Life Lately
I’m coming at you from newborn land.
Its a beautiful and blessed place to be. In my experience, newborn land has been a very different season with each child.
With Luke I felt the waves of emotion about the massive changes in our lifestyle. I felt everything so intense. It took me months to adjust. With Elizabeth, the transition period was less jarring and now with Evelyn, blessed baby number three, I feel like I have my footing.
By have my footing, I mean I have relaxed into my own motherhood journey with confidence. I feel all the emotions but I allow them to wash over me. I allow my home to be in chaos around me, I choose what is important for me to spend time on, when I have little breaks from holding my newborn and I embrace the season of holding and nursing a newborn for hours on end, with open arms.
Tyler and I encourage each other daily with affirmations like “we are doing it” “you are a great dad” “you are a great mom” “I am proud of you” and take turn loving up on Luke and Lizzy and snuggling our newborn. We are aware of the chaos that swirls around us daily but we have learned how to live in it. We have also been together long enough to recognize when either one of us needs a break and we honour that by making space for the other person. We don’t keep track of who had this much time to themselves but simply offer the space to breathe, back and forth, when the other seems a little out of breath.
Tyler is doing more cooking and I am loving it.
Our homeschool routine is not much of a routine these days but we are squeezing in lessons when we can. Luke and Lizzy play for hours in our backyard while I sit in a glider looking out the sliding door, nursing Evelyn and rocking her to sleep.
I still work. I work while I nurse and while the kids play and nap. I work in a messy house, I workout in a messy house. While piles of clean laundry wait to be folded, I carefully choose how to spend my little pockets of handsfree time without guilt. This is my homemaker journey, I am claiming it and making it what I want it to be.
Luke has become more independent over the last five weeks. I can see him surveying situations and recognizing areas where he can help. He is often up with Evelyn and I early in the morning. We all snuggle on the couch together and watch TV while I feed Eve and then Luke likes to hold her while I make smoothies and coffee.
Elizabeth loves to snuggle her sister too. Lizzy has started to show me more affection, maybe because I cant do as much for her as I normally do and she is feeling that distance.
In the newborn phase I always find myself missing Tyler a bit, even though we are together so much, we do not have very much one on one time. Before Evelyn was born, Tyler and I would hang out on the couch at the end of the day and watch TV or chat about our days. Now we do the same but there is a beautiful little lady being passed back and forth between us, as I nurse her and Tyler snuggles her.
I have learned now that each phase in parenthood is fleeting, it only lasts for so long. So while some pieces of each season may feel challenging, I need to do my best to just cherish it because I am only a short while from things changing again.
Much love from over here in newborn land,
Heather
