Gratituesday: Sleep

Whew! We had such a whirlwind weekend! Tommy's crazy town race (more on that on Thursday!) started at 12:01am on Saturday morning (Friday night) so after going to bed earlier enough and missing the start of the race, I woke up at 2:45am to crew for him. What crewing means is I drove to the aid stations to be there to support him when he came in, offering fresh shoes/socks/clothes, chicken broth (sodium!), lots of ibuprofen, and endless words of encouragement. Then he would leave the aid station to keep running and I'd gather everything, hop back in the car, and drive to the next aid station to meet him. And so on and so forth. (By the way - have I mentioned how inspiring I think he is?!)

This was following weeks (weeks!) of me getting about 4-5 hours of sleep a night. I know, it's really bad for my body. But with my busy season workload and Sunday's relapse in excellent sleeping habits, I have found myself pretty much wide awake around 4am regularly. I knew it could only go on for so much longer but truly I couldn't figure out HOW to sleep more. My body was just go-go-going!! I had stuff to do! Clearly, I am an insomnia newbie.

My mom came this weekend to stay with Sunday while Tommy ran in his most insane race yet and I crewed alongside of him. When we all got home around 7pm Saturday evening we c-r-a-s-h-e-d. My mom took over Sunday duty (okay - she actually had it since Friday night) and Tommy and I were able to sleep in. Then later in the day we both got naps! What a glorious feeling! Here I am at 5:20am writing this Gratituesday blog post about getting enough sleep while feeling completely rejuvenated and well-rested. (sigh) Turns out all I needed was a night of barely any sleep to make my body crash (finally!).

So anyway, this week? I'm super grateful for the sacrificial love of a mother (and grandmother), and the opportunity Tommy and I both had to catch up on our sleep this past weekend. So amazing it deserves it's own Gratituesday post! :)

Join us for Gratituesday at heavenly homemakers!

#Instagratitude Re-cap

I cannot believe we are already at the end of November! What a fun month this has been! I thought at the beginning of the month that I was wrapping up all sessions and seeing the end of the portrait season nearing. Well... turns out I still have some sessions on the calendar and I don't think I'm taking a holiday this year! Hah! It's awesome though. I am still making up from taking all that maternity leave, so I'm totally loving every minute of work right now. I hope that doesn't change anytime soon!

Anyway - So I participated in #instagratitude this month. You know, I didn't really think everyone in the world was going to be posting thankfulness posts in the month of November. I'm not really sure what I was thinking! But it was a fun little challenge and truth be told - not difficult at all. I almost wish instead of winging it daily, that I had really planned ahead what I was most thankful for in my life and spent 30 days expressing those things with intention. It was an uplifting time, yet a total breeze to be sitting on the couch and pause to take in my surroundings... to think "what am I thankful for in this moment?" And you know, then I'd snap a picture of my living room or my daughter's silly toys. Which created a bright moment in my day. Of course, it's awesome to stop and think about all the small things to be grateful for, but a few times I had the thought of wishing I were approaching the project a little differently... with more intention. Perhaps I'll revisit this whole idea next November!

Anyway - here are some of my favorite posts. These are actually the ones I posted to Facebook. It's near impossible to quickly grab Instagram images for web publishing without sharing them on facebook! But you can always browse my entire instagram feed to see what Facebook is missing! (I try not to spam my facebook friends TOO much... :))

What a happy November! Holidays, vacations, portrait sessions galore! All the things I love. I am feeling so blessed. #instagratitude

Gratituesday: Seasons Changing

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

Sorry, couldn't help myself. I get on such a natural high during the changing of the seasons. The newness... the colors... lights... enthusiasm abounds. Plus, it really is the best time of year! I hope you are enjoying the hustle and bustle of it all. This week in particular is one of my favorites because it's right at the beginning of the Christmas season... there's so much wonder and excitement that awaits us! So fun!

We are home from our vacation and my goal today is to unpack our luggage, restock our refrigerator, and start decorating for Christmas around here already! I'm excited to share this Christmas with Sunday now that she will be exploring the wonder of it all. Hopefully I'll get some updated pictures of our holiday decor up here soon. You may have guessed that this picture above isn't the most recent. :) Oh but I do hope we will have some of the pretty white stuff soon as well!

Happy Holiday Season, friends! I've got some goodies in store for you this year as well... stay tuned! :)

Join us for Gratituesday at heavenly homemakers!

Gratituesday: The right to vote

We were out of the house bright and early this Tuesday morning to cast our vote for the next President! But before we left the house I spent a few minutes on Facebook (who doesn't?!) and read a status message that someone posted about deciding NOT to vote today. Just... a casual "eh, I don't think I'll vote." It got me really fired up.

Being a mom has definitely changed my perspective on a lot of things, voting in elections is one of them. I see now that my responsibility to educate myself and cast my ballot surpasses just being an American citizen. I am setting an example for my daughter. I am voting for HER future. I am honoring those women before me who fought for the right of their daughters to vote. I am honoring those servicemen who fight for our freedom!

How do people miss this? How do they not understand the great responsibility we have to vote? (sigh)

So this week... it's an easy one! I am grateful for my freedom to vote! And my freedom to express frustration about those who choose NOT to vote! :)

Join us for Gratituesday at heavenly homemakers!

Gratituesday: Our Mondays

Remember Gratituesdays? I have really missed them! So right now, I vow to keep them coming for a long time, no matter how regular they are.

Mondays are the least favorite day of the week. I know I don't have to explain why to you guys. However, Mondays are good days around here. Tommy only works 4 days a week (10hr days), and the day he consistently has off is Monday. I love, love it. It's like our own personal weekend day to do whatever we want or need. We love the weekends and we love spending time with our friends and family... and of course enjoying seasonal activities with them. But when Monday rolls around, we are grateful to have an extra day to spend doing what we need as a family. Sometimes it's grocery shopping, getting hair cuts, or doing yard work. Other times it's curling up and being couch potatoes all day long. But it always includes a big breakfast and an early bed time. Which we love.

And the best thing of all? When we do start our "work week," it's already Tuesday!

So today I'm grateful for our Mondays. Yesterday was a typical Monday spent running, dinner with the parents, and putting the house back together for the weekend. It's such a great time of resetting and recharging for our family. I don't know what we'll do if Tommy's work schedule ever changes!

Gratituesday is a weekly blog post (that I try to keep up with) I got involved with over here. You should join, too! If you do, be sure to let me know in the comments as I would love to read what you write about.