Elizabeth

When Mom Takes a Selfie

Self-Care

Do you ever look in the mirror and not recognize yourself? The other day I took a selfie and didn’t recognize myself. I mean, of course it was me, but looking at my captured face all still and ready to be studied, it didn’t match what I think of myself as looking like.

I was having a conversation once about “the best time of your life.” My companion and I came to the conclusion that we each hoped that every decade of our lives will become “the best years of my life,” only to be replaced by the next decade….

Elizabeth

The Second Post about Miscarriage

Self-Care

October is, among other things, “pregnancy and infant loss awareness month.” I couldn’t find the right words in time to post during October, but I haven’t been able to find the right words to post about anything else since then, either. I started or worked on at least 4 google docs that might materialize into blog posts someday, over the past few weeks, but they felt fake, while I feel like this.

I think the only way to spread true awareness is for women who have been through it to share their firsthand experiences, to let those who *haven’t* have a look at what it’s like. To give them something to work with in the empathy department. It’s hard to walk beside a friend through a storm one has not weathered herself.

Here is a peek into my storm….

Elizabeth

Funny Parenting Memes

Kids

One morning, Cecily woke up before 6am. Well, this used to happen somewhat frequently. I am thankful those days are over now. But on one such particularly unpleasant morning when she did, I fed her breakfast and then lay on the floor beside her while she played. I was hoping she wouldn’t wake up anyone else.

I was so virtuously passing the still-dark-outside time by….scrolling Facebook. I came across a list of memes about “hanging out with kids” that was clearly targeting nannies and babysitters, but was SO RELATABLE for parents, too. And maybe I was just that tired, but….

Elizabeth

2,000 Things Less

Keeping House

Today I want to talk about how I got rid of 2,000 (yes, two thousand) items from my home before we moved. If there is one thing that moving frequently has taught me, it’s that I do not need all the stuff I once had. Nor do I want all of it badly enough to be willing to pack it and move it and unpack it (or never unpack it and re-move the box anyway) again, and again, and again.

Therefore, back in February, when we first found out that yes, we are moving, I began working on decluttering our home….

Elizabeth

The Worst Cake I’ve Ever Made

Food

My baby girl turned one last month. She’s my third. We already have everything a one year old could possibly need. And we were about to be moving. So, I didn’t get her a birthday present. And there was a pandemic going on. So, I didn’t throw her a birthday party. I felt kind of guilty about it, because I got my other kids First Birthday Presents, and hosted First Birthday Parties for each of them. But, such is the nature of Baby #3 having her First Birthday in 2020.

I calmed my conscience about it with the intention of making her a cute and delicious First Birthday Cake. “The cake will be the gift,” I kept telling myself….

Elizabeth

The Art of Packing Up Everything You Own

Keeping House

While moving is so overwhelmingly on my mind, I have a couple of insider tips I want to share. I consider myself an insider here (where one is moving), because I have done it so frequently as an adult. This one I’m in the middle of is my sixth move in not quite seven years of marriage, not to mention the in-and-out of dorms and apartments every year of college before that. (1) I moved to our (formerly Justin’s) apartment right after the wedding. (2) We moved one breezeway over to a two-bedroom apartment when I was pregnant with Miryam. (3) We moved to my parents’ house in Missouri when Justin’s position became one of “three weeks on, three weeks off.” (4) We moved to our own first house a few minutes away when Justin got a new job in town. (5) We moved to our DFW area home less than a year later when Justin got a new new job after deciding he needed a different work environment. (6) And we’re moving next week to a new city for a new position at the same company he was already at.

So. Many. Moves.

I wish I was so good at dance moves. But….

Elizabeth

On My Prayer Time Being Interrupted Again

Faith

Me: How come you can sit here and drink your coffee and watch TV and the kids leave you alone, but if I go sit down to drink my coffee they gravitate toward me like I’m a magnet?
Justin: There’s still an invisible umbilical cord.
Me: *facepalm*

Remember when I was pondering if I was allowed to enforce Mommy Quiet Coffee Prayer Time, with how young my children are?

I came to the conclusion that for me and these children, now, it’s not something I’m willing to enforce. Still, sometimes an opportunity presents itself for just-me quiet time, and I try to take it. This morning, for instance….

Elizabeth

Shade Trees and Other Important Things

Keeping House

Or, Me Ranting and Raving About Matters of Personal Preference.

Now that our home is under contract for sale (YAY!), I get to look at “new” homes in the area we’re moving to, in earnest. I had, of course, been looking at them online already, for quite some time. Zillowing is a verb in my vocabulary; it’s a fun pastime while nursing a baby to sleep. I must say I am now pretty good at piecing together a home’s floor plan based on the listing description and photos. It’s kind of like a logic puzzle….

Elizabeth

Current Status: Trying to Sell My House

Keeping House

((Our house is officially on the market, now!))

Shout out to my mom for offering to meet Justin halfway to pick up our big kids and take them to Camp Grandma’s House for a week so we could focus on tasks without neglecting the children. When she first offered, I thought, “Oh we probably don’t actually need that.” As soon as the first picture came through via text of them having fun there—while I was scrubbing their drawings off yet another wall here—I realized my initial reaction was plain wrong. We totally needed that.

The last time we had to get a house ready to sell….

Elizabeth

Discoveries While Deep Cleaning

Keeping House

We’re currently in the midst of getting our house ready to sell. One of the most obvious items on the to-do list is to “deep clean.” As our agent told us, “We want things to sparkle.” Of course.

What I’ve learned while deep cleaning my house is: how dirty my house was. Honestly, I’ve been astonished. How was I living in such filth without realizing it? Why didn’t I ever think to clean any of these nooks and crannies before? How come my friends continued to accept play date and dinner invitations to my home when it was in that condition? ….