Author: Elizabeth

Wife, mom, dabbling blogger. Trying to balance the never ending laundry and the never ending requests for snacks and snuggles from my little people.
Elizabeth

Overdue Week

Keeping House, Kids

Going overdue with my recent pregnancy gave me time to…keep up the family tradition! My mom, sister, and I are now ten for ten on overdue babies. Cheers to consistency!

During the 39th week of pregnancy, I was so optimistic that “the baby could come any minute now!” When I got to the week before the due date, however, realism set in and I resigned myself to going overdue again. Surprisingly, this mental shift actually gave me more energy and will to do other things besides wait for labor. I opened up my Nesting List…

Elizabeth

Birth Story, #3

Kids

Pregnancy is over! My baby is here! I got more than five hours of sleep last night! Hurray! Here’s a picture of my now two week old precious darling baby girl, Cecily Germaine: At risk of oversharing, here is the birth story. If you’re not into body function details, maybe skip it. If you love birth stories, have a listen. Background: With Miryam, I was induced one week overdue. Luke came on his own two days overdue. I had the epidural with both of them. I almost didn’t get the epidural with Luke, because I felt I was managing

Elizabeth

PJ Masks and Humility

Kids

A scene from last week.

I’m 39 weeks pregnant and in full-on Nesting Mode. Also, Luke wakes up by 7:00am no matter what time he ends up falling asleep at night. So, it’s time to finally hang curtains in the kids’ bedrooms, to block early morning sunlight. We already have curtains available, brought from our other house and still in a box nearly 11 months later, but we left the old curtain rods mounted in the old house. Justin needs to go to Staples anyway, and Target is right across the highway. Let’s all go—I probably need the movement anyway, if you’re willing to walk at my waddling pace…

Elizabeth

The Post about Miscarriage

Self-Care

(Not to worry anyone…current pregnancy is still healthy!)

Last week, while talking with a friend, the weird taboo around miscarriage came up. People just don’t talk about it, even though it’s so common. I was once in a room with ten women when the subject came up. Nine of us were still in the midst of toddlers/babies/more pregnancies. Someone asked, “How many of us have had at least one miscarriage?” Eight of us raised our hands. What?!

My first miscarriage was quite recent when the show of hands happened. I was shocked by our percentage…

Elizabeth

Texas. Summer. Third Trimester.

Kids

Nuff said.

I hesitated to even write this post, because its content is in direct conflict with the title of the blog. Other than kicks reminding me my little babe is alive and quite well, there is almost nothing felicitous about the third trimester, especially if it’s above 65 degrees in my immediate vicinity. So, as of Tuesday night:

Right now, I’ve been “too hot” for hours. If I turn the thermostat down any further, I’ll probably freeze my children out of their beds. By the way, Miryam still isn’t asleep yet at a quarter past nine. She went to bed…

Elizabeth

Take up your cross daily.

Faith

Or, a thoughtful and realistic Lent for a stay-at-home-mom.

“Deny yourself, take up your cross daily, and follow me,” said Jesus, not just to the apostles, but to anyone who at the time or in future would claim to be his disciple.

Me: *raises hand, though feebly*

That doesn’t sound like fun. That’s the part about discipleship that’s hard, and so counter-cultural.

“Take up your cross. Daily.”

I’ve been pondering this phrase this Lent. Luke’s sleep has been so … what word, even … hard to cope with, I guess, since switching him from crib to toddler bed…

Elizabeth

Frozen is the New Dumbo

Kids

…for me. In the tears department.

Let me begin with an illustration. Justin is putting a new door handle on the front door, the kids are running in circles “trying to catch Elsa,” and I’m on the couch trying to read Jane Eyre but being distracted by the movie on screen. Half an hour earlier, I tried to sing “Let it Go” along with Elsa and Miryam, but tears were rising to my eyes and I couldn’t get the lyrics out. And now, I have a lump in my throat again watching the reprise of “First Time in Forever;” it’s over…

Elizabeth

I’ll have the routine, please.

Kids

I began the thoughts on this post the last time I took a 10-day road trip with the kids. It’s now the second time in four months that I’m doing so, and I’m pondering the same thoughts again.

It starts like this.

I want to go see new places, visit my people, have fun experiences, leave room in the plan for spontaneity, and live in the moment. Including for and with my kids.

But I also want to keep the routine.

Why are kids so dependent upon routine? One would think that if a kid is tired, and it’s dark outside…

Elizabeth

Love Languages

Marriage

If you haven’t read this book yet, and you are married, engaged, dating, or ever hope to be in a meaningful relationship, I highly recommend that you move this book to the top of your “to read” list, now. Your library probably has a copy. There might be a waiting list; it is worth the wait. Here it is:

The 5 Love Languages by Gary Chapman

I had vaguely heard of this before, but I first got familiar with the concepts during a couples retreat Justin and I went to during our engagement. There was a presentation, we took the quiz, and…

Elizabeth

Miryamisms (age 3)

Kids

My girl, Miryam, turned four earlier this week! So, here’s a fun little compilation of some of the hilarious and thought-provoking things she uttered as a three-year-old. (The ones I remembered to write down at the time, anyway.)

As a side note, if you have a child close to you in your life, I highly recommend keeping a running google doc or “Note”–something you can access from your phone at a moment’s notice–to jot down the funny and profound things they say, right away. I can usually remember the gist later, but…