100 Happy Days Challenge: Day 52

Though I was extra exhausted today, and my little fart didn't nap, it was a pretty good day for a host of reasons.

1. Jeff, who has been in Las Vegas all week for  work conference, is sitting on a plane at this moment, about 45 minutes from landing. I miss him so much when he's not with us, so I can't wait to have him home. I miss his smell, his voice, his hugs, and Carter is ready to see his Dad.

2. The weather today was wonderful and I took the opportunity to take Mr. Carter to the park. Watching him run around and play and interact with the other kids there just makes me beam. It really highlights for me how great it is that he will have a sibling.

3. I ordered Chinese  for supper and it was veggie-filled and totally delicious. And it didn't result in a messy kitchen, which was a bonus :)

100 Happy Days Challenge: Day 51

Three weeks ago called and it wants its three daily graces to show up on time.

I can't believe it's been three weeks since I've posted. Terrible, yes, but I have been busy and got behind and the more behind I got, the more pointless it seemed to continue. But, dammit, it's not pointless. I have 50 days left of this challenge, and though I awarded myself a three week vacation, it's time to come back. So here are today's three positives:

1. We are getting more and more baby ready with each day. My cousin, Nicole, has been helping me and today we pulled all the baby totes and gear out of storage to get laundry started and things like the car seat installed and the baby swing wiped down and reassembled. We're getting there, people, so this baby really needs to stay put for another week; preferably two :)

2. Jeff has been in Vegas for a work thing all week and because he (and I) was worried about my ability to chase after our very busy toddler while this pregnant and in case I went into labour, my cousin Nicole has been staying with us all week. She is just such a huge help, and words wouldn't sufficiently explain how true this is. She's helping me clean my house, care for and watch Carter, get the organizing done in the various parts of the house I have on my nesting to-do list, and she's keeping me company while missing my husband. She's a gift, no question.

3. Today was a very busy, but good and productive day and those feel good. Like I said, Nikki and I made a lot of progress getting baby stuff out and cleaning and organizing the back hallway/storage area in my house. I also had a prenatal appointment today that went well. I'm growing and so is my soon-to-be-there-no-longer baby bump; I got the last thing done at work that I really wanted to get done (I've actually been off starting my early mat leave since last Wednesday, but wanted to finish this one thing); and I finished the day off with date night with the two best dates (my boy and Nikki) that started with a tasty supper and ended with a visit to Chapters, where Carter had the best time exploring the toys and books.

Life is good.

100 Happy Days Challenge: Day 50

For Wednesday, September 17th:

1. I'm half-way through this challenge and, though I post late often, I'm still hangin' in there! Woot!

2. Jeff bought the laminate flooring for the baby's room. We need to get moving on this room, people, because this baby will be getting his eviction notice in a few short weeks.

3. Carter had his first gymnastics class yesterday. This was the first class he has been in where it wasn't parent-assisted, so he went in without me. I had very mixed feelings about registering him in this class for two reasons: first, I didn't know how he would respond to me not being with him there, but still being able to see me in the stands watching him. This kid is a mama's boy if there ever was one. I fully expected him to flip his noodle right good when I sent him in alone. More on how that turned out in a minute. The other reason I was hesitant to register him in this class is because I am still a pretty hands-on mom. That makes me sound worse than I am -- but what I mean is that I let him climb on the equipment on his own, but I prefer being right there so that I'm close enough to catch him should he lose his balance and slip or fall off of whatever structure he's on. Yes, yes, I know the mats are padded, but I have horrid visions of him landing on his face and breaking his nose, biting through his tongue, or landing at a bad angle and breaking his neck (this should give you some idea of how much and how intensely I worry). But, I just figured, if he was upset with me not being there, or I didn't feel comfortable having him be in there without me, no big deal, I'll just go in.

And that's exactly what happened -- kind of. Initially, he went in without me and sat down with the class. He looked so cute and looked like such a big boy. It made me sad and beam with pride all at once. But within one minute he was looking for me and, when he saw me, trying to leave the padded area to come to me, so in I went. The good news is, all of the other parents had to go in too (except one), so that made me feel much better. I also suspect that by the end of the class in December, he may be trotting off quite happily without his mom-mom by his side. Either way, given the fact that I am the size of a small town at the moment, Jeff went on Dad-duty and went in. He stood by and watched Carter, while I sat in the stands and – to everyone’s surprise – Carter did really well. He participated without coaching from his dad for the most part. I’ll say, I’m optimistic.

100 Happy Days Challenge: Day 48 & 49

I'm not going to lie. I didn't enjoy Monday, so this was a bit of a chore. Nonetheless, here are my three good things:
1. I am 33 weeks and 2 days pregnant today. This means I have just over 3. 5 weeks until I'm considered full term. In three and a half weeks, the baby can come at any time. This blows me away. We're so close. I'm getting really emotional at the thought of giving birth for the last time, meeting this little boy, and seeing Carter as a big brother.
2. We moved the bed out of the old spare room to its new home downstairs. I need to work on getting everything else out so painting can begin and we will be nursery-bound - -- finally (and thank god, since we've got roughly 3 weeks before labour would be welcome)!
3. My dad popped by to fix some buckling issues that came up with the carpet (seems fine now). While he was at our house and in the playroom working on the carpet Carter came in to see his Pepe (what he calls my dad). My dad is one of Carter's very favourite people, and I'll tell you, though he's a friendly boy who likes almost everyone, his favourites list is pretty short and Mom and Pepe are right at the top. Anyway, he came in to play with my dad and watching the two of them interact is just always one of the best parts of my day.

 

Tuesday was a much better day:
1. I had a prenatal appointment today. Everything looks great and that's always good to hear. It had been exactly 2 weeks since I had last seen my doctor and in that time I gained three pounds and my fundal height measurement (a measurement they do to check the growth of the uterus) has grown 2 cm. The sought after growth is 1 cm per week, so that's perfect. I'm still measuring a bit small at 32 cm for 33 weeks, but as long as I keep growing, it doesn't matter. At the ultrasound the tech said I may just be carrying "compactly," -  like a car. Basically, I'm a compact car. Yes, that sounds about right. (She didn't make that comparison -  that was all me.)
2. My awesome cousin, Nicole, took care of my little mister today. Our sitter had the day off and normally my mom takes him, but she has been dealing with intense back spasms since Saturday, so she couldn't. Carter LOVES cousin Nikki and when he's with her, he's just the happiest little camper. I love how much he loves her and how much she loves him. It makes me indescribably happy.

3. My replacement at work started today so I started training her. Training went well and she catches on quickly, which makes for a relatively easy experience. She seems kind and genuine and I really like her. Also, starting training really makes my quickly approaching mat leave very real. 2 weeks from today. 10 work days left. Crazy. I'm so ready.

100 Happy Days Challenge: Day 45, 46 & 47

I completely spaced and forgot to do my three good things for Friday (Day 45). I got into bed on Saturday night and started writing my positives for that day and for Friday in my phone, and passed out. Then the same darn thing happened on Sunday (and Monday - but I'll do Monday's separately), so we've got four days worth of happiness to cover in two blog posts. Buckle up, folks; it's going to be a long one!

Friday (Day 45):

1. We picked up Carter's Halloween costume from Party City. He's going to be Sully from Monster's Inc. I'm really hoping he tolerates the costume. He's got his own plans and ideas, that boy, so I won't be shocked if he refuses to wear the costume and little hat that comes with it. It's crazy to me that Halloween this year is the day before my due date. I'll either be home with a newborn attached to my boob, while awkwardly trying to hand out candy, not flash anyone, AND keep the new baby warm at the open door, or I'll be very, very pregnant and hoping that some poor child isn't a witness to my water breaking. Either way, Jeff is taking the little lad out trick-or-treating (which will probably only consist visits to a few family members and visiting a couple of houses on our block).

2. In looking for a costume for Carter, we first looked at Toys R Us. They only had superheroes, which I found really annoying. Carter doesn't know the superheroes and, really, does every boy want to be a superhero?? Anyway, while there, if course Carter looked at the toys and found a couple things he liked. We gave him one to play with when he got home and put the rest away for Christmas and his birthday (which is Christmas Eve - poor guy!). We rarely go to a toy store and let him pick out a toy, so it was really fun to do. And getting Christmas shopping done in September is always nice :)

3. Friday was a pretty slow and easy day at work. Fridays are already the best work days, but slow Fridays are even better.

Saturday (Day 46):

*I can't pick just three for this day!

1. I got a lot of housework done. Because we've been in flux with the renos for the playroom and the baby's room, a lot of stuff has been displaced so every room in the house feels extremely messy and disorganized. And because we've been so busy with renos and I'm exhausted, I haven't been keeping up on the day-to-day housework at all. Some rooms would still qualify as complete disaster zones, unsafe for human or Chomper (the feline) entry, but the kitchen, dining room, and living room are no longer embarrassing and it feels good knowing I will get up tomorrow to a cleaner house. Not a clean house; but a cleaner house.

2. A really long email from my soul sister. When she emails me at all, I'm happy, but when she emails me and I scroll up the page to get to the top and I scroll and scroll and scroll – well, that's a winning the lottery kind of day.

3. I took a really good nap. Normally, when Carter naps and I plan on napping as well, I putter around the house for a good 45 minutes first and since he only usually naps for about an hour and a half, by the time I get into bed and wind down, I'd be lucky to get 1/2 hour, which just makes me feel more tired and I usually end up not falling asleep at all. But Saturday, I went right to bed when he did and fell asleep right away. I slept, soundly, for about an hour and a half. It felt amazing. I had a ton more energy for the rest of the afternoon and evening.

4. We converted our Carter-cute-butt to a big boy bed today and he LOVED it. My Aunt was kind enough to lend us the toddler car bed that she used for her son when he was little. We had Carter take part in the process of taking his crib apart and setting up the new bed. We changed around some of the furniture in his room too and it just feels cleaner and fresher in there and I swear he felt that way too. Once we had the bed set up and things moved around, he spent most of the afternoon in there. That says something; he's usually playing in the living room, but he was clearly soaking in his new space :)

5. We had our maternity pictures done this morning. I actually hate getting professional photos taken - never because of the photographer, but always because I find it kind of stressful. I never really like how I look and even if I feel "pretty" before getting to the location for pictures, by the time we get there, or when I look at myself in the pictures, I don't feel like that translated somehow (must be the awesome lighting in my bathroom?? - hey... maybe I should do photo shoots in there!). I also feel like I never know what to wear or how to "style" my family. I'm so plain-jane and fashion and I just don't get along at all. And I also feel like I just don't know how to pose or model so I look awkward in the pictures. With a toddler added to the mix now, his tendency not to cooperate also leads me to the expectation that we are not going to get the kind of photos I envisioned. Nonetheless, I want the pictures and do cherish them once I've got them, so in spite of my photo anxiety, I always book them anyway. This particular day was very cold out and Carter was absolutely NOT cooperative. He was actually the least cooperative he's ever been in a photo shoot before, so I’m not overly confident the photographer was able to get a lot of good shots, but either way, it’s done and I’m glad to cross one more thing off the to-do list.

Sunday (Day 47):

1. In getting the playroom ready for renos, we had to move everything out of it, including furniture we no longer has a use (our old kitchen table from our apartment dwelling days; some bookcases we will no longer need once we custom build shelves in the playroom, etc.). Anyway, the weekend before last, we cleaned everything up and posted it all online for sale. On Sunday, we sold the last of it, which means some extra cash to help pay for all the renovations we're doing and getting furniture we don't use out of our garage, which also needs to be organized before baby boy arrives.

2. My dad came over today to install the carpet in the playroom/new spare room downstairs. I LOVE how it looks and I'm excited to put the finishing touches on the room and get it set up like a real playroom. This also means that we can move the bed out of the spare room and start the work on the nursery. All very good things.

3. Carter spent the day showing his new room and bed off to anyone who asked him about it - my dad, my Aunt, my cousin, and my grandparents. It was the cutest damned thing I've ever seen: he'd grab the person's hand and run with them at top speed down the hallway. When he got to his room he would stop and excitedly point and say either "car" or “bed." I thought I would be sad to transition him out of his crib, but how excited he was just made me grin like an idiot all day. My smile muscles actually hurt. For reals. Maybe part of it is that the crib is being set right back up for a new baby and that's helped me make the transition emotionally. Good lord help me when this second baby moves to a big boy bed. That'll be the last transition we ever make with kids, I'm expecting to shed some tears that time.

Carter's room before.

My brother built this change table! It will be moved into the nursery once the nursery is ready and in its place will be a taller dresser that will take up much less space.

Carter helping dad.

These boys absolutely melt my soul.

Big boy bed, on loan from my awesome Aunt!

Downstairs playroom/spare room - now with carpet, yall!

The cupboard doors obviously need to be put on. Baseboards too :)

100 Happy Days Challenge: Day 44

Yesterday I was prepared to give Carter away to the highest bidder. I'm kidding of course, but my god, he was a holy terror yesterday evening. Today, he redeemed himself, so I think I'll have to pull the ad for "cute toddler, comes with extra toys" off of Kijiji. Anyway, my positives for the day are all related to him.

1. I registered our little lad in gymnastics today. Classes start next week. Let's not talk about the fact that it cost me $173 *%@#&%! dollars and he's only just over two and a half. Bastards.

2. Carter ate a great supper tonight. He loves steamed broccoli. I have a kid who likes broccoli. Who knew such a creature existed? Not me, but I'm happy about it.

3. He got into his bath and went to bed after story time with NO whining. This is a miracle. For serious.

It was just a pleasant evening and I appreciated that. The tough evenings are a little extra tough at nearly 33 weeks pregnant, exhausted, and moody. Thanks, Carter Owen, for bring such a good boy for Mom-Mom.

Extended breastfeeding?

I read this article http://www.mothering.com/articles/breastfeeding-toddlerhood-normal-natural/ and it got me thinking.

I weaned Carter about six weeks before his second birthday. I didn't plan on nursing him until he was almost two. My "plan" was to nurse him until he was one, if I was able. I remember, the day he turned one, nursing him before bed thinking that tomorrow, when he is one year and one day old, he's still the same kid and I'm still the same mom and to stop nursing at that time - simply because he had turned one -- felt arbitrary. So I kept going. I kept going because that's what worked for me and him, and that's what felt right for us. 

I don't think extended nursing is for everyone, and breastfeeding at all isn't for everyone, but we should support moms in their choices either way, knowing they are doing what is best for their particular child and situation. If a mom feels her child is too "old" and it's "weird" for her, don't worry -  she'll stop. If YOU think it's weird, that's got nothing to do with her and her child and my advice is this: then don't do it yourself. Why does everyone have to do things exactly how you would do them? Some people don't like olives, but there's no big stink made when olive-lovers eat them. The concept is the same: if you don't like olives -- good -- don't eat olives. Let the people who do like olives eat them to their heart's content. It has nothing to do with you. I don't know why the situation with extended breastfeeding isn't the same. 

I have no idea how long I will breastfeed the second baby for. If I've learnt anything with Carter, it's that I will make less defined plans and let my baby and the situation dictate my actions and decisions. When it comes to breastfeeding this second baby, I will take it one day at a time and allow whatever feels right to direct me. Maybe I won't make a year. Maybe I'll  nurse past his second birthday. I think it's asinine to make that decision now.

I am not pushing breastfeeding, or extended breastfeeding, I am pushing women supporting women, regardless of the choice they make. Being a mom is hard enough. We all already feel like we're doing the wrong thing half the time, so let's just be kind to one other.

100 Happy Days Challenge: Day 43

1. Seeing our baby boy at our ultrasound and being told be looks healthy and perfect. I can't wait to hold him.

2. Jeff picked up Starbucks for me tonight without even asking. This is the true mark of a good man.

3. My dad picked up the carpet today for the playroom/new spare room and he is putting it in on Sunday. Things are moving along and pretty soon we'll be starting baby's room. I can't wait to wash and put away tiny clothes :)

100 Happy Days Challenge: Day 42

My morning started out like ass, but the rest of the day was great, in part, because of:

1. Cereal. I'm totally addicted lately. The sugary ones. So bad, I know, but my god they are so good!

2. Going through Carter's fall/winter clothes tonight - it's a job I've been putting off, so I'm glad to finally cross it off the to-do list. We have more than enough for the season and it made me feel grateful. There are so many people who struggle to put clothes in their kids, and here we are, with more than enough.

3. My brother, who just started his Masters in Sociology, is crazy brilliant. He sent me a short paper to edit tonight. I took a screen shot because, really, I need to show off how smart he is.

100 Happy Days Challenge: Day 41

Today was awesome because:

1. I went for a massage and it was fan-flippin'-tastic.

2. When I got home, Jeff had just put Carter into bed for the night. Normally, our routine is that Jeff does the bath (usually with me hanging out with the boys in the bathroom). Then Jeff and I get Carter ready for bed together - pj's, teeth brushing, etc.. The final part, though, is usually mine: I read him books and give him good bedtime cuddles and actually put him to bed. Jeff said that at the end of the books, Carter kept saying "Mum? Mum?" It kills me, both in a good and bad way, when he asks or looks for me. I know he's fine, but it breaks my heart a little when he asks for me and I'm not there. On the other hand, it melts my heart to know that he misses his Mama. I know he doesn't understand what love is yet, but when he does stuff like that, it makes me feel loved.

3.I got a ton of laundry put away today. I know this shouldn't be a positive, but I have to count it as a win because, sometimes, people, just getting the damned laundry done counts as a victory!

100 Happy Days Challenge: Day 40

Yesterday was awesome because:

1. Mom and I took Carter to beach and met up with my Aunt, Uncle, and cousin. He LOVES the beach. He loves playing in the sand, playing in the water - just everything about it. Seeing him be so excited and happy made my day.

2. It was so hot yesterday! Winter, it is a comin' and this is a seriously depressing thought for most of us in this province. Our summers are hot, and, usually, pretty kick-ass, but this summer was especially short, and coming off of a very long winter, a shorter-than-average summer really felt like a rip off. I baked in the sun yesterday fully aware that it was likely the last "summer" day we'll really get. We may have nice fall days, but summer, as we would like to know it, is likely over.

3. The playroom/spare room is fully painted. Now that all four walls are done, I'm not sure how I feel about my decision to do three colours on the four walls and the baseboards and cupboards in yellow. Maybe once the room is more "done" I will feel better about it, It's a little much, I think, but there's no going back now, so I'm just going to have to love and embrace it for the craziness that it is!

100 Happy Days Challenge: Day 39

Today was awesome because :

1. This bump is 32 weeks today :) crazy to think that in five weeks, baby will be full-term and in 8 weeks, he might already be here to receive my thousand kisses a day. 

2. We are selling a bunch of furniture - bookcases, the table we used to use in our apartment, etc. I cleaned it all up today and posted it online for sale. No guarantee that it will sell, of course, but happy to have gotten that job done and crossed off the long list of things to do pre-baby.

3. The playroom is coming along and I love our paint colour choices!

The yellow will be on the baseboards, window casing, and cabinets.

The backsplash and what little of wall there is here (between the cupboards and the door) will be blue.

The wall with the window will also be blue - so there will be 2 blue walls, opposite each other. The opposing walls will be this purple and the other, a green.

100 Happy Days Challenge: Day 38

1. More progress on the playroom/new spare room; the ceiling has been painted. By the end of the weekend, all walls should be painted. I'm so so so grateful for my dad's help!
2. Pizza supper with my family. I laughed so hard at some of our stupid conversations, that I thought I'd go into labour. Those belly laughs are so good for the soul.
3. Carter had the most fun with his crazy uncles. He seriously tore around the house with his diapered ass. He's a lucky lad to have those two goofy guys.

100 Happy Days Challenge: Day 37

My three positives for yesterday (day 37):

1. The painting of the spare room downstairs is underway! This is important because, as you may remember, the spare room upstairs will become the baby's nursery, so the queen bed that's in there needs a new home. This led to our decision to convert the room downstairs to a playroom/spare room. Once this room has been painted and carpet has been installed, the bed can be moved down there, leaving baby's room ready for paint, laminate, and mommy decorating action.

I meant to take before photos of the room downstairs, but I got lazy. I will do a separate blog post on the progress of the room(s), but I'm really excited to see how they look when they are finished!

2. This is another general one, but yesterday I felt supremely grateful for the stability in my life. Sometimes, hearing about other people's unfortunate situations and bad choices really puts things into perspective. I was reminded yesterday that not everyone has stability in their lives, in their relationships, and for their littlest people, and it makes me sad for them, and even more thankful for the life that I have and the life that, together, Jeff and I strive to give to Carter.

I used to work at a law firm and so many of the clients and their stories/bad decisions always served as reminders to me that my life was pretty darned great. I remember reading one file in particular. A young woman was higher than a kite on something, took off all of her clothes and broke into an apartment building. She was arrested. She was picked up by the police -- naked as a jay bird. I remember looking at the date on which the incident had occurred and on my calendar I had written "dinner with Krystal and fam." My best friend and her two kids (she only had the two munchkins then) had come over for supper and that was how I spent that evening. Drinking coffee and visiting with family. It felt like one of those profound moments where how blessed you are really hits you.

3. Flowing from #2 - I'm thankful that I have a partner who is so committed to the life that we have built and who is committed to working with me to keep it stable - both for him, me, and our children. I am so deeply in love with this man; I am so thankful he chose me; and I'm so thankful that he was the choice I made. He spent his evening last night working with my dad on the playroom/spare room downstairs. It must sound so ridiculous of me to say that knowing this, thinking about it, makes me emotional, but it does. When I think of the other people/men in the world who chose to do something other than putting their family first, it really highlights for me that this is not the kind of man I married. I married the kind of man who puts me first. Always. Every damned time. He puts Carter first. And he puts the baby, growing inside my belly, first. And he's mine.

 

I HATE the phrase "man up," for a lot of reasons that will, someday, be laid out in a blog post. What does it mean to be a "man." I will admit - I don't really know. But whatever it means, I think it's safe to say that Jeff's got it covered.

 

 

 

100 Happy Days Challenge: Day 36

1. The older of my two younger brothers, Curtis, had his first class at the University today.  What is he taking you ask? Well, I'll tell you: he's doing his MASTERS degree in Sociology. And I'm pretty freakin' proud of this crazy smart man-child.

2. The younger of my two younger brothers, Joel, came over for supper tonight because we hadn't seen him in a couple of weeks and he just got back from Vegas. It was a good visit and I was uber happy to see him.

Left to right: Curtis, me, Joel. Photo taken in 2009. This is our "smile like kids" picture. 

3. I've been feeling a bit nervous about the size of my baby bump lately. It feels smaller and then my paranoia was fed when, after three weeks in between prenatal appointments, I had only grown 1cm (not the 1 cm per week that they are looking for). Though the doctors weren't concerned, because I was "still growing" I was feeling rather anxious about it. Anyway, I went to the doctor today and I've grown 1cm in exactly one week and gained 1.2 pounds (they look for roughly one pound per week). I figure, even if I'm a bit behind where they would like me to be in size, they certainly aren't worried, and the fact that I'm still growing means baby is still growing, and that's all I'm really lookin' for at this point :)

100 Happy Days Challenge: Day 35

I forgot to post my three positives from yesterday. Do we see a theme of forgetfulness emerging here?

1. Having a long, warm bath at the end of the day. There is something about a bath that makes a woman feel pampered, and let me tell ya’ll, it’s been too long since I’ve been pampered!

2. Hearing how much Carter’s speech has improved in the last month. People are commenting on it. The last appointment at speech therapy went really well and she said she’s really happy with where he’s at.

3. I can’t think of anything in specific that happened during the day to post about, so I will just generally say: our house. I LOVE our house. A lot. We have been in it since the summer of 2010 and though there are a couple things I would change, it feels “us” and has since the moment we stepped inside of it. It was – I think – the 14^th house we looked at when we were house-hunting and though there were a couple other houses that we had thought might work, we weren’t really “in love.” To be honest, though, I didn’t expect to get an overwhelming since of “this is the one.” Boy, was I wrong.

At a fitting.

I remember, when I got engaged, people telling me that when it came to finding the right wedding dress, I would know “the one” when I put it on. Pffft. Are you effing kidding me? I had favourites, of course, but I loved a bunch of them. There was no “the one.” Nothing more than a process of ruthless elimination finally brought me to a decision.

The big day.

Anyway, I specifically remember the night we looked at our house for the first time. We met the realtor at one of the houses we were looking at and she gave us the list of houses we would be viewing that night. This house wasn’t on our list, but she handed the sheet over to us saying that, just this morning, the owner dropped the price down and it was now within our price range. The outside, which is outdated looking, didn’t impress me, so I’m sure I made a spoiled *ugh, fine – I guess I’ll look* face. We got to the house and walking up the driveway, I’m pretty sure I was still giving the outside the stink eye.

Then we walked inside.

I swear, I must have looked like a kid in a candy store. Not that our house is amazing, by any stretch, but something about it instantly felt like home. Before we moved from the landing I said “Oh my God” out loud. I couldn’t tell you what it was about the house, but I was immediately sold.

As our walk through the house concluded, I stood in the dining room and said, “I can picture Christmas in this house.” I hadn't been able to picture our future in any of the previous houses we had looked at. I remember looking at the landing and thinking that, maybe someday, I would be helping our child put his or her backpack on there and walking them to the school that’s just down the block. I kept that little tidbit to myself.

We made an offer and it was accepted that night. It was one of the happiest nights of my life.

So many people are buying these brand new houses, or are building, and there’s a part of me that feels lame for not participating in the “keeping up with the Jones.” But, honestly, I don’t know that we’ll ever move. Maybe it’s dumb to feel blessed at how much I love having the house that we do, but it’s my truth.

Dumb or not, I’m just going to relish in it J

100 Happy Days Challenge: Day 34

My three positives for yesterday:
1. Enjoying the holiday today by accomplishing virtually nothing.
2. Knowing that the work week ahead is a short one.
3. My awesome husband let me have a lazy day. He played with Carter outside, cooked lasagna for supper, cleaned the kitchen, and got a bunch of things done to prep the room downstairs for paint. I was totally useless today and he was amazing.