Taking a Breath

I woke up today with a million thoughts going through my head. I need to go to the grocery store. I need milk, I need this, I need that. I need to do laundry, oh so much laundry. I need to buy baby gates. I need to put away my fall decor. I need to get out my Christmas lights and decorations. We need to put up the tree. It's Cyber Monday I should do some Christmas shopping. And then I decided I need to take a breath.

We got home late (very late) last night from a really great week in Iowa with our families. Working in the banking industry I have always had to work the day after Thanksgiving and so we've always had to leave to drive back home a few hours after our Thanksgiving feast. But not this year!  This year we got to linger a little longer and enjoy a little more.

At 2 am last night I sat in my rocking chair in the nursery with a snoozing baby in my arms and reflected on what a great week we had.  We got to catch up with old friends over mocktails (my bestie is expecting their first baby at the end of March), see a movie (something I haven't done in a theater in quite a while), we went out to dinner and the baby didn't cry once and I got to eat my meal without having a wiggling baby on my knee! The dog got to play with other doggie friends and burn off the steam of being cooped up inside.  There was a disappointing moment though, when my dad called me the morning we were supposed to be visiting him and told me he had bronchitis and we weren't going to be able to have our visit.  I know this absolutely crushed him and I am so hoping that he is feeling better and looking forward to some extra special time at Christmas.  My most favorite moment though? Overhearing Corey's aunt and Corey's dad talking while looking at a picture of himself, Corey and Oliver and hearing her say "you must have needed to have a grandson to smile like that in pictures." If you would have looked down you would have seen my heart melted in a puddle on the ground.

We had Ollie's first Thanksgiving dinner. Complete with a homemade turkey onesie.

A meal fit for Pilgrims...apples, parsnips and sweet potatoes!

You might have picked up on something written above, we need baby gates.  The day before Thanksgiving Ollie started crawling! He now has it perfected...none of this army crawling, real hands and knees crawling and holy smokes are we in trouble.  I think babies just instinctively know what they aren't supposed to get into and beeline it right to it.

Our trip was relaxing and wonderful.  Full of lots of smiles, laughter, baths in sinks and snuggling. In a word, perfection.

We usually end our trips back to Iowa aching to be living back there but this time it felt good to settle back into our home in Indiana.  We may have been welcomed back by piles of laundry and floors that need to be vacuumed but I'll take it.  It's nothing that a little Christmas music and a Cozy Fireside candle can't fix.