Can we first take a minute to congratulate me on FIVE POSTS IN ONE WEEK — who am I even? I told you that I had a ton of photographs and video to get through this week and I wasn’t kidding. Maybe a few more five-post-weeks and we’ll be all caught up before summer (but probably not, because: motherhood).
I think in last week’s post I told you I was feeling really convicted about not having guests over more often, because I was embarrassed about our lack of house progress. Ella ended up having two friends over last Friday night and Sophie is having a friend over tonight and my house is not done and I did not die.
Are you following Erin Moon on Instagram? Because if you aren’t, you are missing out on a GEM. She’s the producer of our favorite podcast – The Popcast – and is local to Birmingham. Her stories are fantastic, but that’s not even what I’m here to talk about. She has a monthly newsletter called The Swipe Up (this is hilarious, because she started sharing it before she had 10k IG followers and couldn’t use the swipe up feature), that is one of my favorite inbox happenings. She shared some truth about the intersection of faith and gritty television (namely Game of Thrones) this week and you can still read it, if you subscribe. “Not everything that is clean is true. And not everything that is true is clean. I want my stories crackling with truth, and I don’t really care if they are clean, mainly because the world isn’t clean. Human nature is deeply flawed. Evil exists and sometimes it looks like it wins. The world is rated for mature audiences whether we like it or not.” See? Good stuff.
Ella officially started cheer this week and while listening to her talk about it has been so much fun, we now realize how hard it will be to manage two demanding sports. We had another round of dance pictures this week, lots to do at home, and cheer practice. We might need help managing our calendar in the fall.
Do you know what I want for Mother’s Day this year? Mexican food and a nap. That is literally the only thing I can think of that sounds like a good time. Josh said something about playing golf on Sunday (a joke, obviously) and I told him that the only way he could go was if he took all three girls. How is that for relaxing? On second thought, maybe I’ll dart out for a pedicure instead.
I keep saying I’m going to write a post about our breastfeeding experience — and I am! — but this story deserves to be shared now. I had an out-of-office meeting last week that was only supposed to last a couple of hours. I pumped at the office before I left and assumed I would be on my way back by lunch. I was fortunate to have a spare pump in my car (thank you, Jennifer), because I was away from my office for more than eight hours. Imagine this: I’m sitting in my car in the parking lot of a law firm, nearly topless. I didn’t have a nursing cover and the scarf in my floorboard was minimal. I was attempting to eat a sad sandwich with one hand and pump with the other. I spilled water all over my blouse, so it looks like I sprung a leak during our lunch break. Did I mention we only had thirty minutes? That’s barely enough time when I’m in my office and comfortable, so this was a show. Also, it was 87* outside, so I couldn’t risk leaving the milk in my car. I poured it into a breast milk storage bag and put it into my giant water cup with a lid. I went to their kitchen and topped it off with tons of ice and it sat on the table next to me, in a conference room of eighteen men. I replaced the ice during every break and no one was the wiser, but I was exhausted by the mental gymnastics by the end of the day.
I took tons of photographs this week and filmed a house tour vlog, so a big renovation update is coming next week!