Mother Love

Wow, it’s hard to believe in two weeks we will be on our way to our new home in Nashville.

It was about exactly one year ago that we started talking about the possibility of moving, and after taking a few trips there to visit Ben’s brother and family, we looked at each other one day and realized that this really might be the next thing for us. It was both an exciting and scary decision…but after taking several months of talking, praying, and thinking about taking our little family to Tennessee, we both felt total peace about making the move. Since that decision, we’ve both had moments of “what are we doing! we love our house and our lake view and our community…and we had such plans for our property and raising our family here! why are we doing this!” But ultimately neither of us have ever questioned the rightness of our decision, and even though a move is always a bittersweet event, it just feels right for us.

We were down in Nashville last week doing work and painting on our new home, and honestly it really helped me start to connect with the excitement of moving. The house feels more like ours with some fresh paint, and I know once we have our belongings in place, it will feel even more like home. A house is just a house, but a home is what you make of a house. Any house can be a home, really, and I’m excited to get to Tennessee and start making it our own.

I have moments where the next two weeks feel a little overwhelming and stressful. I am totally type-A and I thrive on order and organization and routine, so to think of living with packing boxes all around me and my stuff not in total order and just all the changes in the next weeks can make me feel all stressed if I let it. Change is exciting, but it’s also hard. I know we will love our home in Tennessee and being in the south and hopefully it won’t take long before it just feels like home. Yesterday I was starting to feel stressed and overwhelmed about it all…and then I realized that I needed to change my perspective. Instead of looking at the next few weeks in a negative light with a lets-just-get-this-over-with attitude, I decided it was going to be a great few weeks. The changes are an adventure, the packing and boxes and unorganized belongings are a part of the process to something new, and before I know it, we’ll be settled back down into a new routine in our new home.

So in the middle of this busy and slightly crazy season, my prayer is this:: that my heart and mind will still know the rest, quiet, and presence of God no matter how many boxes are stacked up around me or un-routine my day becomes or chaotic my home is.

What about you: what are your tips for making a big move? How do you keep a heart of rest during a busy, chaotic season?

I’d love to hear your thoughts!

I remember feeling a little overwhelmed when we found out we were going to have a baby and we started thinking and planning for all that we needed to have this new little one in our home. It was daunting to look at ALL the baby stuff and trying to figure out what we needed…there is so much stuff out there! I would walk into a baby store and browse the aisles and end up just walking out because it was just so confusing. I mean, how many kinds of bottles and pacifiers and car seats can there be? Apparently, like a million.

It drives me crazy to have extra, unused things around my house, so I knew that I wanted to stick with the bare essentials while also making sure we really did have what we needed to make our baby comfortable and cared for. I read blog posts and baby websites and parenting books, and what was funny to me was everyone seemed to have their own individual ideas of what was “essential.” I kept a running list for myself on Baby List of the things I thought seemed like a good idea, and some things stayed on the list until purchased and some things got deleted after further research or thought. There were some things I ended up purchasing that I never really used, and our local baby consignment shop has some brand new or barely used items for sale. Live and learn, right? But now that we’re three months into taking care of our little girl, I have a much better idea of what my baby needs and my own essentials list has developed. Everyone is different and each mama will have her own set of priorities for what her baby needs…these are just mine!

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Moses basket – Originally I was wishing for one of these because I thought they were just super cute, but it has actually ended becoming one of my top essentials! My mother-in-law gifted us one of these baskets, and we used that as Ayla’s bed for the first few months. Even though she outgrew the basket and we moved her into the crib in her own room after about two months, I still use it almost daily. I’ll put her in it and have her in the kitchen or laundry room with me, or set her outside on the deck for a while and she loves it! It’s the handiest thing to have a small and portable place to keep her.

Jogger stroller – I’m not a runner but I do like to take walks so I knew we wanted a stroller that was walking friendly. So far we love the Graco one we got! We purchased the stroller/car seat combo, so the car seat clicks right into the stroller, which was super helpful for when Ayla was a newborn.

Swaddle blankets – Cozy blankets are a definite must-have for a baby and I am totally sold on the Aden + Anais muslin swaddles. I saw countless mamas recommending the A + A brand, and in my experience, it has lived up to the expectation. These blankets are lightweight, yet cozy…and they seem to get softer the more you wash them!

Changing pad liners – My aunt recommended these to me and they are definitely a top essential for me. I use these pads everywhere that I change a diaper…on the bed, car, floor, etc. They’ve saved us from having to wash sheets or scrub the floors many times.

Baby Shusher – This one might seem a little silly, but we use it so much that it had to make my list. The Baby Shusher is designed to mimic the “shush” sound that a baby hears in the womb, which we often naturally do as parents when we try to soothe them. We used the method from The Baby Whisperer when we were working on sleep training Ayla, which basically calls for creating a kind of bedtime ritual with swaddling, soothing, and shushing. Shushing loud enough and long enough is hard work when you’re sleep training, and this silly little product was so super helpful especially during those training weeks. I still use it often when I put her down for a nap, and it’s just kinda one of her signals that it’s time for her to sleep now.

Sleep onesies – I’m a huge fan of the Gerber brand onesies because they are stretchier than other brands I’ve tried, which makes them easier to put on and get off. I use these on Ayla for her pajamas, because even though I think the real baby sleepers are super adorable, I felt like putting her in a warm sleeper plus a swaddle was just a little much.

Bubble-b-gone – Ayla didn’t have a lot of problems with digestion when she was newborn, but the times that her tummy was gassy and uncomfortable, these drops were so helpful! I would just put a few drops in her mouth and once she swallowed it, she would usually have a good burp within a few minutes.

A few favorite non-essentials::
– Baby Monitor 3G
– bath sponge
– Mamaroo seat

What about you: what is one thing you consider a baby essential?

I’d love to hear your thoughts!