Welcome back! Updates on Life Lately
Note: Now that there will be two children to distinguish between in my writing here, it seems easier and appropriate to use proper names instead of more general references (i.e. toddler, tiny human, child, etc). That said, I’m not comfortable using their real names in an online space.
From here on you’ll find that my oldest, a daughter, is called Louisa, and my youngest, a son who we look forward to welcoming in a few months, is called Otto. There’s no significance to these names other than they don’t match their birth certificates. They are simply names I like, and it’s a way to both share my stories and respect the future telling of their own stories.
It’s mid-February! I finally signed into this space again after months of hiatus, and realized I haven’t written anything since early October. So it goes when pregnancy is harder than anticipated, the two and a half year old has endless needs and questions, and good sleep is not guaranteed.
Four (plus) months later, I’m excited to dive back into writing, if only for my own enjoyment and discovery. It’s an outlet that I’ve missed. I could have pushed myself to do something here at points during the past several months, but I opted out, often choosing rest for my mind and body instead. I don’t regret those choices, but writing even a few words reminds me that this, too, is good for my mind and body.
When my second tiny human arrives in May, I’m sure there will be another period without this outlet, but in the meantime I’m re-committing to a few words each morning and a published post or two each week.
What have we been up to these past few months?
So far, Little A has had a great year in the two-year-old room at her preschool, and she has fully committed herself to playing pretend, coloring, and endless chit-chat.
We spent a couple weeks with my in-laws in Arizona back in the fall, including Halloween morning at the Children's Museum with a toddler-sized Olaf.
We enjoyed Thanksgiving and Christmas with family nearby, no flying involved.
We tackled New Year’s goal aggressively in January and remain quite committed, even in this second month of the year; I’ve done DuoLingo Spanish practice every day since the new year began, practiced yoga more days than not, and am seeing progress in my daily patience.
We’ve busily checked off a number of partially-completed home projects, including a purged and organized storage closet (mostly containing baby things), a re-vamped kitchen pantry, curtains hung in the guest room, and sorted grade school/high school/college memorabilia.
Last, but certainly not least, Little A no longer uses a crib or diapers. She’s the proud inhabitant of a big girl bed in a new bedroom with a drawer full of underwear.e
There’s something satisfying about recounting the experiences of several months. Many of those days felt extremely long and unproductive, but the big picture feels more like time well-spent.
Coming up, I’ll recount some more Big Adventures for Tiny Humans, snapshots of past travel adventures, musings on parenting, progress on goals, projects and nesting around the house, and a few things that are inspiring and uplifting me lately. I’ve already loved looking back on some of the things I wrote last year, so I’m hopeful that these reflections will be fun for me to revisit down the road. If anyone else reads them and enjoys, that’s a happy bonus.
