God's timing, not mine

I love the rhythm of my days. My mornings are nice and slow with Naomi happy after a good night's sleep and Olivia there to play with her younger sibling until she heads off to school. Naomi is usually happy to sit and play as I try to wake up, and Olivia loves to hang out in her pajamas all morning long--easy peasy. I try to get done whatever I can in between naps and such, and then when all the kids get home from school it's definitely a highlight of my day before the evening chaos ensues. I love watching the kids interact with Naomi when they walk through the door. She is so happy to see them all again, and she's definitely the center of attention around here--lucky girl. She loves her brother and sisters, and gives the biggest smiles and giggles to them. I love the family dynamic in our house right now, and I think it means I was definitely meant to have four little people under our roof. And that though I didn't plan it this way, God's timing is always perfect.

xoxo,
Tanya

Puffs, etc.

I feel like I recently posted pictures of her eating in her high chair. I don't know if I have, but I apologize in advance, I just love every expression this little ham gives me! And look at those little teeth. She loves her puffs and yogurt melts are probably her favorite. Lately I've been giving her veggie sticks that are like chips, but with veggies, and she loves those too. I am totally content sitting watching her eat, it's the cutest thing the way those fat little fingers struggle to her the puff in her mouth. She makes me so happy. I'm so lucky to be my childrens' mom.

xoxo,
Tanya

Embracing change

scarf / necklace / pillow / ring / ring / vase / necklace / salt and pepper shakers

all from Leif.

I'm being good this month and only window shopping for the most part. I didn't put this post together to tempt myself (or anyone else), it's just fun sometimes to pick out what you would buy, then close the page, and it feels like you've shopped. Am I weird? It feels like you bought it all, but you didn't! Ha ha.

I figure it's a new year and a perfect time to set the tone for the rest of the year by really sticking to my budget and refraining from buying things that aren't on my need-to-buy list. There are plenty of other things that are on that, so I'm challenging myself to save every penny and put it towards things that will actually make me happy and make a difference in my life. On the top of that list is a new mattress for Ben so he can finally have a full-size bed and a new high chair for Naomi since her vintage one is not very safe. Those things are meaningful and useful and I will be so happy when I can save up and buy them. My weakness is all kinds of pretty things for the home that aren't that expensive in and of themselves, but I've seen how one thing here and one thing there, added up, could have been something big that I thought wasn't in the budget. I'm holding myself accountable this year and making only thoughtful, meaningful purchases, and prioritizing things ruthlessly. I did a lot of cleaning and purging last year, and I want to keep up that simplified lifestyle this year. Here's to a new year and new habits! Amen?

xoxo,
Tanya

2014 is my year

Image from here.

 

My New Year's eve wasn't anything spectacular this year, but it was the perfect year to not have any plans because I honestly just wanted to hang out. Life lately has just been busy and very active with a baby in the house, and I wasn't feeling up to anything big. I did some shopping earlier in the day with Naomi, then picked up some evil jungle princess filet mignon noodles that I had been craving and we had a quiet night in with the kids.  We even skipped our church service that night because Mila was still recovering from the stomach flu, so we just watched some Canadian figure skating on TV and kissed at midnight and that was that.

 

I feel like this year is different for me already now that we're three weeks in, and I'm excited for the rest of the year! I just think this year is going to be amazing. I really do. I sense that it's going to be my year, and I'm so ready to do what needs to be done to make my dreams for it come true.

 

I am ready to lose the rest of my baby weight, and knowing that I'm not having any more kids, I feel like my life is going to change from the baby-making phase to the growing-up and moving on phase now. Scary but also exciting. I have lots of other hopes and dreams for the year, and I'm working hard on turning those into actions and making visible changes in my life to make them happen. So far so good.

 

I didn't succeed in every resolution I made for myself last year, but I'm not going to beat myself up about it. I feel like a lot of things just need more time, and I find over and over again in my life that I always do end up accomplishing what I set out to do, but that it just takes more time than I had given it. Last year I was horrible at paying off credit card debt because I was so focused on changing things around the house and, you know, we had a baby. That was the most expensive purchase of the year for sure, and she just keeps blowing through our money like crazy ever since! ;) So I'm focused again on paying down that debt and being able to save for vacations and things like our backyard sitting area project and maybe putting down hardwood floors on the whole lower level of the house. We have really had to stop traveling as our family grew, and (I'm going to be honest here) it's one of the things that bugs me the most about my life. I need to figure it out and make it part of our lives again. 

 

I want to finish painting the rest of the house white, which includes the two-story entry, the upstairs hallways, the kids' bathroom, and the master bedroom, bathroom, and closet. Our room is huge with vaulted ceilings and the bathroom and closet are big too, so that room will give me some grief I'm sure. It's next on my list I think, but Naomi has to be sleeping in her own room when I do it, and I just keep stalling on putting her crib in her room. I know this will be the last time I have a little baby cooing away in the crib next to me in the mornings and I'm not quite ready for that to end.

 

Those are most of my resolutions, and I'm already doing really well sticking to my budget this month. Let's hope that continues and I don't completely fall off the wagon next month. I like to pick a word for the year to kind of set the tone for what I want my year to look like, and this year's word is nice. Not kind, because that just seems too formal and blah and doesn't feel like it applies to my life the same way 'nice' does. I just want to focus on being NICE, to everyone, in every situation. I need to be nicer to my kids and speak to them gently and with love, and take the time to explain things more rather than being short-tempered with them. I want to be nice to everyone around me that I come in contact with, because it's very true what they say--everyone is fighting a secret battle you know nothing about. It's not worth it being divided and in conflict all the time, but unity gets things done! I want to reflect Jesus' light, and I can't do that when I'm being an impatient smart alec. I want to be known as a nice person, I think that is the nicest compliment someone can give you.

 

We started 2014 out by sleeping in, then going out for a very late breakfast, just Bogdan, Naomi and I. Bogdan totally surprised me by not going in to work that day, which I was NOT expecting. That man works on every possible day he can, and it's probably the first time he's willingly taken a day off that isn't a major holiday like Christmas or Easter. It was so nice, and we really didn't do much else the rest of the day since by the time we ate and picked up the kids from Bogdan's grandma's house, the day was basically over. It was a great way to start the year.

 

 

Hoping your 2014 is going to be amazing as well!

 

xoxo,

Tanya

 

 



December on my phone

Basically my Instagram is just a bunch of baby pictures now. I'm that mom. But I just can't get enough of this nugget these days, and obviously, it shows. Other than that, we also enjoyed the snow, hung out with cousins, watched Christmas movies in our pajamas, went to a Christmas party, played indoor soccer, celebrated Christmas, brunched with my sisters and mom, made marshmallows and soup, got sick and puked, and did lots and lots of ironing (my nemesis). It wasn't a mindblowing month, but I actually had a good month. It was a steady stream of getting reading for Christmas, shopping and wrapping gifts, and taking care of the kiddos--a good kind of busy without ever going into desperate, miserable busy. Naomi was sick for basically all of it, though, and the stomach flu entered our household with Olivia getting sick Christmas night, so December could definitely have been better. There's always next year.

xoxo,
Tanya