Welcome to My Home Winter -- Part 1

Hey y'all,

Ok first order of business is to brag about the fact that both my kids are sleeping through the night -- one is a year old and the other is three weeks old today.
(To be fair, Katie has been sleeping through the night for the last ten months.
Because we're awesome and amazing parents like that.)

(Totally just kidding. Don't come to me expecting a cut and dried formula for inducing babies because I don't honestly know how this is happening.)


Next up on the agenda: You guys want to come visit my home and take a peek inside my door? Don't worry, you don't have to drive miles to do so. I got to thinking: A lot of you (that I know personally) have mentioned wanting to come for a visit, but either live too far or find yourselves incredibly busy -- especially now that we have entered into the holiday season.
Thus I thought I could give a virtual tour within a series of blogposts.

(Since it is the Christmas season, I should make a note here that the decor you will see is not up year-round, and we also moved some furniture around to make said decor work.)
Hopefully I will [remember and] find the time to come back each season with a fresh tour just to stay current.


Without further adieu:

Entering through the front door from our front porch you will find yourself standing in our living room.

Sorry, the dog rushed in thinking I was opening the door to invite her. *rolls eyes*

This is the view you will have from the front door.

Obviously I really don't care about the mess. (So those of you who are coming for a visit and you tell me "don't worry about cleaning up" -- no worries. I have two babies now and one is a toddler at last; I don't possess the patience it requires to clean up toys that are just going to be drug out behind my back as I go along. Just keeping it real.)

I'm also going to use these "welcome to our home" posts to brag about wonderful furnishing finds -- because 98% of everything you will see is used.

In the above picture:

The piano was given free to us. A wonderful church friend of my mom's who has watched me go through some growing seasons of my life gave it to us when she inherited her family's heirloom piano. She knew I loved to play, but did not have access to an instrument. With all of its years of "love marks", it will always be a treasure in our home.

The far chair you see by the Christmas tree is made of bamboo. My dad's parents have kept it in storage for years and were cleaning out late this summer. They asked me if I wanted it and of course I said yes!! Got a visit from beloved family that lives in Ohio, and a unique chair that reclines and has served many years of comfort to my family.

Here is what you will see from that opposite doorway (that actually has some gloriously original french doors that separate the living from the dining room).

In this picture I want to brag about:

The rug we got used from a local older lady. We gave her $85 for it and it had never seen a stain or an animal in its life. It didn't even smell, guys.

The couch we actually just acquired this last week. It is exactly what I have been holding out for for the last six months. Had come to terms with the fact we were going to have to majorly splurge on this item (couches, even small ones, are $$$).

My mother in law texted me out of the blue with a link to this used couch on Facebook for $180, located roughly two hours from here. Again: older couple who had it sitting in a sun room. It looks (and smells) as good as new. The only day we were allowed to pick up happened to be Katie's birthday, and just roughly a week after I had given birth. My wonderful mother in law drove the two hours to inspect and pick it up for us early that morning and still made it in time for the birthday party. What a wonderful gift to us. *heart*

The coffee table is actually a fun story:

My mom ordered it off of Wayfair.com for her living room. It arrived and there was only the top of the table, the legs were nowhere to be found. Thus she contacted customer service, and without further questioning, they sent her another of the same coffee table. (5***** customer service.)

The duplicate table arrived -- exactly the same way: no legs.

Mom was about to contact customer service again when one of my younger brothers suddenly discovered a zipper compartment in the bottom of the table where the legs were stored. 

Thus Jacob and I ended up with a free upholstered coffee table -- perfect for toddling children.

Also note: I got that extending floor lamp for $5. SHOP LOCALLY USED, PEOPLE.

This is your view if you were that $5 floor lamp. 

The only thing I will note here is that today was Mason's first intentional tummy time. He surprised me by holding his head up just fine and even turning it from side to side to look around.

(He can also be seen sleeping in that swing over there.)

And of course I had to get a picture of the mantel. 

Obviously we are still on the hunt for the perfect stocking for little Mason.

Probably one of the things I am most proud of in my living room is how we figured out our tv cables and cords situation: a tiered filing rack mounted to the wall to hold both cable box and PlayStation (which we use to watch Netflix, etc). 

Jacob strategically hid all of the cords behind the mounted television. I love that man.

Also: *squee!* for a real fireplace and mantel this year!! 

In our old house we only had a cast iron wood-burning stove placed on a massive brick hearth in an open-concept floor plan -- open concept as in the whole house was basically one room. Really neat, but creatively challenging. 

So concludes the tour of my living room. I hop you like it as much as I do.

If I had to pick three favorite things about this room (because I abhor choosing just one):

1. The real fireplace (what can I say? I'm in love.)
2. Our new (to us) couch and the fact that our whole (tiny) family can snuggle on it at the same time while watching a movie or reading a bedtime story.
3. It's the first room you enter into. I want my guests -- any guests -- to feel welcome and homey, even if they're just standing in my front doorway for a chat. Having the living room right at the front door helps with that, I think.

Excuse me, a certain missy has thrown her pacifier as an excuse to not take a morning nap.... (as a mommy, your hearing becomes exquisite at detecting such things over a monitor). 

The Last 24 Hours in the Form of Multiple Lists

Productive Things Accomplished:

1.  Clothes laundry is caught up. (In full disclosure: that says nothing for sheets, towels, etc. It also doesn't necessarily mean I've folded and put away that last load in the dryer -- because I haven't.)
2. Mason is eating every 4 hours vs every 2.5-3. Can I get a what?? what?? from all the mommies out there!
3. A bunch of random things have been tidied around my house -- such as the walker and play pen (both are now in Mason's nursery as we don't use either anymore) (though I'm sure we'll be revisiting the play pen very soon), all of the hospital bags have finally been unpacked (the last one may be currently dumped all over my bed, but the bag itself is empty nevertheless), and the desk with the last two months' worth of finances and receipts and mail is *cleaned up (*all shoved into drawers and cabinets; but hey -- at least we can see the desk top now).
4. Also I want to add the fact that there is a roast in the crockpot on time this evening for dinner. High fives all around.
5. Oh! Also I wrote 1,000 words in a document for a story idea! I finally see a little of myself peeking out from behind this exhausted mom-form with the dark circles and spit-up-covered sweater.

Disappointments Experienced:

1. Waking up. (ha ha -- no but seriously, waking up multiple times a night for nearly an hour each time: you can pretty much chalk up any sleep you did get as hardly counting toward your deficit in this area).
2. My mac and cheese was expired and I really wanted mac and cheese. *crying*
3. My brother and sister are home from college for the holiday weekend; we went to my in laws' for the holiday, and I've been consoling myself/holding onto my sanity this week with the promise that I would spend the Iron Bowl (football) at my parents' with them on Saturday while hubby was at work -- BUT MY MOM TEXTED ME TODAY THAT MY BROTHER IS SICK AND I HAVE BABIES TO THINK OF. *now majorly crying*

Things that Melted my Heart:

1. Watching my little girl's eyes flutter closed as she fell asleep during morning nap. (Although she is now screaming, refusing to go down for afternoon nap. She probably threw her pacifier and all the wipes and diapers on the floor, too. Fun Fun.)
2. My son's blue-like-his-grandpa's eyes. They. Are. Gorgeous. And so is he. Totally biased, I know.
3. The fact my husband actually texted me when he was leaving work on time today! (kidding but not really)

Things I Need Right This Second:

1. Chocolate. Always chocolate.
2. Socks on my cold bare feet.
3. About 10 straight hours of sleep and less coffee. (Sure, that oughta do it.)

Things I've realized:

1. It's time to put a lid on our trashcan as we've now gone from eating food off the floor to eating food out of the garbage can. (And when I say "we" I mean the toddler.)
2. Holy goodness -- Thanksgiving is over and it's officially the Christmas season once again!!
3. I am totally kicking butt at this whole "mom to two babies" thing -- and I'm not afraid to pat myself on the back for that. (Really, I'm just constantly breathing a relieved prayer of thanks because I totally know it is not because I am all here with all patience -- because anybody will tell you that is not me. Babies are totally not my thing.) (Stop saying "totally", Sam -- you're 22, not 14.)

The End of My Maternity Leave From Blogging (Maybe)

Hey y'all,

Update time!

Yeah, I know it's been a while; but I promise you for good reason:

On November 7th I became a mommy of two.

World, meet Mason Tyler.

We also celebrated my oldest child's first birthday just days later (ok, on the 19th).

I would like to note here that my neighbor has a cake business and makes THE BEST cakes.
Also, her birthday is the same as Katie's; and she made the cupcakes at my last minute request.
Ms. Linda, you're dabomb.com.

I've also figured out how to make mocha's at home (the only coffee I really like) therefore unlimited energy and power is all mine (in theory anyway) -- mwahaha. (Like, that's how bad the energy level was being depleted now that I have TWO babies: I actually googled how to make a mocha. It sounds more pathetic than it probably is.)

And after last year's disastrous attempt at postpartum recovery (I hit up three Thanksgivings after being home from the hospital with my first baby for less than 24 hours), my mom and my hubby have me on strict house and couch arrest.
Therefore I feel super accomplished at just getting the bottles off of the counter

(which should have been done weeks ago) and keeping my kitchen clean on an almost-daily basis and my laundry semi-consistently running.

One baby is taking a nap in her room and the other is napping in my arms as I type this -- and I'm supposed to be napping anywhere at all.

Perhaps we'll cover birth story another time.

Happy Thanksgiving!