Embracing Rest as a Mom

 

 

Hadley and I had the kind of weekend that a few months ago I actually feared but ended up fully embracing and enjoying.

This weekend is normally festive for our family to some extent; Our anniversary was Friday, the 15th and my birthday is tomorrow, the 19th. These events always fall on or near the Army’s four-day holiday weekend, and the last few years we’ve gone out of town and really enjoyed ourselves.

This year I knew things would be quiet. The temperatures would be in the teens and single digits, Jamie’s deployed, and I didn’t make any plans to have any friends or family fly in to visit simply because I just saw nearly all of my loved ones over the recent holidays. I wondered if the quiet and “boring” days would make me this extrovert feel a little more down in the dumps than usual.

Friday ended up being as wonderful as it could be considering I missed Jamie sorely on our anniversary. Having nothing scheduled allowed me to say yes to some great last-minute opportunities: a playdate with a new MOPS friend, a lunch date with our best buds at Panera, and a spontaneous afternoon of girl talk sprawled on my living room floor with one of my sweetest Army friends. I didn’t take any pictures and there wasn’t anything that made these events great; The time with friends just really filled me up.

Saturday was full of snuggles on the couch, a few hours of leisurely window shopping with my favorite two-year-old sidekick, and a lazy afternoon/evening. My lack of plans allowed me to say “yes” when a girlfriend asked to come by and drop off a few things for a shower we threw yesterday; Relaxing and chatting with her for an hour was a great, casual end to the day.

On Sunday my girlfriend and I threw together a baby shower for one of our dear Army friends, and preparations were relaxed. We skipped church to clean and get things together, made a last-minute grocery trip, actually took time to curl my hair while listening to music, and then enjoyed four hours of hang time with some great friends. It was all just so relaxed, quality, slow-paced, and well spent.

Today Hadley and I traded the pajamas we slept in for fresh ones, brushed our teeth, and are relaxing again. I’m working on a to-do list of odd things (including shopping for baby girl’s nursery!), and she’s been doing a combination of eating snacks, playing quietly on the floor with her favorite toys, and watching too many episodes of Mickey Mouse. She’s taking herself to her potty like a champ, napping like a winner, and just being a good girl today. We both slept over 10 hours last night. In fact, we slept 10+ hours every single night this weekend. Mamas who aren’t sleeping as well, I’ve been in your shoes too. Trust me; I didn’t get more than a five hour stretch of sleep until Hadley was 15 months old. I get it. 🙂

I know in three months life is going to drastically change, and on my most exhausted days I’ll crave weekends like we just had. I’ve had a newborn before, and as incredibly anxious as I am to lay eyes on my baby girl and kiss her forehead (5000 times), I also know the newborn days hold their share of stress as well. Jamie will be coming home from his deployment, he’ll be taking command for 12 months of a Military Intelligence company (so proud of his selection for this), and before we know it we’ll be talking to realtors about putting the house on the market and preparing for our next big move. I enjoy a fair share of chaos, so much of this thrills me.

Though I can’t wait for several new chapters in our family’s lives to begin soon, for now I’m looking at these quiet days with a glass half full. I’ll never, ever get these lazy days back to soak up sweet time with just Hadley and me.

I love having a calendar full of plans, but in this quieter season of life my perspective of “boring” has changed. For what may be the first time in my life I’m fully embracing the quiet and thanking God for a season of rest. He knew I needed it.