{mommy mondays} embracing the chaos

My reason behind slow blog posts.  Bare with me in our transition and moving.

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These days have become busier than ever I do believe.  Every stage of babyhood comes with their own challenges, struggles, and happy moments.  The grass is always greener on the other side.  At 3 months you think "oh it'll be so much fun when they can get up and move".  And then 12 months later they are up RUNNING and you think "oh my, I wish she would just sit still for a minute."  And "wait, now where did she go again?!"

I've been through countless moves.  Packing and unpacking have become a no brainer activity for me.  I know what to pack and what to unpack first.  I know how to pack and label.  Oh, and I even started saving all my boxes and bubble wrap because we move so often (that stuff gets expensive!). I have it down to a science.  It takes me about a week to unpack.  And possibly another week to rearrange and tweak my organization.  Piece of cake. 

Cue toddler.

I love this little girl to pieces, but she definitely throws a giant wrench (ok more like stuff animal, my cell phone, the remote control, lightbulb... wait lightbulb?  Maybe I should put that up somewhere higher.  Where did she even get that in the first place?!) into my moving process.  I can't help but laugh at her trying to help me.  My little shadow sees me getting things out of boxes and putting clothes on hanger.  She wants to do just like mommy. However, her ideal of helping is THROWING everything out of the box and spreading hangers out all over the floor.  And then as soon as thats done she is completely over it and on to the next room.  You know how it is, toddlers attention span is about 2 seconds.  So then I'm off to the next room too because a toddler out of sight is usually a toddler getting into trouble.  Especially in a house full of boxes and inadequate baby proofing (its a work in progress).

Time to initiate breathing techniques and patience. My crazy organization and mild case of OCD is being surpressed (with the help of some yoga breathing techniques of course).  I will NOT let the chaos and the mess get to me.  I will not pull my hair out looking at all the unpacked boxes and break down in a huge anxiety attack.  I will remember this is our LAST move for a very long time and I have amples amount of time to get this finished.  I will remember to hug this little girl and kiss her sweet little cheeks.  I'll make time to for cuddles.  I will make time for laughter.  I will make time for what matters most in life.

In a nutshell, my life has slowed down at sixteensunbuckles for the moment.  But my life has definitely sped up kissing sweet baby cheeks and running after tiny feet.

It'll be quiet around here for awhile // we're moving back the good ole USA!

It is very bittersweet to say goodbye to our home in Central Alberta.  I still remember the day over two years ago when Brandon texted me and said "we're moving to Canada".  And I thought "uh, WHAT?"  And I had to get out the map to figure out exactly where we would make home.  Needless to say,  I never realized how much these two years would mean to me.  I feel its the first time Brandon and I have actually lived together since we have been married.  Its definitely the longest we have lived in one place.  We ended up celebrating the birth of our beautiful little girl here.  What a sweet little Canadian surprise she was for us. She will always be unique in having dual citizenship/birth abroad status in the USA.  I've made some amazing friends.  I never would have made it through as a new mom without these wonderful women.  There were so many there at all hours of the night, with prayer, food, medical advice, and plenty of hot yoga dates.  I'll also miss the two wonderful ladies (that I've grown to love) as I worked for them part time.  They watched me waddle in and out of their businesses severely pregnant.  I'm so thankful for their friendship, advice, and overall trusting me enough to give me a job.  I'm going to miss my church.  Sherwood Park Alliance is doing some amazingly good things there.  God is definitely at work in that place.  And last but not least, I'm going to miss my one American friend I'm leaving behind in Canada.  I know one day she and her husband will also move back to the states (probably sooner than later).  I'm looking forward to seeing her in October and continuing our friendship over an obscene amount of text messages daily.

Everytime we move it is sad for me.  Yes, I am looking forward to new adventures and (FINALLY) putting down real roots this time around.  It'll be so nice to live by family and to buy a house.  However, I feel a little part of me is always left behind when I move.  Good thing is a new little pieces comes with me. 

Thank you to everyone is has made such a huge impact on my life while in the "great white north".  I hope all of my Canadian friends come visit.  I also hope we can come back for a visit as well.  Afterall, I never did get to go skiing in those Canadian Rockies!


To all my faithful readers, bare with me while I pack, unpack, clean, declutter, and reorganize.  I'll be up and running again shortly.