January: we’ve spent half of it fighting off some kind of cold and the other part of it with friends. I was so excited about getting back into our routine post-holidays that we probably over did it, but that is kind of how it is sometimes. I love spending my days with my Evie girl and I feel like toddler life is a pretty good life.
I’m linking up with Anne in Residence.
I’m currently…
preparing
lessons for nursery at church. I was asked to be one of the nursery leaders for the 18 month old to 3 year olds at church. I had this church assignment in Georgia and it is a totally different ball game in our church here. For one, there just aren’t that many kids in that age range here. For two, there is a really nice classroom set up; we have a stocked cabinet (with a lock!) for supplies and snacks, a toddler sized bathroom, and a separate playroom that makes it much easier to teach the kiddos a fast lesson during snack times.
The thing I haven’t said yet though that makes our Sunday a ton easier is: Evie gets to come in with me! She would have gone to nursery this summer, but she has LOVED being in nursery earlier than that. I’ve been really amazed at how she just fits right in, how she sits and eats snacks with the other kiddos, and how much I can tell she is already absorbing of the lesson. I’ve enjoyed teaching her so much that we’ve started listening to primary songs every morning when we eat breakfast as part of our “family scripture study” for her age.
wearing
the clothes in my closet. Duh, right? This past fall, I invested in some new clothes from my favorite online consignment shop. I’ve really just been trying different ways to mix and match the items now. Both this cardigan + the dress come from there. I’m now saving up for summer. I need items that don’t need any type of layering because it gets pretty warm here in northern Virginia and we spend a lot of time outside. (Also, our room is messy in this photo and our mirror is very baby smudged. Real life, am I right?)
tasting
this chip dip recipe for super bowl Sunday (I just updated the photos for it too + have an incoming recipe video for it!). We’ve had a roommate, Becky, since November and it was fun for all of us to snack on our football buffet with Evie. E enjoyed a platter of cut up chicken nuggets, veggies, and cheese.
Also… sushi. I had a mama’s lunch out on Martin Luther King day at my favorite sushi buffet here. It was fun talking about the light hearted as well as some things we’re experiencing/ struggling with. I really appreciate that I see the full spectrum and people are vulnerable with their struggles. I’m all about that.
Also… going to one of my favorite restaurants with another group of my gal pals. We began talking about how if we had met pre-babies that we would be going to restaurants like this all of the time, but then I reminded them that we would have never met otherwise.
Needless to say, after all of that food eating, I had no budget for the rest of the month for my personal spending and we ate a lot of sandwiches for the rest of the month. I’ve been lucky to have so many people to share being a mom with.
RELATED // moving to a new city as a SAHM
embracing
the chaos that comes from not knowing whether Evie will want one nap or two naps on the daily. When we came back from Christmas, she acted like she wanted one nap, but it was a sleep regression. Now that another month has passed, I think we’re officially moving towards one nap. What I learned from having a one nap week a month ago? It is much easier to go out and do things, but she overall sleeps about one hour less during the day which means less mama time haha.
loving
I hosted a bounce house Taco day at our house for Evie and her baby friends. Honestly, it was hysterical watching babies experience a bounce house for the first time. Someone at church was selling their bounce house for $50 and I snatched it up.
That same week, Devin through out his back and then I started having pretty bad inflammation from my autoimmune illness that week. I decided it was time to get serious again about exercising better to deal with my chronic pain/ muscle tightness. I ended up canceling my gym membership and getting an app called openfit.
I LOVE my workout app! I’ve been exercising a lot and Evie gets to see me exercise which I love. They have live classes as well as pre-recorded ones that I just cast to our TV. In the live classes that they pretty much all day, they greet you when you log on for the class and send you a follow up text. I’ve done both types of classes so far and really enjoy that I can just be wearing whatever (which let’s be honest, you cannot wear whatever at a nice gym).
Bonus: the app is less than $9 a month too so I’m saving a lot of money. It is nice to see my watch tracking my exercise again haha!
changing
my plans on having a necklace to represent my word of the year. E was way too interested in my necklace and it was hurting my neck a lot when she would pull it. I wear my necklace sometimes, like in the outfit picture I shared above. However, I ended up ordering a bracelet from this etsy store and it has been perfect! I’ll probably wear a bracelet for my word of the year from here on out because it fits my lifestyle a lot better.
January was a good month. I’m appreciative to be able to reflect on the blessings I had during it. Life is good being a mama.