mundane wednesday

today was mundane, in the most normal, nothing out of the ordinary kind of way.  there were diapers and dishes and dinner preparations and naps (for the little one) and, well you get the point.  there was just life.  this beautiful, normal life.  i considered just letting today pass me by without much of a second glance.  not in a "good riddance" kind of way but rather "lets see what tomorrow brings."  the thing is though that three months ago none of this was normal.  not the staying at home part, not the diapers, not the small person napping in the other room.  and, well, that is exactly what i started this blog for in the first place.  to make memories of the mundane.  to appreciate my life for what it is.  i am in such a good place right now.  a place that so many other women would like to be and i need to  do realize that.  i have an incredible husband, a child that smiles at me and lets me hold her and rock her and sing her to sleep.  i have a home to call my own and even though i can't seem to make a decorating decision to save my life, it has the potential to be great and beautiful and exactly what i have dreamed of. 

i am lucky and i am thankful for a "boring" wednesday to remind me of that.

lest you think that this post is getting a little too blah and not really saying a lot . . . two things of note from today:

- in a moment of great intelligence i suddenly realized that spotify could provide me with the ability to listen to all of my favorite musicals for free.  Ah-maz-ing!  i don't know how this managed to slip my attention before.  hazel has been enjoying tolerating my sing-a-longs in my loudest most broadway-esq voice all day.  "now, i'm defying gravity . . . ."  her poor little ears will never be quite the same.
- secondly, i craved a banana for a midmorning snack.  wait, what!?  the last time that happened was, hmmmmm . . . never!

yep, like i warned in the beginning . . . pretty exciting around here today (which is also why the picture to accompany this post is of a dirty corner in my kitchen.  if not exciting at least i'm keeping the theme of this post consistent).

summer days slippin' away

around here summertime is this double edged sword.  on the one hand it is perfection. the weather, the activities, that Colorado sunshine!  the downside, though, is that this perfection is short lived before we start to see the snowflakes fly again.  every summer we strive to strike this balance between staying home and relaxing and getting out and enjoying life for the short time that we can without a coat on.

this summer is particularly special not only because we have a new little one in tow but also because it is the first time in our whole relationship that jesse and i have the weekends to spend together.  and oh what a wonderful thing two whole days together can be.

even though we are already a week into the official summer season i still thought it would be fun to come up with few things to help us make the most of our summer (and no jesse this is not a "to-do" list):

• bake and decorate a layered cake (i need to perfect my skills before the pressure is on for birthday parties)
• climb a 14er
• go camping with the little one
• attend a baseball game
• plan another mountain-top picnic with friends
• attend the denver flea market (and hopefully find some outdoor patio chairs)
• get away for an overnight "adults-only" refresher
• repaint our guest bathroom
• try out a pure barre class
• go for a family bike ride
• hit up moab, utah
• host an end of summer soiree
• find an orchard to go peach picking

whether we do one or all of these things i am convinced that this will be our best summer yet.  babies just have this way of making everything great, ya know?

sleeeeeeeeep

so, last night this miraculous thing happened . . . my two month old daughter slept for nine hours straight.  nine hours without so much as a peep, squeal, grunt or cry.  (insert hallelujah chorus here).

i honestly haven't felt all that sleep deprived over the course of her infancy (isn't it amazing how your body can adjust!?) but i've got to say that those eight hours of uninterrupted blissful slumber were just plain magical.

on top of that, the little lady and i were in such bright spirits this morning that i had fed and changed her, done two loads of laundry, gone for a run, and was dressed for the day all before eight in the morning.  this is big people, B.I.G.!  i mean, i love this motherhood thing but being a mom on top of eight hours of sleep . . . well just picture me singing in my loudest most joyful voice, "this is fuuuuuuuuuunnnnnn!"  yes indeedy.  and here i thought that seeing my baby smile at me was the pinnacle of my week.  it just keeps getting better and better.

and oh, i know that i will probably regret saying this sooner rather than later but as of today it has been on repeat in my head and i just can't get it to go away until i shout it from the tippy tippy top of the tallest tree in our yard:

bring on more babies!!!

finding balance (spoiler alert: apparently it's as easy as rearranging furniture)

i love being a mom!  i hoped (and dare i say, knew) that i would.  it has surprised me though how easily it has all come to me.  how the smell of poop, or the middle of the night feedings really don't phase me at all.  i somehow thought that i wouldn't quite latch onto it with the fervor that i have.

what has surprised me, though, is how hard it has been for me to find balance between being mom, wife, homemaker, fun-haver, and just simply an enjoyable to be around person.  before baby this was one area that i thought was pretty straight forward - work hard, play hard.  adding another person to the mix surely couldn't throw it off that much right?

perhaps because of the internet and all of the incredible "do-it-all" mothers out there (not to mention the example of my own amazing mother) i somehow have talked myself into a "you should/can be doing more" depression.  needless to say this has left me with feelings of guilt for the moments that i am not 100% focused on hazel, and has left me running around like a crazy person two minutes before bed time trying to finish up the ten things still remaining on my teux-deux list.

oi.  somethings gotta give.

when we bought  this house back in october we wound up putting all miscellaneous items in one of two places, our bedroom and the coat closet underneath the stairs.  our bedroom just so happens to be the largest single room in our house which is both incredible and incredibly hard to keep it from accumulating the greater majority of the "i don't know where to put this" items.  enter my desk, the mecca of all "you should probably do something with this but don't know what" junk.  every night i would climb into bed with what a thought was a clear head, roll onto my left side and then get hit with an overwhelming sense of "something has to be done with all of that stuff, and it has to be done right now or else the sun will not come out tomorrow!"  yep, that is my 10 o'clock at night logic talking (and don't even try to tell my that your logic doesn't do a 180 in the worst kind of way after 9:30pm).

last week we moved the desk downstairs and i am kicking myself now for having not done it earlier.  not only am i now able to walk into a bedroom that is free of clutter, but my work space has a clear separation from my personal space.  (that and i now have a window to look out of when budgeting - dollars just make more sense when fresh air is involved.)  oh, and as a bonus, because the desk is now the first thing that you see when you walk in our front door, i have an extra incentive to not let things literally and figuratively "pile-up."

my work space still has a ways to go before it feels like that pristine picture in my mind (or rather on my pinterest board) but its a start.

so there you have it.  three cheers for finding balance and a peaceful night's sleep. 

i know i'm her mom but really she is so cute!

this girl has been all smiles this week and oh, is it fun!

Father's Day

this man right here, yes the one who makes holding a bottle look dead sexy, celebrated his first Father's Day yesterday and let me just tell you that i am the luckiest to get to call this man my baby daddy.  so, here's the thing . . . yesterday was also my birthday.  even though this was one of those "meh" birthday years for me (31 doesn't really have a whole lot going for it in general, though i'm certainly happy to have another year) he went out of his way to make it special, on HIS special day.  i came down the stairs to happy birthday banners, the "you are special today" plate was packed and traveled 2 hours with us for our picnic lunch. there were cupcakes, stroller schlepping, dirty diaper changes, chauffeuring, and pretty much everything that i'm sure Father's Day was invented to take a break from.  he didn't even get a nap!  yep, that's just the kind of guy he is. 

hazel and i owe you one, hun.

it's a privilege to watch you as a father.  i love you! *muuuuh*

tres

this was the scene three years ago today.  just the two of us, gettin ready.  

but, oh, here we are three years later, a family of three.  yes, i do believe that i like this number three very much!

to my love and my b.m.p. (baby-making partner), happy anniversary!  

i love you three times as much as every before.

(photos taken by shane macomber)