From Fall

I'm dying to start decorating for Christmas, but it's happening after Thanksgiving for the most part. (I've snuck a few things out here and there.) It might sound goofy, but it finally occurred to me this year that my excitement to decorate inside for the holidays coincides exactly with when the last of the fall colors disappear.  As son as it's just about barren outside, I want to decorate inside and make it cozy and add reds and greens for more color.

Also, Instagram has sort of become a mini blog for me and I'm trying to decide if I like that or not.  I want to write more now that I have the mental space, just can't decide where that needs to be.  I've been finally picking up my real camera again and that feels really good.  The only problem is that the big kids are so set against being in photos. So if it seems like I'm favoring the little one in photos, you are correct. He can't protest yet and we spend 24/7 together:)

A Good Whirlwind

He turned 5 weeks old this past weekend, born on September 12th. 7 lbs 12oz, exactly the same as both his big sister and brother. Labor was long, but not intense until the very end when I promptly got an epidural, took a nap and woke up to push for 13 minutes and he was here. He's still curly and just starting to smile and I want to hold him as long as humanly possible while he still tries to lift his head from my chest like a little inchworm.

When he was almost 2 weeks old, we moved into a new house that just happens to be 3 doors down the street from our old house.

So here we are. Getting back to some sort of new normal.

Right Now: End of Summer

There are bits of him everywhere already.  The crib in their room.  The pack and play waiting for him to sleep at night (ha!).  Stolen dresser drawers for diapers and tiny clothing.  All currently occupied by toys and dolls that are "borrowing" his newborn clothes.  I check every so often to make sure he'll actually have some in his drawer to wear when he gets here and that it's not just all on dolls.

I'm awake at 5am today because I just can't keep my eyes open at night.  I land in bed somewhere around dinnertime if I'm lucky and plant myself there for the duration, it just feels so much better at 37 weeks to lay down on my bed.  The kids have too much screen time and I've spent the summer guilty about the time they haven't spent outside, but they've made up for it with time at camp and time with grandparents who have whisked them away at every possible chance so that I can take a nap and I'm eternally grateful for that.  It's the one thing I've needed more than anything else.  Plus, there has been a LOT of Lego building.

So, we're here.  Taking one day at a time. School starts in a week, 1st and 3rd grade, and we move into a new house in a month (it's 3 houses down the street!) and John started working very part-time for fun at a new brewery that opened locally and somewhere in between all of that we need to get the new house painted and ready to move in and have a baby.  I've missed this space in my 24/7 nausea-filled blur of the last 9(isn) months.  More than I expected.  My camera has been sitting on a shelf untouched, but there's at least some proof of life on Instagram if you want to find us there.  But it's the sitting and writing that I didn't expect to miss so much, so I think you'll be seeing me here more in the coming months as we get back to a new normal.  Plus, I need to share baby pics when he gets here!