Around Here: Week 42 {2018}

{How is she even real?!?}

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Spending... Saturday morning by myself as Josh took all four kids out to the land to visit his parents while they were in town. It was a lovely (much needed) break after a week of not being able to work out because of my silly broken toe!  (It's amazing how much working out releases my pent up stress and makes me a better parent!)
I spent my break time journaling and reading and enjoying the quiet.  It was crazy-windy that morning and we actually ended up losing power for the entire day (from about 10am until 5pm), which forced us all to slow down and relax for the day.

Celebrating... Halloween a little early with a fun fair in Wenatchee with my sister and her kids.  The kids wore their costumes (all except Jack, who seemed shy/embarrassed about wearing his, I'm not sure why) and played games to earn candy.  The weather was gorgeous and it was a really fun way to spend the day.

Making... apple crisp for the first time (ever) with Samuel since Uncle Paul and Aunt Lynne brought us bags and bags of fresh apples.  The crisp was crazy-good and the kids loved it.  Up next is a batch of apple cake with caramel frosting for my beloved husband, and maybe some apple muffins for the kids. Yum!

Thankful... that everyone was healthy this week!  All the kids have gone to school each day, and Josh and I have been healthy as well.  It feels like such a sweet blessing and one that I do not take for granted!

Riding... bikes to school this week since walking is out of the question.  Josh fixed up my bike and Wyatt's (we had flat tires) so that we can ride!  He hooked up Carly's bike trailer and I bundle her up each morning, and off we go!  She loves it, as do Wyatt and I.  My thighs burn for most of the ride (#truth ha!) but I feel like a kid again riding a bike, and riding doesn't hurt my broken toe at all!  It's also nice because the mornings are cold here now (between 28 and 35 degrees) and riding is much quicker than walking! (P.S.- thanks for the bike, mom & dad!!!)

Weighing... down another pound at 165, meaning I have lost 35 pounds now since January.  I am so darn proud of myself for eating so healthy and continuing to lose this week despite the small setback of my toe. I am hoping to lose another pound so that I will have lost 36 pounds by my 36th birthday (November 18th), but at this rate, I may even lose closer to 40 pounds by then.  Woot woot!

Loving... the feeling of the house after dinner is done and the kids are in bed and the house is tidied for the night.  I've been lighting candles lately, and there's something about a clean table and a lit candle that just satisfies my soul.

Reading... and finishing An American Marriage on audio, which I wasn't sure about at first, but which I loved by the end.  I also finished listening to Hillbilly Elegy, which was absolutely fascinating. I didn't want to turn it off each time I listened. I finished reading my Book of the Month book, A Mother's Reckoning, which was, of course, a sad read (it's written by the mother of Dylan Klebold, one of the shooters at Columbine High School) but it was also insightful and illuminating about brain illness and taught me a lot about depression and suicide awareness and was just a really fascinating read.  I highly recommend it.
So now I am listening to Love Does by Bob Goff, which was our book club book a few months ago, which I missed reading thanks to #life, and I am reading Grace (Eventually) by Anne Lamott, whom I love (!). I am like five pages in, and already I'm underlining stuff.  Ha!  Our next book club read is The Prince of Tides, which is coming from Amazon, so as soon as that gets here, it will take precedence and I'll get reading!
I am super excited because I have already read (and listened to) 8 books altogether this month, thanks to my social media break, and I have almost hit my 60 book goal for the year, and I've still got ten weeks left in the year! I'm thinking I might add (at least) another 10 books onto my goal, making it 70 for the year.  Heck! I wonder if I could read 80!!! (I really am SUCH a nerd! Hahah!)

Savoring... the slow life.  Compared to how we ended last year, this year is so simple, and I am loving it.  At the end of last year, I was watching some friends kids a few days a week after school; the boys were in baseball; and I was working for VIPkid, waking up at 3:30am many mornings a week.  Now, there is none of that. It's just me doing the kids, and Josh going to work.  In the last two months, I feel like I have been able to catch up on the house, myself (mentally & physically) and really embrace my role as homemaker.  I am so happy, and feel so light and free.  It's the best feeling ever.  I wouldn't trade it for anything.

"We're a culture of people

who've bought into the idea

that if we stay busy enough

the truth of our lives won't

catch up with us."

-Brene Brown

I love this quote.  I wrote it in my journal a few months ago.  The more often I see it there, the more truth I find in it.  As I have slowed down, stepping away from busyness, away from social media (this month, anyway), and away from constant motion, I have discovered the truth of my life, which is that this is it.  This day, this regular, blue sky Friday, with Carly playing Legos on the living room rug, is my life.  And I don't want to take a single second of it for granted.  So no matter what's going on- if Wyatt's having asthma, if I have broken my stupid toe walking down the hallway- I want to spend my days finding joy. Choosing joy.  Manifesting joy.  Even amongst the mess.  I hope you all can go forth & do the same!

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Around Here: Week 28 {2018}

 

Reading... and finishing The Book of Essie, The Stranger in the Woods and Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine.  I started Disappeared on audio and am finishing Four Seasons in Rome.  Then I plan to start This Is How It Always Is.  I got to choose my Book of the Month book for July and I chose Ghosted.  I also chose a bonus book, Goodbye, Vitamin, which I have heard good things about.  I can't wait to get my hands on them!

Feeling... so proud of my boys for forming a book club together with me.  It was all their idea, and they are hoping to read 600 minutes total by the end of summer.  They named it The Cunningham Book Club, or "CBC" for short.  We aren't reading the same books, we just get together to read at 7:00pm (bedtime) every night in the boys' room.  I bring whatever I'm reading and they bring what they're reading and we snuggle together and read.  It's so enjoyable. 

Swimming... at the pool with the kids twice this week before they headed out of town for Grandma's Camp.  I just love the relaxed vibe at the pool.  They play music over the loudspeakers, and the warmth of the sun makes the water so inviting... it's just my favorite place to be with the kids in the summer.

Laughing... hysterically as I tried to get Jack into my lap so I could hold him like a baby after bedtime stories one night when he was pretending to be asleep.  Carly thought it was hilarious and later Josh and I commented how we really can't believe it's been a decade since we rocked him and Logan with bottles in their mouths to sleep, and now they're both nearly as tall as I am. 

Enjoying... ten days seizure-free for Logan.  He went from Sunday July 1st until yesterday, July 12th, without a seizure.  Unfortunately, he had a seizure at Grandma's camp.  He called out that he was going to have one, Jack helped him sit down, and then he began having it.  It lasted two to three minutes and he recovered quickly. 
The good news is that he was having seizures every two or three days in June.  So going ten days is a huge improvement.  And today is the last day he will take his Trileptal (the old medication he was on after his first seizures back in early 2017), so hopefully the seizures will cease after this.  The Trileptal is not a good match for the new kind of seizures he's experiencing.

Grateful... for neighbors who let us do laundry (and even fold it for us!) at their house.  What a blessing as we wait for our washer to be fixed.  The part arrived last week, but the appliance place didn't have an appointment available until Monday. sigh.  I'm sure Josh could fix it, but we have appliance insurance, so we have to go through the company.  I am trying to remain optimistic... but nearly a month without a washer is a long time for a family of six!!!

Hitting... 169 pounds on the scale and feeling amazing about being in the 160's.  I have now lost 31 pounds since January and am very proud of myself.  Walking everyday and working hard to not emotional eat is the key! 

Fixing... up little areas around my house to bring me joy as I finally work through week three of Ordinary Magic, which my sister-in-law gifted me back in June.  I started by putting my rock collection in mason jars, instead of the old wipes container they had been in.  Now every time I walk past them, they make me smile.  I also cleared a shelf in my bedroom for putting my finished books this year onto.  Next on the agenda is clearing off my nightstand and hanging some photographs in my bathroom.  Just creating little spaces of joy throughout my home.

Reading... stories to Carly from the regular bookshelves, not just her bookshelf.  It's so exciting to read her new books.  I love watching her face take in the pictures. She often asks questions, or will choose the same book a night or two in a row, so she can get familiar with the new story.  Her current favorites are We're Going on a Bear Hunt and Big Smelly Bear.

Letting... Carly try using her potty when she asked this week.  She even actually peed in it!  I gave her m&m's and she was so excited to tell her brothers about it when we Facetimed them.  I'm not sure she's ready to try potty training full time, but I was proud of her for wanting to try it, and relieved she's not scared of it.

Loving... watching my children sleep.  Something about seeing them all curled up with their sweet little heads on their pillows, clutching their favorite stuffed animals, snuggled in their blankets, just sets my heart at ease and makes my mama heart beat a little slower.

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