. She loves the outdoors. I love it!

I start making Mark's breakfast. I make it for him every morning, and the truth is, I really enjoy being able to do that for him. While he serves our family with his job, it brings me joy to serve our family in all things home.

This morning he requested eggs, but we didn't have any, so it was cereal. And hot tea. Always a cup of tea. So English.

8:10 Marky's breakfast is on the table with the lunch I packed for him last night, and now it's time to make a delicious cup of coffee for myself.

8:15 Since Mark isn't downstairs yet, I run upstairs (while Nancy is amused looking outside) to make the bed and get dressed (aka change into my workout clothes). I think the sheets were crumpled at the bottom of the bed, so I grab them and it's actually a TINA! Ooops! Pup was still sleeping. Much to her dismay, I continue to make the bed and get her up. (Yes, Tina still sleeps in our bed. She always will.)

I feel a little more excited than usual to get dressed for the day because my mama surprised me with this workout tank yesterday. Pep in my step with fancy new workout wear. Thanks, Mommy!!!

8:20 Back downstairs to sit with Marky and sip my coffee. I pop it in the microwave since it's been sitting...and because, in my humble opinion, the Keurig doesn't make it hot enough anyway. Marky judges my early morning picture taking, we discuss that tomorrow (now today! ;)) is Amazon Prime Day, and I remind him to take the currently-being-used-as-coasters papers with him to get notarized so he doesn't have to go apply for Nancy's passport with me at the Post Office.

8:30 Mark heads to work, kisses Nancy and I goodbye, and I finally decide to knock out my blog emails. There have been too many sitting unanswered for too many days. Eeek!

8:45  I realize that Nancy has fallen asleep. Still in her Snugapuppy. I continue to pound out some emails until my inbox is empty! (!!!) Then I write a guest blog post for a friend and finish it just in time as Nancy wakes up.

10:00 The freshly awake Nancypie and I head upstairs to keep getting ready for the day. Translation: I brush my teeth and do nothing else but play and talk with this happy, smiley little girl for the next 18 minutes.

10:20 I take Nancy out of these precious pajamas for the last time...she is too tall for them! I am sad to pack them away because they're one of my favorite pairs. Ruffly bottoms, my favorite colors...sigh. On the flip side, she looks pretty darn precious in this new outfit from her Sip and See with [wait for it] matching bloomers! Bless!

10:25 We head downstairs. Why am I so hungry? Oh yeah, hello! Breakfast for me?! No wonder I'm starving. Well, so is Nancy. Eeek. I eat a banana while I make my green smoothie. Nancy's hunger turns from fussy to full out crying by the end of my smoothie making. Mama's gotta hustle.

10:30 Smoothie by my side, I nurse Nancy and simultaneously call the passport agency to make an appointment for tomorrow, read today's SRT, and just generally stare at and study my sweet baby. These once so lanky thighs that are thickening up...! BLESS (again)!

11:00 I'm still hungry and definitely need fuel before my workout. I make some toast with almond butter and cinnamon while Nancy has tummy time. We play and talk for a little after that. Our new thing is sitting her on the edge of the table/counter/whatever. Mark and I can't get over how much she looks like a "little person" in that position.

11:35 I nurse Nancy for a few more minutes more before I leave to workout. And during this nursing session, I text my sister in elation at the news that Ben H is the new Bachelor. YESSSSS.

11:55 I head to Hilliard. Hope and I are going to class together today! Mom comes home from my sister's house and takes over.

12:00 Purple circle day at HSM. AKA the hardest of the hard. I'm pretty sure my legs and core were still shaking when I walked back down the stairs post workout. (I usually attend the 8:15 class, but one of my favorite teachers was teaching the 12:00 today, so I switched. :))

1:15 I'm back home. Mom is in the kitchen writing invoices for her interior design company. I grab a protein bar and chat with Mom about her play time with Nancy and find out she only fell asleep 20 minutes ago. I realize that the late nap gives me time to shower before she wakes up. Going for it. But pausing for a moment to soak in this sweetness...

1:45 Right on time...as I finish getting dressed after my shower, I hear Nancy waking up. She nurses for about 30 mintes. A long lunch for the Nancypie. Then this cutie has some more tummy time while I snack on some hummus, chips, strawberries, and blueberries.

2:40 Mom and I head to Hope's to pick her up, and the 3 of us run errands together. We'll be gone for a few hours, so I throw a giant organic red delicious apple (my fave) in the diaper bag. First we hit up Fresh Market for $2.99 Tuesday. Next is the new Houston home! The hardwood floor guy called as I was walking into Hilliard, and he wanted to meet me over at the house later that afternoon.

I meet with the hardwood guy and mom and Hope measure some windows and rooms. I am excited to learn that under the ugly tile in our foyer there was linoleum "slate"...aaaand under that...hardwoods! No need to install new ones for that little area as planned. He'll just sand and refinish those. Yesss. I also give him the approval to put a threshold between the kitchen and laundry/mudroom as that square footage was added on and is thus 3/4" higher than the original home. Grown up life.

Oh, and last weekend I got paint happy and painted my laundry room cabinets light blue with some leftover paint the original owners left in the house. This used to be the color of the master bedroom. It's really pretty, so now it's a fun (but still light) pop of color in our future laundry room.

These people. Why Mark and I decided to move home. :)

4:40 We stop at Hope's to grab the groceries (we put the chicken in the fridge at her house before heading over to mine). I snack on some almonds and nurse Nancy there before we head back to mom's. Of course, we sneak in a little Nancy playtime too. :)

5:30 Back at mom's. I throw Nancy in the Ergo and address thank you notes from the Sip and See.

6:20 Bathtime for Nancypie!

6:45 Nurse the baby again.

7:00 Daddy's home! He went by our house after work, so he's back a few minutes later than usual tonight. I hand over Nancypie and help my mom with dinner. (Poor Tina..."Hey! What about me?")

7:30 Dinner! Mom, Mark, Chuck, and I eat a really good meal tonight: Fresh Market chicken, balsamic glazed Brussels sprouts, salad, and sauteed squash (straight from Marky's garden!) with onions. Don't we have the cutest table centerpiece?! Keepin' it real.

8:00 Nancy and I head upstairs for her bedtime routine. Fresh diaper, swaddle, a little nursing, rocking, and lots of worship music. This is basically my little quiet time. I'm glad Nancy is a part of it. It's full of singing praises, prayer, and just generally talking to God.

Anyway, it takes a little longer than normal tonight because I get distracted after changing her diaper and swaddling her. I call Mark upstairs because Nancy is "talking" and smiling so much. I feel like we're getting closer and closer to hearing her laugh. She smiles so big with our silly blabber and eskimo kisses. Love this little girl so much.

8:20 Mark goes back downstairs, and I get on with the routine. This still, sweet quiet time is probably my favorite part of the day. I love rocking my baby. Quiet/worship/rocking/prayer time was extended tonight too just because I just love it so much. Hillsong was filling my heart tonight!

9:00 I head back downstairs and start writing this post! Nancy cries about 10 minutes later, but I run upstairs and rock/wiggle/lightly shake her little cosleeper for a minute and she falls back asleep. Then I finish this post, nurse Nancy once more around 10:30/11 before she starts her longer night stretch (she'll probably wake up to nurse around 3:30/4), and head to bed. Maybe I'll get to read a blog post or two before I doze off?!

11:30 I set my alarm for 7:40 and then change it to 7:30 because I forgot to make Mark's lunch earlier this evening. Ooops! Oh well. And goodnight!