Eleanor Fay :: 8 months

Nor Nor,

So much has happened this month and I'm a week behind in writing this so I feel like I'm scratching my head and wondering where to start. I'm also slightly overwhelmed with all that's happened and feel like ahhhh...I don't know what to write! So I'm just going to start and we'll see where it goes. :)

You're crawling! Once you figured it out you took off like a wild woman. You are all over the place and in everything. You're also really fast! Just today I went into your room where I left you for 2 minutes and you weren't in there--somehow you passed me without me noticing. Sneaky, sneaky!

We spent this past month in North Carolina, Colorado, and back home in NYC (we're not traveling for a while!). We put you in childcare in Colorado and you did pretty great! You did get a little cold the first few days so we had to keep you out and with us, but once you cleared up you really enjoyed it there!

This has been a really fun month with you though--you're so incredibly joyful which is just so fun. Giggling is your favorite past time (especially when Daddy tickles you!). Clinginess to me has hit pretty hard this month--you really just want to be held by me all the time which can be a little overwhelming at times, but we're learning day by day and I know it will pass.

You and Hazel are playing a lot more together and making each other laugh. People told me this would happen, that one day y'all would start to play with each other and it's really here! It's been a long season of the baby stage--and it's been pretty tough. Having a 2 year old and a 8 month old is no walk in the park, but seeing y'all play together and enjoy each other has really made me so thankful.

Eating
You eat and eat and eat. You're still nursing. You've had 2 bottles of formula this past month, but it hasn't been a regular thing for ya. Yogurt is your new favorite thing--you do this funny grunting/cry noise when you see if and if we're not feeding it to you fast enough! Along with nursing about 4-5 times a day you're eating breakfast, lunch, and dinner of solid foods too.

Sleeping
Since we've been home you've been napping like a champ!! It's incredible. You're sleeping from 6pm-6am/6:30am.

Temperament
You're such a happy, happy girl. So sweet, so chill. You love cuddles

Physical
-blue/green/grey eyes--they're so pretty!
-getting some hair on the back of your head! it's really cute :)
-size 2 diapers
-6 month clothes
-crawling!!
-pulling up to stand all the time!
-you're starting to try to climb up on things (Hazel wasn't much of a climber so this is new for me!)--yesterday you climbed up on a stool and rolled off of it. Thankfully you found it really funny (I did not!).
-you're talking/babbling a lot too!
-You've been sitting up for a while--that might have also happened this month? I'm losing track of my days...I felt like it all happened at once..sitting up, crawling, pulling yourself up to stand. bam!

Memorable
-While we were in CO we drove up the mountain to Pikes Peak. They have a rule that 6 months and younger aren't allowed up the mountain because of the altitude (you had just recently turned 7 months) so they told us to watch for signs like blue lips/fingers. I was a little freaked out, but we went for it and you did great! You slept for a good bit of it, so the picture to the left is of us on the drive back down (when you're sister was sleeping, ha!).
-I feel like we're finally getting into a sleep schedule with you--naps and all. It's amazing.
-We're thankful to be HOME and enjoying each other. After the craziness of this summer I think your dad and I will always remember the calmness of coming home :)

Man oh man I love you, little one. You're so fun, so joyful, so giggly. I'm beyond grateful I get to be your mama.

Love you an insane amount, Eleanor Fay.

Always,

Mama

tea with bea

Happy Friday! Do you have any fun plans this weekend?

Matt and I are about to walk out the door and meet up with some friends (we've already been out once this week without kiddos...I can't believe we're getting out TWICE this week without our girls!). Then tomorrow a few friends and I are headed to Jersey for the morning to go to Joanne Fabrics (that sounds so lame...but I think we're all really excited about it!).

Next week I plan to make time to really sit down and write. I do here and there when I get a second during the girls nap time or after they're in bed for the night, but this week has been crazy with trying to get settled into our new home. It's so great being back! I can't wait to tell ya all about it!

Have a great weekend friends!

tea with bea

hey friends,

I was MIA last week because...well, because last week kicked my butt. It was our last bit of travel for the summer and if I'm honest I was definitely counting down the days until we were home. I think my whole family was. We'd been traveling since the middle of May--two and a half months. With five days left before we were supposed to head home Matt and I decided to change our flights and come home early. During our whole day of traveling back to the city we kept saying over and over, "This was the best decision. BEST decision!"

If you saw my Instagram story you know our oldest daughter, Hazel, was really, really sick the night before we flew out. Hazel and I got about two hours of sleep before we all headed to the airport at 5am.

I thought she was feeling better, but right as we got to security she threw up all over the floor. It was so sad. So pitiful. Of course I had no idea where the extra clothes I had packed were--in one of the six bags we had with us (somehow we came home with way more stuff than we left with...I'm mostly blaming the grandparents here). I gave Hazel my sweatshirt to wear and we went through security.

It was a long day of travel from Denver, CO, back home to NYC. It was a hilarious and sad sight to see our family at baggage claim. I think we would look a little less ridiculous if we didn't travel with two car seats and two portable cribs...but we do. Plus 2.5 suitcases, a stroller, 3 carry on bags, 3 personal items, plus my pump. It's ridiculous. I told Matt the next time we go somewhere I'm fitting all our stuff into a carry-on suitcase. I'm sure some families do it. We're going to be one of them!

I'm not sure who was the most excited to be home. Hazel and Nor were the calmest they had been all summer long. I couldn't believe it. They just played on the living room floor...quietly. Quietly!

I love creating a home that is cozy and inviting, and even with the chaos of still unpacking and settling into our new home (we moved in and then two weeks later left for the summer) I think our girls felt at home for the first time in a long while. Matt and I did too.

We all slept wonderfully that first night and the girls are napping better than they have in months. It's amazing!

This summer has truly been a gift. It has also been a lot of other things, but it has definitely been a gift too. We mostly traveled for work, but we were also able to see a lot of family and friends who live far from us and we had such a sweet time with them.

Even more than that was how God met me this summer.

I longed for home a lot.

When we first moved to NYC I was overwhelmed with everything the city offered and it was hard for me to settle down + relax when I would get home. After a few months of living in the city I made it my goal to make our home feel inviting, a place where we could process what we were learning, to be a place of rest, a place to be inspired, and a place for my small family (just me and Matt at the time) to take a deep breath and just be. Over the years NYC is still overwhelming in many ways, but it feels like home.

When people come into our home I want them to feel welcomed, loved, and cared for. I feel really strongly about this and I'm grateful Matt lets me have free-reign of the design (even when he thinks what I'm doing is a little crazy!).

Let me be clear though--my home is not a perfect home. I have two little kiddos so there are always toys laying around somewhere and it looks very lived-in! Perfection is actually the last thing I'm going for. I want my family and any person that steps foot into our home to feel like they are able to be fully themselves...and being who we fully are means not perfect. (Thank goodness!)

All that to say I love home. A lot, a lot. But I realized this summer that my longing for home was deeper than my restful space back in NYC.

Being out of my every day rhythms this summer allowed me to look back, to reflect, and to dream. I'm a deep feeler. I have incredible empathy for people and I know this is a gift from the Lord. With this though I feel many, many things all the time. I often feel overwhelmed with the brokenness of the world and I long for God to make all things right.

So as I type this in my still-not-settled-in-home I realize even when we feel "settled in" it will never feel exactly right because ultimately this is not my true home. I'm thankful for our summer away and the experience of missing home, because since being home the longing I've felt all summer is still lingering.

I'm longing for the broken things in this world to be made whole. I'm longing for people to experience healing, for people's eyes to be open, for hearts to be softened, for relationships to be mended, for unity, for understanding, for patience, for so much grace.

True rest is found in Jesus. As comfy as my bed is it cannot offer me what Jesus can. I'm so glad to be home, but I know this deep longing will be in my heart until all things are made right.