Reading back over my blog proves two things to me. 1) I am TERRIBLE at New Year's Resolutions (blog my way through the whole year...haha!) 2) I have not provided and update on life since my little Ezra was born...that was over 6 months ago! And soooo much has changed since then! We are living back in my hometown in Indiana for one thing...my husband got a job here, and Indiana has NOT frozen teacher salaries for the last 6 years, so he was able to get quite a hefty raise just by moving a few states to the north and having 5 years of experience in his pocket. This has allowed me to be a stay-at-home mommy, which has always, always, ALWAYS been my dream. Even though I'm back in my hometown near family and I get to be a
stay-at-home mommy, sometimes I get sad and lonely for my North Carolina
life. I had a church family and work friends there, and we haven't
found that here yet. Every Sunday when we try a new church, I can't
help but cry...I just miss North Ridge, I miss my community group, I
miss my group of fellow mommies, I miss my running buddies. I am so, so
thankful that God brought them into my life, but I miss them terribly
now. Sometimes it's hard to believe that God can do it again...finding
friends is not something that comes easily for my introverted and shy
self. But I know He can, and He will if I'm patient. And in the
meantime, I have my family so close to me that I get to see them on a
weekly basis again, and my mom and dad are even moving back to the area soon,
which is a praise! I just hope He brings us a new church home quickly!
I was made to be a homemaker I believe. I know this isn't true for every woman, but it is certainly true for me. I LOVE being at home with my little Ezra Jude, and I LOVE taking care of our house, and I LOVE being able to serve my husband dinner every night without whining about how tired I am (which was my daily complaint when I was teaching full time). Moment of confession here: between the two of us, David has always been the clean one. Shameful to admit, but when we both came home from a long day of teaching exhausted and ready to relax, if the house was dirty I was not the one who jumped up to vacuum the floor or clean the bathroom...that was him. But now, I ENJOY cleaning. Seriously, I do! I have a cleaning calendar, and I have one big task to complete every day, and our house looks pretty awesome as a result (most days...I took a week off when I had a bad cold, and it's amazing how much things can go downhill in that amount of time...). I love being able to serve my husband in that way. Now, when he comes home from a long day of teaching exhausted, he doesn't have to jump up and clean...it's already done! And I try to always have a meal ready for him when he gets home, which means I have tried out a lot of those Pinterest recipes that I pinned forever ago...finally! And it's good food too...not pre-packaged frozen dinners or a box of macaroni and cheese like we always made on those days when we were both in the workforce and were sooo not into making a meal when we got home. I think we are both much happier with this arrangement than the previous one!
Of course, having one income is not without its struggles. Although David is earning more, things are tight. We were pretty skilled at living off of one income for the necessities, but we always had my paycheck available for the "extras". Now we don't, so we have to be much more frugal and meticulous with our budget than before. There's not a lot of wiggle room, and we're both trying to find ways to earn a little extra money so that we can do things like save up to buy a house someday. We are currently renting a home from my grandparents, which has been wonderful and such a blessing! We are in the country, it's quiet and peaceful, we don't have to worry about neighbors being loud or complaining that our dog is loud...but we'd like our own home someday! It will probably take us awhile to save up the money for a down-payment, but we're trying to learn patience. Not only is it a good life practice, but it's a good parenting practice as well.
I've also decided to start something extremely scary, but also money-saving...cloth diapers! Yes, I used to scoff at those who considered cloth diapering full time, but I guess the idea became ingrained in my head when I found out just how tight things were going to be for us financially and realized that the nice stash of disposable diapers that we had received from our baby showers was quickly dwindling. I researched how much money it saved, brands, styles, snaps vs. velcro, etc. etc. etc. until my eyes had gone blurry from scouring blogs and websites, and if I watched another YouTube video on what to do with the poop I was going to throw my computer out the window (when I research, I research HARD...it is no joke people), and brought my proposition to my husband. His words, "If you think you can handle it, I'll be on board." So a new adventure is at hand...we'll see how this goes.
We've been really really blessed with such an easy-going, and really just all around easy child. God knew what he was doing when He sent us Ezra Jude, and He apparently knew that I couldn't handle a difficult child at this point in my life! Nursing...no problem! He figured it out within that first day in the hospital. Mixing up his days and nights...not Ezra, he had it figured out before he was even born. Not only that, he was born in the midst of some major changes for us, and has taken the changes in stride easily. Moving across the country with a newborn baby...not easy! But Ezra slept most of the way for us, and made the transition easier. Unpacking boxes in a big new house alone...Ezra rode around in my sling and enjoyed watching me work. Sleeping got kinda dicey there for awhile, and I was becoming a sleep deprived monster and my mommy skills were mediocre at best...but Ezra took to the sleep training that we did with him so easily, and within two nights was sleeping 12 hours at night! We recently started solid foods and he DEVOURS everything we've given him so far. Even taking him to the doctor for vaccinations is relatively easy, because Ezra cries for all of 30 seconds, and as soon as I pick him up, the waterworks are over! I am so, so thankful for my sweet, easy-going child, and I know that this personality of his has nothing to do with my parenting skills and everything to do with God! I've gotta be honest though, it makes me nervous to have more children...no two children are the same, and in many cases they are complete opposites...so our next one could be quite the handful!
I'm still not quite my old self, though, even after 6 months of being not-pregnant. I'll be honest, the weight came off quickly and easily...at my 6 week check up I had already lost all of the baby weight. The doctor was actually concerned that I had lost it so quickly, even though I wasn't doing anything differently than when I was pregnant except for nursing. However, even with the weight gone my body is not the same. I have some saggy skin and stretch marks and all of that fun stuff, and my stamina for running is not the same (and without my running buddies to push me forward I have kinda lost the will to try to regain it). And my mommy brain...oh my goodness! My parents had a nickname for me growing up...I was "the elephant that never forgets". I remembered EVERYTHING, particularly the things they would rather me have forgotten. I have officially lost that title. Most days I forget to put on deodorant, and that is an everyday ritual for me, so things that aren't everyday rituals are nearly impossible for me to remember. I can't even blame lack of sleep anymore...just lack of brain cells I guess!
So there's a quick update on my life. Until next time (which could be anytime from the next few days to a year from now...but who's counting?)!
David and I dancing at my sister's wedding...and my sister dancing with Ezra!
