Life Lately

Coming back home after my trip to Anchorage was a bit nerve wracking. I knew we only had a few days of vacation before Josh would be heading back to work after three weeks at home, and I was nervous my anxiety would rear its ugly head when he returned.  

Thankfully, that has not been the case.  With my medication, counseling, hypnosis track (thank you, Jessica!) my journaling, emailing and texting friends when needed, I have managed to find myself better than I've been in a while.  Also, Josh and I started working out together every morning.  It makes a HUGE difference in how my day starts. We wake up together, before the kids, and exercise. It's a nice chance to talk and spend time together before the kids wake up and all hell breaks loose.

Each day I make all the beds upstairs, plug in "smell goods" (AKA Scentsy plug ins), play happy music and get completely ready for the day (dressed, do my hair, make up and wear jewelry). It's amazing what those little things do for my psyche as I begin each morning.

I have also been making sure I take time to read a novel for pleasure each day.  It was hard at first, but now I look forward to it.  I just finished The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty, and have started The Hypnotist's Love Story, also by Liane Moriarty.  I have a stack of books that I will be blogging about soon that I am excited to get started on.

Aside from focusing on self care (which is obviously really important right now!) I have also been focused on giving back to my family, who has been so amazing at putting up with me.  I find that I missed taking care of Josh-- I missed making him food, welcoming him home, and cooking dinner for our family.  It's so nice to be able to do these things again.

I have also been paying special attention to our boys.  Just a few days away, and I feel like I am seeing them with new eyes. Everything they say is adorable. Everything they think is brilliant.

I love how the twins call wolves "woofs", and they call barking "roofing". 

I love how excited they get when I let them watch grown up TV shows.  We love Alaska shows: The Last Frontier, Gold Rush, Bering Sea Gold, Mountain Men.  We love cooking shows: Chopped, The Pioneer Woman.  We love house shows: Love It or List It, Property brothers (hello, handsome identical twins!).  They particularly love Gold Rush and just this morning they saw a commercial and were like, "Mom! It's a new one! This Friday!!!" So cute!

Wyatt's been sick, just a cold, and I have to say, he has been so good about the nose sucker.  He still can't blow his nose like the older boys can, so I use that before he goes down for naps or bedtime to try and get his nose working.  A few nights ago when I was laying the boys down for bed, Jack told me in a serious voice, "Mom. I made a bad choice. I put water in that thing you use for Wyatt and I drank out of it. I think that's why I'm getting sick." Oh.my.god. I almost threw up. I thought for sure he was talking about the nose sucker (you know, the blue things they send you home from the hospital with?)... Thankfully, he continued on, "You know, the shooter you use for his medicine? There was one in the bathroom and I filled it with water." I breathed a sigh of relief. They were clean, had not been used, just empty medicine shooters. I can only imagine what my face looked like when I thought it was the nose sucker!!!

Logan has started telling Wyatt stories.  They start with "Once upon a time" and usually end with some kind of exciting violence. Often an alien or witch is involved. At the end Wyatt says, "Ooh, Logan! That was a scary story!" all excitedly.

Wyatt likes telling stories now, too. When we're in the rocking chair he'll ask me if he can tell me "one more story?" with his pointer finger up, indicating one.  "Once upon a time there were bad guys on Dora." Or "Once upon a time there was a robot and a witch." That's about it. But his face is so earnest!

The twins love to hug him, kiss his forehead when he's going to bed.  It is so sweet.  And Wyatt is still telling me every night that he's so happy I'm home.  Melts my heart!

Wyatt's prayer the night I came home was this:

Dear God, thank you that mommy's heart is all better. Thank you that she was brave on the airplane. Thank you that she came home to me. Please bless her. Give her blessings. In Jesus Name, Amen.

Seriously, the kid slays me.

When he gives me snuggles at bedtime, he'll ask me, "I'm a sweet boy, am I mom?" I love how he says it, and will be a little sad when he corrects his English.

He always tells me, "You're a nice mom." Or "You're the best mom ever!" I don't know where he got that from, but I don't question it. It feels good to hear!  

And it feels good to be back.

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