January 2015, you did not disappoint!
In the first part of January I cleaned up Christmas and did January things, like handled some paperwork business that was leftover from our move in August. felt like a super hero for that. I felt it was a blog-worthy mention, anyways. The non-superhero part was me failing to appear in court because I forgot about my jury summons paper.
After that anxiety attack, we did some prep on the house for my mom to visit for two weeks. That meant clearing out the guest room and moving our queen bed downstairs. The guest room has been my primary dumping ground since moving. It went from filled to the brim with chaos and foolishness…to this little oasis:
My friend Katie came over one afternoon and helped me put this together. We pulled a few things from around the house and used a thrifted chair to display some of my quilt collection. It’s a tiny little room, so it was really simple to do. There’s a big blank spot above the bed that I would like to fill by DIY-ing one of these. (February’s goals are to start some DIY and sewing projects).
Katie also helped me pull our sectional sofa out of the family room and move these chairs in to create more of a simple keeping room. (When you gotta move a couch, you move a couch!) I love the simplified version of this space. It feels like what it was meant to be.
Next I would like to paint the brick fireplace white (yes, I’m going to do it!) and hunt down some kind of cool lamp for the corner.
Here’s the kids art corner that we made with a vintage desk she sold me.
In mid-January David left town for Atlanta for two weeks and my mom came to stay. My mom is a powerhouse lady. Six weeks out from her second knee replacement surgery, she got the opportunity to take off work and come. I begged her not to, but neither hell nor high water was going to stop her!
Not only that, but the moment she saw my garage (which was filled to the brim with foolishness and chaos of every sort), she made up her mind that we were going to clean it out while she was here. Clean it we did.
Do you see this? I can park my van in here! With enough room to get my little ones in and out too!
Not only did we clean out the garage, but we sold and donated a whoooooole bunch of stuff. We took the cash we made from our sales and hired a couple of guys to help us whip the garage into shape and haul off a whole bunch of trash in my side yard.
After finishing this, we had one day left, so we scrubbed my house down. My mom used her magic mom powers to clean things that I thought could never come clean. Like my master bathroom shower. And if that weren’t enough, with hours to spare before David’s plane landed, we made a huge Costco haul to stock my house with groceries for the month.
This is our idea of a great time.
I was so grateful I could have cried you guys. Well, I did. That’s one thing about being far away from my mom. When she comes, we really relish our days together.
I also got a couple of house calls from my midwives this month! Here are two of my midwives, Leslie and Rachel. When I asked them if I could take their pictures, they said “We should have worn our tie-dye hippie skirts and crystals!”
Fetoscopes and hippie-print bags will do just fine, ladies!
At the last two appointments we talked about everything under the sun. From how I’m doing emotionally to changes in the California midwifery laws to emergency plans for transfer. We went through all the different scenarios that would require me to be transferred either to obstetric care or the hospital for a c-section. Last week we talked all about the science behind nutrition and blood sugar. These ladies are true servants.
Also..I don’t have to weigh myself!
My doula also popped in for a visit last week. She is a postpartum doula, so she is not only there to support me during the birth, but she also stays nights after baby arrives! She helps with bedtime, does laundry, puts together the next day’s meals and stays the night to help with feedings and changes and making sure the family is resting well. And she does placenta encapsulation. Which I’m getting this time for SURE! When she said she was a fan of sleep training (sleep learning, sleep mentoring, whatever you want to call it), I said “You are mine.”
CAN YOU THINK OF ANYTHING MORE MAGIC?
My mom left, promising she’d be back in June. I was depressed for approximately two-ish days and then I was okay again because I realized I was being an ungrateful brat.
The latter part of this month has wound down into a lovely, quiet routine with the girls.
I can’t ask for anything more than this happy home right here. We tightened up the ship around here with a new schedule in preparation for a newborn to come in the scene in a few months. We are practicing hard on sleeping, following instructions, and doing thirty minutes of focused activity at a time. I’ve never seen these two happier. (I’d love to fit in a blog post about this next month.)
I’m looking forward to welcoming all the good the Februrary has…even if I am scheduled to appear at 8 am for jury duty tomorrow morning. Hopefully a pregnant lady with the sniffles will garner enough pity to be dismissed. I think I will definitely play my pregnant card by coming fully outfitted and made up, only with yoga pants on the bottom half. I will also bring a box of Kleenex, which I will use liberally. Don’t judge…or do…
Happy February!
